"Gertrude L. Voellinger" is named in a 1922 history of the Pittsburgh Red Cross as a St. Francis nurse graduate who was "in active service with the American Expeditionary Forces and in the United States." She served as a nurse in the Army Reserves during World War I, and later worked at Veterans' hospitals.

Born in Wheeling, Ohio County, West Virginia on May 28, 1881, Gertrude L. Voellinger was the daughter of John Philip Voellinger and Gertrude Neidert.

Gertrude is listed as a "nurse" in Wheeling in the 1910 census. She is also listed in the 1911 City Directory as a nurse at Wheeling Hospital. Another graduate of the St. Francis Class of 1913, Mary DeWitt, was named with Gertrude in both the 1910 and 1911 records.

A bill requiring state registration of nurses was approved in West Virginia on July 1, 1907, at which time nurses could become registered by applying for a wavier, or they could take an exam. Many early nurses had simply learned "on the job" and had no formal training. After licensure became required, some of the nurses entered schools of professional nursing. Gertrude L. Voellinger and Mary DeWitt entered the school of nursing at St. Francis and graduated in the Class of 1913. Both Catholic hospitals, Wheeling Hospital and St. Francis Hospital were known to be affiliated.

In the 1917 Pittsburgh City Directory, Gertrude Voellinger was a nurse, boarding at 5574 Aylesboro Ave., Pittsburgh. From 1918 to 1920, she served as a reserve Army Nurse during World War I.

Gertrude is listed with her family in Wheeling, West Virginia in 1920, working as a nurse for a private family. In 1930 and 1940, she was working at the Veterans' Hospital at Swannanoa, Buncombe, North Carolina.

Apparently, Gertrude never obtained a West Virginia nursing license, according to this writer's website, "Pioneer Nurses of West Virginia." -- http://www.wvgw.net/ohio/nurses/nurses-listb.htm

On May 23, 1945, at the Veterans' Hospital in Dayton, Ohio, Gertrude Voellinger died. She is buried at Mt. Calvary Cemetery, Wheeling, Ohio County, West Virginia.