UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON ARCHIVES
ORAL HISTORY PROGRAM

Interview #999
ANDERSON, JOYCE ESSER

ANDERSON, JOYCE ESSER (1936-)
Professor Emerita of Nursing
At UW: 1966-1972; 1983-2005

Interviewed: 	2009 (2 sessions)
Interviewer: 	Joan Liegel
Index by: 	Stephen A. Pierce
Length: 	2 hours, 45 minutes

Abstract: In her two June/July interviews with Joan Liegel, Joyce Esser Anderson talks about her career in nursing, teaching, and politics in Wisconsin from the 1940s to the late 2000s.  She chronicles her childhood in rural western Wisconsin and her path into nursing education. She provides a detailed explanation of her work with the Wisconsin Nurses Association and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, offering perspectives on the political process, the benefits of hospice, and the balance between work and family. This interview was conducted for inclusion into the UW-Madison Oral History Program.

Key Words: education; rural western Wisconsin; farm life; Tomah High School; Luther Hospital School of Nursing, Eau Claire WI; University of Wisconsin-Madison; St. Mary’s Hospital, Madison; Raymond Esser; marriage and children; Eldon Anderson; UW-Madison School of Nursing; Meriter Hospital; Wisconsin Nurses Association (WNA); Janet Boyd; Wisconsin Nurses Political Action Committee (WNPAC); American Nurses Association (ANA); Joseph Benforado; Cardinal Stritch University; counseling.

First Interview Session (June 4, 2009): Digital File

Time	Keywords
00:00:00	Start of Interview/Interviewer’s Introduction

00:00:15	Question: Talk about your childhood. Answer: Anderson was born on a farm in western WI in 1936. Follow up: Was home birth common? Answer: At the time, yes, though there was a hospital in nearby Sparta. 

00:01:44	Question: Talk about your mother. Answer: Her mother was also born and grew up in Ridgeville, only 4 miles from where she was born. Her mother, like her grandmother, was a teacher, but wasn’t allowed to teach after she married due to state rules. This led to their family being very involved in rural education and school politics.

00:03:36	Question: Your father. Answer: She responded that he was a dairy farmer, taking over his father’s farm, where she was born. She said he enjoyed baseball, passing on this love to his daughter, and was also involved in school politics.

00:05:16	Question: What was school like? Answer: She explained that the school was a one-room schoolhouse, only later expanded to include running water and a restroom. Follow up: What year? Answer: She thought around 1947. Follow up: Did you go to kindergarten? Answer: No; she went 1st to 8th grade there, using community resources like the library—she was an avid reader.

00:07:56	Question: Other activities at home? Answer: She mentioned that their family boarded teachers, so she knew teachers as people not just as educators. 

00:09:25	Question: Your family heritage? Answer: Anderson said that her entire lineage was German, and her grandparents could still speak German. 

00:10:29	Question: Neighbors? Answer: She thought they knew their neighbors—mostly German, but some Norwegian—well, since her father lived his whole life on the farm. She recalled being able to see the neighboring farm and local get-togethers.

00:12:47	Question: Siblings? Answer: She was the oldest of four siblings (3 girls, 1 boy) and more timid than her younger sister. She remembered staying with her grandparents sometimes to help or just for fun.

00:15:20	Question: The family’s health? Answer: She thought it was good, though she recalled being diagnosed with scarlet fever, which precipitated being quarantined from the farm at her paternal grandparents’ house. She discussed immunization, which was just emerging as a form of preventative medicine, her sister’s case of polio, and her appendectomy. She quipped that she didn’t think she actually had appendicitis.

00:18:10	[no question] Anderson detailed the relative location of Ridgeville, close to Sparta and Tomah, and reminisced about watching Camp McCoy soldiers on maneuvers.

00:18:57	Question: Talk about school. Answer: She said she enjoyed school and was expected to take schoolwork seriously. She also discussed educational radio programs coming from Madison, visits from county educational supervisors, & combined grades levels. Follow up: Favorite subject? Answer: She enjoyed it all, but especially reading.

00:23:09	Question: Teenage years? Answer: She explained that, due to union politics, the family paid tuition in order to attend Tomah schools. She had to stay with grand-parents to do this, played clarinet in the band (which visited Madison), considered herself something of an activist in her debate team, took home economics because she knew she wanted to be a nurse, and went to “canteens” (dances).

00:26:55	Follow up: You knew you wanted to be a nurse? Answer: She thought she decided this in grade school, though she wasn’t sure why. She recounted the process of picking a nursing school with her mother.

00:28:39	Follow up: Anything else about HS? Answer: She recalled being amazed at how many students weren’t serious about education, since she was a very serious student. She also talked about becoming socialized (as a rural student) into the world of Tomah city students.

