Marjorie Hulsizer Copher (January 26, 1892 – May 19, 1935) was an American dietitian who served in France during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Early life

Edith Marjorie Hulsizer was born in

Flemington, New Jersey Flemington is a borough in and the county seat of Hunterdon County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Simmons College Institutions of learning called Simmons College or Simmons University include: * Simmons University, a women's liberal arts college in Boston, Massachusetts * Simmons College of Kentucky, a historically black college in Louisville, Kentucky * Ha ...

in 1916 (after starring as

Prospero Prospero ( ) is a fictional character and the protagonist of William Shakespeare's play '' The Tempest''. Prospero is the rightful Duke of Milan, whose usurping brother, Antonio, had put him (with his three-year-old daughter, Miranda) to se ...

in her class's production of Shakespeare's ''The Tempest'').

Career

Hulsizer worked as a dietitian at hospitals in Massachusetts early in her career. She was one of the charter members of the

American Dietetic Association The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics is a 501(c)(6) trade association in the United States. With over 112,000 members, the association claims to be the largest organization of food and nutrition professionals. It has registered dietitian nut ...

when it was founded in 1917. During World War I, she joined the

Peter Bent Brigham Hospital Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) is the second largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School and the largest hospital in the Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Along with Massachusetts General Hospital, it is one of the two f ...

Unit, serving as a dietitian in

Étaples Étaples or Étaples-sur-Mer (; vls, Stapel, lang; pcd, Étape) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. It is a fishing and leisure port on the Canche river. History Étaples takes its name from having been a medieval ...

and

Boulogne-sur-Mer Boulogne-sur-Mer (; pcd, Boulonne-su-Mér; nl, Bonen; la, Gesoriacum or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department of Pas-de-Calais. Boulogne lies on the C ...

, France, with the British Expeditionary Force from May 1917 to the end of 1918, and then with the

American Expeditionary Forces The American Expeditionary Forces (A. E. F.) was a formation of the United States Army on the Western Front of World War I. The A. E. F. was established on July 5, 1917, in France under the command of General John J. Pershing. It fought along ...

. She was decorated by the British and French for her wartime service. "We draw rations every morning of bacon, rice, onions, potatoes, tinned meat, milk, cocoa, jam, oleomargarine, pork and beans, sugar, salt, tea, cheese, bread, mustard, pepper, pickles, and coal and ice when they have it. I feed about one hundred and twenty people," she wrote in an account of her responsibilities. For a brief time after the war, she worked at the City Hospital in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

. From 1921 to 1925, Hulsizer worked at the

Barnes-Jewish Hospital Barnes-Jewish Hospital is the largest hospital in the U.S. state of Missouri. Located in the Central West End neighborhood of St. Louis, it is the adult teaching hospital for the Washington University School of Medicine and a major component of ...

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

, as head dietitian. She was active in the League of Women Voters and the Washington University Woman's Club."Mrs. Marjorie Copher, War Dietition, Dies"
''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' (May 20, 1935): 10. via

Newspapers.com Ancestry.com LLC is an American genealogy company based in Lehi, Utah. The largest for-profit genealogy company in the world, it operates a network of genealogical, historical records, and related genetic genealogy websites. In November 2018, ...

Personal life and legacy

In 1924, Marjorie Hulsizer married Dr. Glover Hancock Copher, a surgeon and professor at the medical school of

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...

. They had a daughter, Marjorie Ann Copher (White). Copher died in St. Louis in 1935, aged 43 years, from bronchogenic carcinoma, a form of lung cancer. The Library of Congress holds a small collection of Hulsizer's letters home from the war. The

Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics is a 501(c)(6) trade association in the United States. With over 112,000 members, the association claims to be the largest organization of food and nutrition professionals. It has registered dietitian n ...

's highest award is the Marjorie Hulsizer Copher Award, given annually since 1945 to a member who "has contributed to the profession through extensive, active participation and service to the profession of nutrition and dietetics, both within and outside of the Academy".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Copher, Marjorie Hulsizer 1892 births 1935 deaths American women in World War I Dietitians People from Flemington, New Jersey Simmons University alumni