Velora Melohn graduated from the University of Iowa School of Nursing in 1919. After graduation, she worked in pediatrics at the Children's Hospital for a short time. In 1921 she married a patient she had met while working in a Fort Dodge hospital.

75. Velora Patten Melohn at her graduation, 1919, courtesy of Louise (Hammond) Anderson

Melohn continued to utilize her nursing skills after she was married. According to her niece, Louise Hammond Andersen, Mrs. Melohn adopted a child, David, after her first-born died in infancy. The baby boy she and her husband adopted required special care and she felt particularly qualified by training and temperament to undertake this challenge. Two years after adopting David, she gave birth to her second son, Fred.

As a farmer's wife, she cared for all the sick animals. Every year she raised the runts of the litters by hand to increase their chances of survival. Over the years, this helped boost farm profits.

In her community, she was often called upon to care for the sick. She was also active in the American Red Cross in Storm Lake, Iowa, where she taught first aid classes during World War II.

76. Student nurses at Oakdale Sanatorium, Velora Patten Melohn is at the right rear, 1916, courtesy of Louise (Hammond) Anderson

77. Velora Patten Melohn and Fay Schlarbaum of University Hospitals, 1916, courtesy of Louise (Hammond) Anderson