00:31:46	Question: Beliefs? Answer: She discussed her religious and social beliefs and her ability to play imaginative and solitary games. Follow up: Friends? Answer: She talked about friends from the bus, from rural areas, and from the church.

00:34:44	Question: Nursing school? Answer: She described why she went to Luther instead of Eau Claire State Univ., for financial reasons, and Luther’s 3-year program. She knew she wanted to continue her education and remembered her struggle to have her Eau Claire credits recognized at Madison.

00:38:02	Question: When did you start here? Answer: She went to Luther from 1955-57 and then started at UW, graduating with a BSN in August 1959. Follow up: And after-ward? Answer: She was hired to teach fundamentals of nursing at St. Mary’s Hospital School of Nursing. She shared several anecdotes from these years.

00:42:23	Follow up: Did you have any clinical experience? Answer: Yes; she’d worked in a women’s medicine unit at Madison. 

00:43:43	Question: Compare hospital-based and university-based education? Answer: She said that they actually got more clinical experience in the hospital-based system, though they were shorter and encouraged less critical thinking. She quipped about being put in charge of pediatrics at Luther one New Years’ Eve, which might not have been the best thing. 

00:47:32	Question: You got married? Answer: She said she met her husband at a softball game while she was at UW. She recounted eloping and getting married in Iowa to avoid conflict with her husband’s mother, who was a staunch Catholic. She talked a little about her husband Raymond Esser, who was a UW engineering professor raised in Madison. She discussed Raymond’s love of writing, which he did during summers.

00:52:17	Follow up: Children? Answer: She talked about her five daughters and grandchildren, who were all athletes. Follow up: Anything else about the family? Answer: She did work during their daughter’s childhood, so between her husband, mother-in-law, and a close childcare helper, they were able to manage day-to-day life and even long vacations out West or to annual conventions.

00:57:37	Question: How did Raymond die? Answer: She responded that he died from brain cancer, which had been diagnosed from a seizure he had in class one day, after which he lived about 9 months. She talked about how this affected her and her daughters, who were all school-age, and how hospice, family, and church helped the family through this difficult experience.

01:01:09	Question: What was life like after Raymond died? Answer: She was quite busy because she was working, going through probate with the estate, and trying to keep life normal for her daughters. She recalled trips to Chicago and elsewhere.

01:02:31	[no question] Anderson recounted her involvement with hospice as a volunteer board member, and advocate for getting licensure for hospices. She detailed the challenges of getting the licensure bill passed by the WI Assembly (in the late 1980s) and the advantages of licensure to hospices.

01:06:00	[no question] She moved on to discuss her involvement in Kayra Group, a support group for widows and widowers. This was where she met Eldon Anderson, whom she married in 1982. She thought this a harder adjustment for Eldon, whose children were all grown, than her; and discussed trips the new family took.

01:08:44	End of First Interview Session

Second Interview Session (July 16, 2009): Digital File

Time	Keywords
00:00:00	Start of Interview/Interviewer’s Introduction

00:00:00	Question: Talk about starting as an instructor at UW. Answer: Anderson talked about starting teaching nursing students from 1966 to 1972 after taking a sabbatical to have her third daughter. Her main obligation was teaching returning RNs coming from 3-yr schools who wanted to get their BSN. She discussed working with Janet Boyd teaching these courses that centered on patient-centered care and team nursing.

00:03:03	[no question] She discussed the frustrations of RN students who had taken a hiatus after their programs and were often forced to return to school by their employers—this at a time when levels of nursing were becoming politicized.

00:05:05	[no question] She recalled curriculum changes being undertaken by the School of Nursing in the late 1960s—teaching “core concepts” in classes and more specific training in clinical experiences. This was partly because of a broad range of experience of students coming into the course, and she shared a number of anecdotes illustrating these different experiences.

00:11:18	[no question] She noted that it became increasingly clear that she needed to get her Masters if she was to continue teaching. She took masters’ courses, worked full time at UW Hospital, and taught courses. She discussed feeling compelled to engage with theory in her masters in order to demonstrate her ability to her professors. She also talked about having to be persistent with her generalist ambitions, going against the prevailing trend to specialize

00:14:45	[no question] Anderson talked about her masters’ thesis, which she wrote on teaching newly diagnosed diabetics. She recalled the difficulties of defining a “newly diagnosed” diabetic, setting the geographical range of the study, and some anecdotes about fieldwork in rural WI.

00:20:01	[no question] Continuing to talk about her masters’ thesis, she had not finished her the study by the time she graduated and got her first position (at Meriter Hospital). But she enjoyed the intellectual rigor of the program and the writing process. She shared some of the more frustrating parts of trying to finish the thesis, though.

