Growing up, Rose (Steinmetz) Bingham dreamed of becoming a teacher or a nurse. The empty corncrib on her grandparents’ farm often became a pretend hospital setting, with her dolls and unenthusiastic cats as patients.

Bingham’s dreams became uncertain when her mother disappeared in 1952. Bingham was the oldest of seven children that ranged from 15 to 3 years of age. As hard as she and her father tried to keep things together, the children were ultimately placed in St. Michael’s Orphanage in La Crosse and later split up into five different foster families. She made it her mission in life to never lose contact with any of her siblings.

A person of strong faith, looking back Bingham believes she had angels guiding her way. When she was a senior at Aquinas High School and a resident of the orphanage, she received a three-year scholarship to St. Francis School of Nursing. She didn’t know who nominated her, but she thought that it must have been one of her angels. In 1955, tuition for three years was $500.

St. Francis School of Nursing was a three- year in-residence program. Bingham believed it was advantageous living with classmates. They laughed, cried, and studied together, but most of all, supported one another.

Courses in the biological, physical, social, and medical sciences were taught at Viterbo College at the time. She has fond memories of wearing a nursing cape in the winter to walk to the college. Bingham graduated in 1958 and in 1996 earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Wisconsin. In 2011, St. Francis graduates became honorary alumnae of Viterbo.

Bingham’s career spanned over 43 years. After graduation in 1958, she worked at St. Mary’s Hospital in Madison on a medical/surgical unit and later at Mendota State Hospital. After taking four years off to care for her young children, in 1964 she went to work at Central Wisconsin Center for the Developmentally Disabled until 1988. She found working with people with disabilities to be very rewarding.

Bingham always knew St. Francis School of Nursing was special but learned how special when she applied for a job at Sauk Prairie Hospital. She informed the director of nursing she was knowledgeable about mobility equipment, seizure medications, and feeding tubes but rusty in general hospital nursing. The director looked at her resume and said, “No problem. I see you are a St. Francis graduate. I will have you shadow a nurse for a few weeks. You will be fine.” After a couple of years, she became day nurse manager on the medical/surgical unit and worked there until retirement.

After receiving answers to her mother’s disappearance in 2011, Bingham became a writer and a published author. Her books include Buy the Little Ones a Dolly, a memoir published in 2017; Say It Isn’t So and Then Make Lemonade in 2019, and Life Through My Eyes, a collection of prose and poetry in 2022.

She is proud of her status as mother, grandmother, and great grandmother. She resides with her husband, Mike, in Reedsburg.

“The nursing profession was challenging, rewarding, and a job where I often went home tired, but not tired of going back the next day.” Recently, Bingham decided to pay it forward and donated to the St. Francis School of Nursing Scholarship fund. Started in 2011 with $6,000, the fund has received over $94,000 in donations and accrued an additional $39,000 in investment earnings. More than $31,000 has been awarded in scholarships.

Learn more about Bingham and her books on her website.