Next Monday’s observance of Memorial Day in Albert Lea will take place at several locations. These include Lakewood, St. Theodore’s and Hillcrest Cemeteries, plus Fountain Lake Park. Then comes a parade and the main program in Graceland Cemetery about 11 a.m.

This program takes place near the large memorial monument in this cemetery which was dedicated in 1947. On this memorial are etched 220 names of men from Freeborn County who died during the Spanish-American War, World Wars I and II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. And as I will try to emphasize, there’s one more name which should be on this memorial . Her name is Effie Alinda Larsen.

Right about here someone could wonder why a women’s name qualifies as an addition to the portion with 60 names from the World War I era. To answer this concern and justify the inclusion of her name on the monument 85 years after her death, here’s some pertinent information.

Effie was born on Sept. 24, 1895, in Clarks Grove. She was the daughter of the Rev. Iver Larsen who was the pastor of the Danish Baptist Church in Clarks Grove for 13 years.

She graduated from high school in La Crosse, Wis., in 1915. Effie then entered the school of nursing at the University of Minnesota and graduated on Sept. 15, 1918. She had the highest honors in her class, was on the Gopher Annual Staff, and president of her class.

Before graduation from the university, Effie had volunteered with the American Red Cross to become an &uot;army nurse.&uot; On Oct. 15, 1918, she was sent to Camp Dodge, Iowa, for duty at the base hospital.

In the fall of 1918, a world-wide influenza epidemic was making several million Americans mighty ill and actually causing the death of at least a half-million people in this nation. Effie became ill with influenza, followed by pneumonia, and died on Dec. 14, 1918.

Her body was returned to Clarks Grove and she was buried next to her mother and father in the local cemetery. The Minnesota Home Guard unit from Albert Lea provided the &uot;military honors.&uot;

Effie was one of nine women from Freeborn County to serve as military nurses during World War I. The other women were: Selma Anderson, Sena H. Brudvick, Anna Dahl, Mabel Fodness, Hanna J. Larson, Theodora Legros, Winifred R. McGuire and Emma H. Nelson.

All nine women are both pictured and listed in the World War I book, plus earning a special listing in the 1969 golden jubilee booklet issued by Leo Carey Post 56 of the American Legion. The legion publication says they &uot;entered into the service&uot; as nurses.

Someone could say those 60 names on the memorial in Graceland Cemetery honor men who died as a result of enemy action during World War I. That isn’t quite right. Only 28 of those men died from combat action; 32 died from diseases, mostly influenza, and accidents.

Someone else could exploit an alleged loophole and say Effie’s name shouldn’t be on this memorial because she actually died after the war ended. That line of lousy logic won’t work. There are already five names on the memorial of men who died after the end of World War I on Nov. 11, 1918.

There, I’ve tried to make my point about the missing name on the Graceland memorial. Now, let’s see what actually evolves in the future.

If Effie’s name is actually etched on the monument as the 61st county casualty of the first World War, I do have a suggestion. It should be Effie A. Larsen. After all, she was a Danish-American. In the big World War I book, a news item in the Times-Enterprise newspaper, and in the Legion booklet her last name is spelled as Larson. This isn’t correct.

I’ve checked the spelling on her grave marker in the Clarks Grove Cemetery and her last name has been Larsen for the past 85 years.

Tribune feature writer Ed Shannon’s column appears Fridays in the Tribune.