00:24:58	[no question] She discussed working at Meriter Hospital from 1972-1973. Hired as a curriculum coordinator, after 6 months she was assigned to teach.

00:26:29	[no question] In summer 1974, she then moved to be Director of Legislation at WI Nurses Association. She explained going into this job with very little orientation and detailed the process of her first legislative action—having to shepherd (an amendment to) a piece of legislation through with the ‘help’ of Assemblyman Roberts.

00:31:50	[no question] She continued to narrate her work with WNA, which she took over from Janet Boyd.  This involved setting up a legislative office for the association on Mifflin Street (it had previously been in Milwaukee), churning out a lot of paperwork on a daily basis (for which she got reprimanded once). 

00:36:04	[no question] She continued to talk about her work with WNA, staffing the legislative committee of the association which reviewed all legislation dealing with nursing and women’s rights and tried to represent the citizens’ interests. She shared a major victory she achieved in the legislature during this time, as well as developing a political action committee, WNPAC, which became popular among legislators. She explained how WNPAC decided which legislators to endorse and raised money.

00:43:28	[no question] She continued by recounting efforts to get nurses on state committees discussing cost containment, which required reading and sifting information on sometimes unfamiliar topics. The most important legislation at this time was a bill that certified nurse midwives as a category of nurses.

00:46:48	Follow up: Why was Gundersen Hospital (La Crosse) so helpful in this legislation? Answer: She didn’t know, but was aware of one physician at Gundersen who did not feel threatened by licensing nurse midwives and helped bring in legislators from western WI. She also discussed the wrinkle that other legislation (on lay nurse mid-wives) that WNA did not support was going through the Assembly at the same time.

00:49:15	[no question] Anderson showed that nurses were held in high regard in the state, observed that she was consulted by other organizations who wanted lobbying, and talked about a meeting she had with prominent Democrats who wanted to reduce the expense of individual licensure in lieu of institutional licensure, which WNA opposed. She talked about coming out against it on the committee and the lessons she learned from the situation.

00:53:23	[no question] Continuing to talk about her work with other agencies on issues of licensure, she reviewed work she did introducing changes in the Medicaid statutes. She quipped about the realities of “Russian roulette”—guessing when legislation would come up in a session during a time when legislative hours were not particularly attended to—and closed-door, but important, party caucuses.

00:57:09	[no question] Continuing to talk about her work as a lobbyist, she talked about education WNA engaged in of the public and membership. 

00:59:17	Question: What is ANA? Answer: American Nurses Association, which was the umbrella organization for state nurses associations.

01:00:12	Question: After WNA? Answer: Anderson spoke about moving on from WNA during a round of staff cuts, at which point she was hired as a unit manager for alcohol detox with Dane County Mental Health Center. She explained the structure of the organization and how patients were sent there, noting that they didn’t deal with children or detox for other drugs than alcohol.

01:05:32	[no question] Anderson discussed her time at Dane County Mental Health Center, including misunderstanding both among community members and professionals about alcoholism. After a year at Dane County, her unit was outsourced, and she discussed having to out-staff her employees. She talked about her work with Dr. Benforado and the differences in the structure of the detox unit and other work she’d done. She noted her (and patients’) relationships with Madison Police and the Dane County Sherriffs.

01:13:13	Question: After that? Answer: She recounted moving to work at Cardinal Stritch University (in Milwaukee and Madison), but desiring to move back to UW, which she did in 1983. She recalled not enjoying the strictures of Cardinal Stritch’s curriculum, but enjoying discussions with students.

01:15:22	[no question] She talked about coming to UW-Madison as a clinical professor. She chose explicitly to be in clinical nursing, working with both UW and Veteran’s hospitals, but also taught medical and surgical nursing and lectured some. This variety of experiences stretched her

01:19:44	[no question] She talked about the challenge of clinical placement for nurses at UW and Veterans’ Hospitals. She also enjoyed teaching some courses on legal and ethical issues, with which she had a lot of experience.

01:21:10	Question: Were there red flags that a specific person wouldn’t make a good nurse? Answer: She observed that there were times she advised a student that this wouldn’t make a good career, offering the example of one student who struggled to report any-thing negative. She also remembered, during her baccalaureate teaching, volunteering to counsel people, which led to a number of interesting experiences that showed how difficult it was to notice the warning signs of students who were in trouble.

01:29:10	Question: Community service? Answer: She had served on the boards of Rebos, WNA, WNPAC, Advent Lutheran Church, Hospice Care, Inc., and took leadership in helping Hospice get licensure. She was also writing for Stat (the WNA publication), Nursing Matters, and book chapters especially on the history of WNA. She also spoke frequently on licensure, nursing and health care, and nursing and health legislation.

01:33:02	End of Second Interview Session

End of Oral History #999