Lieutenant Commander, US Navy Nurse Corps, Jean Buchanan Miller Pillsbury

Born: October 29, 1916, Clayton, New Mexico   

Died: July 21, 1970, Albuquerque, New Mexico  

Lieutenant Commander Jean Buchanan Miller Pillsbury joined the US Navy Nurse Corps (NC) on October 4, 1941.¹ Joining the NC was not easy; since its inception, they took only those who were “graduates of a general hospital training school with at least a two-year program and clinical experience in ‘medical, surgical, care of men, and contagious diseases’ [with all] training and experience […] acquired in a hospital.”² The NC also required “at least three months of orientation and training in naval medicine,” so while Miller Pillsbury served in Oahu, Hawaii, she was probably not there when the infamous attack happened on December 7, 1941.³ Lt. Commander Miller served specifically in the Pearl Harbor Naval Yard Hospital known as Naval Hospital #128.⁴

When precisely she left the NC is difficult to say as she joined the Reserves after the war. Miller Pillsbury received her promotion to lieutenant commander on March 4, 1946, and was still in the reserves as of 1951. ⁵

Jean Buchanan was born on October 29, 1916, to Samuel and Mary Miller of Clayton, New Mexico where she grew up with her brother and sister.^6,7,8 It is not known where she received her nursing training, but by 1940 she was living and working at Swift Memorial Hospital in Silver City, New Mexico.⁹ From there, she joined the NC and served in Hawaii.

After the war, Miller Pillsbury came back to New Mexico where she was hired as the head nurse for the New Mexico School for the Deaf in 1949.¹⁰  She also joined the New Mexico Nursing Association.¹¹ While working for the School for the Deaf, sometime between April 1951 and 1953 she met Thomas Pillsbury and they were married.^12,13,14 They moved to Albuquerque and had one son.¹⁵ But tragedy struck and Miller Pillsbury fell ill. It was an illness she would not be able to recover from; Jean Buchanan Miller Pillsbury passed away July 21, 1970, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.¹⁶

Images & Documents

Notes:

1. “Miller, Jean B. United States Military Registers, 1902–1985. Salem, Oregon: Oregon State Library. Publication Date: 1951, Apr 01.
2. Arevalo, Wendy. “The History of the Navy Nurse Corps.” Naval History and Heritage Command. 22 September 2022. para. 6.
3. Arevalo, Wendy. “The History of the Navy Nurse Corps.” Naval History and Heritage Command. 22 September 2022. para. 7.
4. The caption on the photo from Find A Grave says she served in Naval Hospital #128, which appears to be the Pearl Harbor Naval Yard Hospital. Please see Other Naval Hospital at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii found at: https://www.navalcovermuseum.org/wiki/OtherUS_Naval_Hospital_Pearl_Harbor_Hawaii or US Naval Hospital Aiea Heights, T.H. 1944 Photos & Roster post 16 found at: https://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/320026-us-naval-hospital-aiea-heights-th-1944-photos-roster/ Both specifically identify #128 as the Pearl Harbor Naval Yard Hospital.
5. “Navy Nurse Corps Officer Requirements.” Navy CyberSpace. Copyright 2023. This begins with a list of codes showing which are active and which are reserve, so by the 1951 publication of the register in note 1, Lt. Cmdr Miller was in the reserve.
6. “Miller, Sam.” Year: 1920; Census Place: Clayton, Union, New Mexico; Roll: T625_1079; Page: 2A; Enumeration District: 220.
7. “Miller, Sam.” Year: 1930; Census Place: Clayton, Union, New Mexico; Page: 1A; Enumeration District: 0012; FHL microfilm: 2341135.
8. “Jean Buchanan Miller Pillsbury.” Find a Grave, memorial page for Jean Buchanan Miller Pillsbury. There is also a half-sibling listed here, though not in the census records.
9. “Miller, Jean.” Year: 1940; Census Place: Silver City, Grant, New Mexico; Roll: m-t0627-02445; Page: 6A; Enumeration District: 9-5.
10. “Deaf School Adds Teachers.” Santa Fe New Mexican. Santa Fe New Mexico. 21 August 1949. p. 11.
11. “Mrs. Pillsbury Dies in Hospital.” Albuquerque, Journal. Albuquerque, New Mexico. 23 July 1970. sec. H p. 4. This article has the wrong middle initial, but the names of her siblings match the census reports or her Find A Grave entry.
12. “Miller, Jean.” National Archives at Washington, DC; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950; Year: 1950; Census Place: Santa Fe, Santa Fe, New Mexico; Roll: 3579; Page: 1; Enumeration District: 26-34.
13. “Miller, Jean B. United States Military Registers, 1902–1985. Salem, Oregon: Oregon State Library. Publication Date: 1951, Apr 01.
14. “Pillsbury, Thomas G (Jean B).” Santa Fe, New Mexico, City Directory, 1953.

15 & 16. Please see note 11. 

Compiled by: A. D. McLean, MA, MLIS. Central New Mexico Community College, retired 2022.

Featured Image:

“Jean Buchanan Miller Pillsbury.” Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/3878529/jean-buchanan-pillsbury: accessed 18 September 2023), memorial page for Jean Buchanan Miller Pillsbury (29 Oct 1916–21 Jul 1970), Find a Grave Memorial ID 3878529, citing Santa Fe National Cemetery, Santa Fe, Santa Fe County, New Mexico, USA; Maintained by Eternal Peace (contributor 48793983).