Florida nurse who died saving patients in 1953 finally has headstone

TAMPA, Fla. – Gertrude Warnick died 69 years in the past, hailed, then questioned, then forgotten. Since 1953, her physique has rested in an unmarked grave below patchy filth and creeping weeds at Clearwater Municipal Cemetery.

Till now.

It began on March 30, 1953, when information clips and eyewitness accounts reported Warnick operating out and in of a crumbling constructing, the warmth “so intense it blistered paint on buildings throughout the highway,” whereas rescuing at the least one affected person from a hearth on the Littlefield Nursing House in Largo.

In all, 33 folks died that evening, together with Warnick.

Just a few weeks later, the couple who owned the nursing residence testified in a trial about who was at fault. Mrs. Littlefield, one of many homeowners, claimed Warnick died in her mattress and “may have been below the affect of one thing that evening.”

Warnick was new to the job, an orphan with one sister, no husband and no youngsters. When the jury dominated the reason for the hearth was undetermined, the nurse and her position had been shortly forgotten.

Many years handed. Clearwater grew. The hearth grew to become a part of historical past.

In 2021, an beginner historian got here throughout Warnick’s identify whereas wanting by means of previous data. He began digging. And he believed the eyewitness accounts of her actions that day.

In April, the Tampa Bay Instances shared her story.

In October, Warnick acquired a gravestone.

It reads: “A nurse hero.”

Right here’s the way it occurred.

If you’re within the floor …

Craig Siapno climbed off his bike in the future and walked by means of an previous cemetery. He noticed the historical past of Clearwater instructed one gravestone at a time. Now, a number of occasions a 12 months, he walks by means of previous cemeteries, perhaps Rousseau or McMullen in Clearwater.

Siapno and his spouse each got here from nice households, “however we had nothing … I’ll put it this fashion, when the TV broke in 1958, we didn’t have one other one till 1962.”

He retired as an insurance coverage adjuster after seeing a number of the worst issues folks face — fires, crashes, loss of life — and is aware of how simple it’s to lose every part.

When he examine Warnick, Siapno felt unhappy. Then he despatched an e mail.

“Ms. Hare, learn your article a couple of gravestone for Gertrude,” he wrote on the day the story ran. “If you happen to advise me who to make a cash order to and the place to mail, I’ll ship $50 towards the fee. I’m no person, and when my name to the opposite facet comes, my directions are for cremation and (to be) dumped within the Gulf. That mentioned, I imagine if you’re within the floor, there ought to be a marker.”

He quickly delivered a $100 cash order to the Clearwater Historic Society.

Over the telephone, he took a protracted pause when requested about it.

“We’ve simply been so lucky,” he mentioned.

Then he requested the place he may discover Warnick’s newly marked resting place. He plans to go see her at block 8, lot 8, plot 3 on one among his cemetery walks.

Set in stone

Like his mom and father, Kevin Cantrell works in granite, marble and reminiscence.

In 1985, Will and Doris Cantrell opened a monument firm in Tarpon Springs. Now, the Cycadia Monument Co. is run by Cantrell, his spouse and their two sons.

He heard in regards to the nurse within the unmarked grave from the pinnacle of the Dunedin Historic Society. Then he learn her story.

Cantrell determined to donate a gravestone, one thing he tries to do when he can. His son, KJ, engraved it. They labored out the logistics with the town. He figures it was price about $575. And in October, the sandy patch of unmarked earth the place Warnick rests acquired a marker. Tales like hers matter, Cantrell mentioned. They’re a part of our historical past.

“Individuals are capable of really feel their roots, hint their roots that manner. Folks really feel a part of the neighborhood that manner.”

It’s vital that somebody’s identify is everlasting, he mentioned.

“It’s not going to go away with the climate.”

Into the graveyard

After her story was instructed, earlier than her identify was etched in stone, Warnick’s identify was plastered on a number of trolleys. She’s one among a number of folks featured on the Clearwater Jolley Trolley’s Haunted Clearwater Tour.

That tour raised about $5,000, which will likely be given to the Clearwater Historic Society, mentioned CEO Michael Helmstetter. A few of that cash consists of cost for utilizing the historic society’s property as a pickup for the tour.

However the worth of what’s occurred because the nurse’s story resurfaced goes past simply her gravestone.

“The entire cemetery is in the course of a significant, well-needed makeover.”

That features removing of an previous fence and lifeless timber. Overgrown bushes acquired trimmed. And a spot that felt uncared for — one that features graves of Clearwater’s founders — acquired new life.

And the individuals who made it occur should not carried out but.

A gravestone for Carrie

The person who first found Warnick’s story drove out to see her lately.

“It was neat,” mentioned David Barmore, who volunteers with the Dunedin Historical past Museum. ”It made me really feel that she’s not forgotten anymore.”

In discovering Warnick’s story, Barmore labored with Vinnie Luisi, govt director of the Dunedin Historical past Museum. Luisi hasn’t been out to see Warnick but however plans to go to this week.

“I’m simply grateful that her identify is out within the public now,” he mentioned. “Individuals are conscious of what she did, and he or she’s acknowledged within the cemetery.”

With the remaining donations, the volunteers plan on getting a gravestone for the lady Warnick reportedly died making an attempt to save lots of. That girl, Carrie Hatcher, rests in an unmarked grave subsequent to Warnick. Her gravestone will go in subsequent 12 months.

They aren’t the one folks misplaced to historical past and now returned.

Reporting from Tampa Bay Instances’ Paul Guzzo has discovered complete Black cemeteries which have been erased by improvement all throughout the Tampa Bay space. Clearwater’s Whispering Souls African American Cemetery, as soon as deserted, has new caretakers. In Tampa, Faculty Hill Cemetery acquired a historic marker. Archaeologists, researchers and neighborhood members proceed discovering graves and cemeteries. And in Tampa, 112 years after she was buried in Zion Cemetery, Anna Rebecca Wyche was remembered by her great-great-granddaughter with a funeral.

Subsequent 12 months, the Clearwater Historic Society plans to honor Warnick as a part of its Ladies’s Historical past Month celebration, mentioned president Allison Dolan.

“It’s good when you possibly can reverse some damaging historical past,” she mentioned.

Warnick is remembered now for serving to others when it mattered. In their very own methods, nearly 70 years later, the individuals who helped get her a gravestone did the identical factor.