A short article regarding the return of Dr. Bernice Curry and Robert & Anna (Curry) Delisser to Bloomington attracted my attention. Robert and Anna had been on a honeymoon trip in Chicago. Bernice Curry had been a medical doctor in Bloomington since about 1905. She started with a general practice in the diseases of women and children, but in 1916 was appointed as the director of the tuberculosis dispensary in Bloomington. She continued her training in 1919 when she travelled to New Jersey for a meeting of the AMA and then continued to Lake Placid NY where she trained for 6 weeks in the treatment of tuberculosis at a prominent hospital there.
Dr. Curry attended medical school at Keokuk, Iowa. While director of the tuberculosis sanitarium, Dr. Curry made her home there, probably until 1924. In 1924 Dr. Curry married William McConnell, a retired farmer from Leroy. They made their home in Leroy and Dr. Curry continued to practice medicine there and served as a board member for the Tuberculosis Sanitarium. In 1953 the local AMA recognized Dr. Curry's 50 years of work as a physician.
Anna Curry Delisser was no less independent than her older sister. Prior to her marriage, Anna operated a beauty shop. After her marriage she continued to operate her shop and traveled to improve her knowledge of beauty culture, on one occassion to New York. Robert Delisser died suddenly just two years after they were married, during the great Spanish flu epidemic. Mr. DeLisser was a haberdasher in Bloomington.
The father of these two women was James Curry, who gave his occupation as farmer in the 1900 census, but his obituary stated that he was a school teacher for 35 years. His daughters received their education near Atlanta, IL at the high school there.