Thomson, Evelyn M.

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Evelyn M. Thomson (Pastore)

Evelyn Margaret Peggy Thomson was born on November 20, 1917, in Himrods, New York, to Margaret T Henehan and Kent Chester Thomson She had two sisters Eleanor and Loretta and two brothers Frank and Kent. In Rye her family lived at 385 Boston Post Rd and were members of the Church of the Resurrection.

Evelyn was a graduate of Resurrection Parochial School and of St. Clare’s Academy in Hastings, NY. In 1941, she received her nursing degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing

Evelyn M. Thomson Wins Nursing Diploma
Miss Evelyn Margaret Thomson, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Kent Thomson, of 472 Post Road, Rye, was graduated from the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, Baltimore, Md., on May 22. Miss Thomson’ Her parents- went to Baltimore to attend the commencement.
Port Chester
The Daily Item
1941
May
26
Page 3

Evelyn enlisted and served as an officer in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps during World War II.

The U.S. Army Nurse Corps (ANC) underwent a massive expansion during World War II, growing from fewer than 1,000 nurses in 1941 to more than 59,000 by the war’s end. These women served in every theater of the war, providing critical care and sometimes at great personal risk, often just miles from the front lines.

She served with the Army Nurse Corps with the 60th Field Hospital. During World War II, the 60th Field Hospital of the United States Army served primarily in the European Theater of Operations.
WW2 The unit supported Allied advances across the continent. Field hospitals typically operated 3 to 8 miles from the front line to provide urgent surgical care. They were mobile units capable of being established in temporary structures or tents to follow the army’s movement.

WWII combat nurses during the Battle of the Bulge operated in freezing, high-danger conditions, often within miles of the front lines. Working in tents or damaged buildings, they treated massive casualties from the Ardennes counteroffensive, providing critical, often lifesaving care while managing trauma, exhaustion, and, at times, enemy shelling.

Army Nurse Gets Bronze Star Medal
2nd Lieut. Evelyn M. Thomson U, S. Army nurse, has been awarded the Bronze Star Medal for organizing ability and skill, her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Kent C. Thomson, of 667 Forest Avenue, learned this week. She is believed to be the first woman from Rye or vicinity to receive a citation. Overseas since May, 1944, Lieut. Thomson moved from England with the Army into France and finally into Germany. She is attached to units of the Third Army.

The citation says, “Lieut. Thomson, as a nurse in charge of a hospital ward, has through her organizing ability and skill enabled her ward to achieve and maintain a high standard of efficiency over long periods of heavy operations in the field. Working day and night, often without regular hours for sleeping and eating, she has at all times given her patients the best possible treatment and care.“ Lieut. Thomsons sister, Loretta, is with the WAC and they recently met in France.

RYE, NEW YORK FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 1945

After the war Evelyn received her B. A. degree from New York University and her M. A. from Columbia University School of Journalism. She married Arthur Ralph Pastore on February 24, 1951, in Paris, France.

She was the author of three travel books about Europe. Evelyn also contributed articles to numerous magazines, including Good Housekeeping and the Saturday Evening Post. A native of New York State, she lived In New York City, Baltimore and Paris prior to moving to Pittsburgh.

Evelyn M. Thomson (Pastore) died on October 13, 1965, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, at the age of 47, She had been working on a travel guide to Pennsylvania when she died.

At the time of her death besides her husband she was survived by her father, Kent C. Thomson; two sisters, Mrs. Loretta Hoyt and Mrs. Kenneth Jahelka, and two brothers, Kent G. and Frank J.

Obituary From Rye Chronicle