93-Year-Old Nurse Retires After 72 Years on the Job

A 93-year-old South Dakota woman has finally hung up her nurse's cap after more than seven decades in the medical field.

Last month, Alice Graber celebrated her retirement from the Salem Mennonite Home in Freeman, South Dakota, where she worked for over 20 years.

"I told them that [a party] wasn't necessary and the director, Shirley Knodel, she said, 'Oh no, we've got to do something here for you,'" Graber told ABC News today. "I [had fun] because of all the people coming and going that congratulated me. It was almost overwhelming."



Graber had worked as a registered nurse for 72 years since landing her first job in 1944.

She was born in Nebraska and at first, wanted to become a home economics teacher, she said.

Eventually Garber would go on to complete the three-year nursing program at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Lincoln, Nebraska.

"Nursing was my next choice and so, it was my aunt who took charge of me and she said, 'We will that you get into nursing if you wanted to,'" Graber said. "In nursing you just have to have a lot of patience and perseverance. It was one way of helping people and I thought, 'At least I'm doing something that's good.' And, I like people."

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