OBITUARY: Alma Outten Smigelski...Served in Army Nurse Corps in Word War II
Monday, November 18, 2013, Alma Smigelski passed away, from complications of a recent stroke.
Alma J. Outten, was born Wednesday, June 6, 1917, into the home of Walter and Josephine Outten in Wilmington, DE. She arrived about 20 minutes after her twin brother Walter. A fun fact of her early days is that she walked to school with Vice-president Joe Biden's mother. After high school, Alma trained as a nurse at the Wilmington Homeopathic Hospital. From there she spent a few years working at New York Hospital: a single girl in NYC in her 20s. Quite adventurous!
She volunteered for the war effort, and spent 1942-1945 in the Army Nurse Corps; stationed mostly in New Guinea and Australia. She was an operating room nurse in what would become known as a M.A.S.H. units, in the Korean conflict era. During a stint at Fort Devens in 1943, Lt. Outten met ordnance Captain Charles Smigelski and they started a marriage that lasted 55 years. (Lt. Col. Ret. Charles Smigelski passed away in 1998.) It was in spring 1949 that Charles and Alma came to Groton, building the home on Farmers Row she occupied for the remaining 64 years of her life.
As June Johnson and others have recently commented, Alma's passing represents the end of an era in both America and Groton. The number of surviving World War II vets is dwindling.
Alma and Charles moved into a Groton that was still quite rural. Venerable residents Phil and Eleanor Smith sold them an acre of land at the edge of their hayfield. The only Farmers Row neighbors back then, were Clara and Arthur Havemeyer in their 1726 house (one of the four Groton properties not burned to the ground in King Phillip's War, 1676), and the Culvers' property: Pineherst, at the Ayer town line, where Thelma and Roland Hamilton would eventually settle and raise a family. The only other company in the neighborhood was the hundreds of apple trees in Steve and Nellie Sabine's orchard across the street. Well, Phil Smith had a few hundred chickens then too.
Alma loved living in Groton and raising children here. As a city girl, she never had experienced the bounty of vegetables that a summer garden produced, but learned to roll with the canning and freezing that came with the territory. The special rich taste of Golden Guernsey milk from Skyfields Farm near the center of town was a continuous treat to her. She wanted her children to have fresh-baked brownies and pies when they got off the bus from school each day, and so it was.
She leaves three sons, Paul and his wife Joann of Schenectady, NY; Charlie of Arlington; and John and his wife Laurie of Groton. She also leaves two grandchildren and two great grandchildren.
Her membership in the Unitarian Church was also a vital part of her happiness. Her time there dates back to the ministers with names like Archer, Jaffa, and Rosenberger. Her pew was over on the right aisle, behind Carl A. P. and Lucy Lawrence. She taught Sunday school and served on the Religious Education committee. For a number of years too, she organized a holiday gift program for the teens, detained in the Shirley Industrial School for Boys. She wanted to let those struggling boys know that Christmas is still a time for caring and giving.
She found happiness in all kinds of people and places, and appreciated that she could know so many people when living in a small town. She delighted in David Mansur's charm and organ music at church. She liked how Tommy Sargent, raised on the small dairy farm down the street, also had an amazing gift for harvesting music from the pump organ in his house.
Alma had great admiration for Eleanor Roosevelt. This fueled her own commitment to social justice and community service. When the charismatic Jack Kennedy asked people to consider what they could do for their country, Alma was on board. Having seen what happens in the back alleys of poor New York communities, Alma took to the streets to campaign for abortion rights back in the 1960s. She also spent years volunteering to help conduct Red Cross blood drives.
Most of all, Alma will be remembered for her generous heart. She always had a consoling ear for anyone who needed it. She accepted everyone for who they are and did what she could to help them feel nurtured and respected. She has passed, but her heart lives on in many others.
There will be an interment ceremony at the Groton Cemetery on Saturday, Dec 7, at 3 p.m., followed by a Celebration of Alma's Life at her home on Farmer's Row, 4-6 p.m.
In lieu of flowers, please make donations to First Parish Church of Groton Unitarian Univeralist Ministerial Fund, P.O. Box 457, Groton, MA 01450.
