Papers of Mary Frederika Farley, 1881-1987

Mary Frederika Farley, American Red Cross nurse, was born on January 17, 1884, in New York. She was the only child of Mary (Parnell) and Oliver Calot (spelled Callet on the copy of Farley's certificate of baptism) Farley. Farley attended public schools and spent many summers with her aunt Mary (Wells) Farley in Rowe, Massachusetts. It was her aunt Mary who encouraged Farley to become a nurse, despite the objections of her mother. Farley graduated from a combined degree program at Simmons College and Boston Children's Hospital in 1907.

Before the United States entered World War I, Farley joined the American Red Cross and volunteered to serve overseas. With a large group of American doctors and nurses she sailed from New York in 1914. After an arduous journey her small contingent arrived in Kiev, where together with the Russian Red Cross they set up a hospital in a polytechnic institute. The Americans were received by the Dowager Empress, presented to Czar Nicholas II, and awarded Russian medals for their work. The Czar suggested that it would be safer to return home by way of Siberia and so in mid April 1915 Farley and other nurses traveled on the Trans-Siberian Railroad to Vladivostok, on to China, by boat to Japan, and back to the United States. She arrived in New York City in mid June.

On her return Farley joined the New York State Commission for the Blind and spent two days a week at an eye clinic for prisoners at the Sing Sing Correctional Facility. In 1916 she joined the New York chapter of the Red Cross and became director of the Teaching Center--later called the Home Nursing Service--a job she held until her retirement in 1949. Under her leadership, the service ran classes to train nurses' aides, introduced home nursing instruction into the city's high schools, and started Mother and Baby courses. Farley was also a charter member and president (1946-1948) of the Overseas Service League, on the board of Nurses House, a convalescent home, and president of the New York Counties Registered Nurses Association. After her retirement she continued to be active in these organizations and worked on the staff of the Floating Hospital of St. John's Guild. She enjoyed going to horse races and the theater, reading, parties, and perhaps most of all traveling. On one of her many trips (1959) she returned to Kiev.

Farley died on January 27, 1986, at the Mary Manning Walsh Home in New York City, and by some accounts was buried in her Red Cross uniform.