2^nd Lt., US Army Nurse Corps, Lois Marilynn Burr Slavik

Born: September 28, 1922, Taft, Texas

Died: August 22, 2010, Santa Fe, New Mexico

Over 59,000 women served as Army nurses during World War II, greater numbers of them serving overseas than ever before, and many serving in civilian hospitals at home as well.¹ While training to be a nurse in Houston, Texas, in 1943, Lois Burr (Slavik) would have heard that there were plans to change the Army Nurse Corps (ANC). In June of that year, Congress passed the Bolton Actin which the “government subsidized the education of nursing students who promised that following graduation they would engage in essential military or civilian nursing for the duration of the war.”² Burr took advantage of this offer only a couple of weeks later on July 1.³ Once her nurse’s training was completed in 1944, she would probably have gone through a four-week course in Army organization; military customs and courtesies; field sanitation; defense against air, chemical, and mechanized attack; personnel administration; military requisitions and correspondence, and property responsibility.”⁴ Once Army trained, she would have been commissioned as a 2^nd Lieutenant.⁵

Where she was assigned is unclear. She may have been one of the many serving as part of the chain of evacuation established to get soldiers treatment closer to the front than ever before and then get them to hospitals where they could be treated until healed.⁶ But it is equally likely that 2^nd Lieutenant Burr was sent to the civilian hospital in Los Alamos, New Mexico, where nurses were needed desperately.⁷ Things were still rather primitive in Los Alamos as the nurses had to do things normally left to doctors and other hospital staff like “taking care of supplies; no disposable syringes existed, so the nurses cleaned them and sharpened the needles; they also patched the gloves used for minor surgery and cleaned and autoclaved intravenous equipment. The well-known Los Alamos baby boom meant that much of the nurses’ work involved obstetrics and pediatrics.” ⁸

It’s unclear exactly when Burr Slavik left the ANC, though it is likely she’d left by September 1946, since by that time the ANC had gone from 59,000 to only 8,500 nurses.⁹ But no matter when 2^nd Lieutenant Burr left the Army Nurse Corps, she served in Los Alamos for some time in the 1940s.¹⁰

Ira and Elma Burr welcomed their fourth child, daughter Lois Marilynn, on September 28, 1922, in Taft, Texas.¹¹ She grew up in Texas, likely in and around the Taft/Corpus Christi area.¹² In June of 1941, she moved to Houston, Texas, to study nursing.¹³ Burr Slavik met Raymond Slavik in Los Alamos and they were married there in 1949.¹⁴ Although the records state that Lt. Col. Slavik left the US military in 1946, one of the Slavik family was working at Barksdale Air Force Base in Shreveport, Louisiana, in 1957.^15,16 By 1967, Burr was back on the surgical floor of Los Alamos Medical Center, and her husband now owned a car service station.¹⁷ Through the years there were two sons and a daughter added to the Slavik family.¹⁸ One son chose to follow in his parent’s footsteps and serve his country.^19,20 The Slaviks loved gardening, and even won an award.²¹ After 40 years of nursing, Burr Slavik retired in October of 1984, after which she enjoyed fishing and gardening.²² She lost her husband of 45 years on July 4, 1994.²³

Lois Marilynn “Peaches” Burr Slavik passed away on August 22, 2010.

Images & Documents

Notes:

1. Bellafaire, Judith A. “The Army Nursing Corps: A Commemoration of World War II Service.” U.S. Army Center of Military History. CMH Pub 72-14. p. 3.
2. Bellafaire, Judith A. “The Army Nursing Corps: A Commemoration of World War II Service.” p. 7.
3. “Lois Marilynn Burr.” National Archives and Records Administration; Washington, D.C.; Cadet Nurse Corps Files.
4. Bellafaire, Judith A. “The Army Nursing Corps: A Commemoration of World War II Service.” p. 6.

5 & 6. Bellafaire, Judith A. “The Army Nursing Corps: A Commemoration of World War II Service.” p. 3.

7 & 8. Manley, Kathleen E.B. “Women of Los Alamos During World War II: Some of Their Views.” New Mexico Historical Review. Vol. 65 no.2. April 1990. p.254.

9. Prefer, Nathan N. “Army Nurses Corps: Angels in Olive Drab.” Warfare History Network. Winter, 2018. para. 110. This article is an excellent look at the evacuation process and the nurses who served overseas, despite danger, lack of supplies and facilities, bullets, fire, and everything else war could throw at them.
10. “Slavik/Burr.” Santa Fe New Mexican: Marriage Licenses. Santa Fe, New Mexico. 20 December 1949. p. 3
11. “Burr, Lois Marilynn.” Texas Department of State Health Services. Texas Birth Certificates, 1903–1932. iArchives, Orem, Utah.
12. “Burr.” Year: 1930; Census Place: Precinct 7, San Patricio, Texas.
13. “Lois Marilynn Burr.” National Archives and Records Administration; Washington, D.C.; Cadet Nurse Corps Files.
14. “Slavik/Burr.” Santa Fe New Mexican: Marriage Licenses. Santa Fe, New Mexico. 20 December 1949. p. 3
15. “Raymond F. Slavik.” Beneficiary Identification Records Locator Subsystem (BIRLS) Death File. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
16. “Slavik.” Shreveport, Louisiana, City Directory, 1957.
17. “Grand Opening Saturday!” Santa Fe New Mexican. Santa Fe, New Mexico. 18 August 1967. sec. A p. 8.
18. “Lois Marilynn ‘Peaches’ Burr Slavik.” Santa Fe New Mexican: Obituaries. Santa Fe, New Mexico. 12 September 2010. p. C002.
19. “At Inauguration.” Rio Grande Sun. Espanola, New Mexico. 14 February 1985. sec A page 7.
20. “Service Notes.” Santa Fe New Mexican. Santa Fe, New Mexico. 9 May 1979. sec. B p. 7.
21. “Many Miles, Garden an Experience to Remember.” Santa Fe New Mexican. Santa Fe, New Mexico. 30 August 1981. sec D p. 5. Burr Slavik’s obituary also mentions her love of gardening.
22. “Lois Marilynn ‘Peaches’ Burr Slavik.” Santa Fe New Mexican: Obituaries. Santa Fe, New Mexico. 12 September 2010. p. C002.
23. “Raymond F. Slavik.” Beneficiary Identification Records Locator Subsystem (BIRLS) Death File. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

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

Featured Image:

“Lois Marilynn ‘Peaches’ Burr Slavik.” Santa Fe New Mexican: Obituaries. Santa Fe, New Mexico. 12 September 2010. Retrieved: 18 July 2023. https://www.newspapers.com/image/207895805 p. C002.