Harriet L. Leete (December 14, 1871 – November 19, 1927) was an American Red Cross nurse during World War I.
Early life Leete was born in Jamestown, New York, the daughter of Franklin Leet and Louise Jones Leet. Her father (who spelled his name without a final E) was a farmer and a justice of the peace.William Richard Cutter, ed. Genealogical and Family History of Western New York (Lewis Historical Publishing 1912): 89.
Career Before World War I, Leete was superintendent of nurses at the Babies' Dispensary and Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio, and a nationally recognized expert on infant care."Leader in Baby Conservation" Washington Times (November 16, 1913): 11. via Newspapers.com"Baby Scientists to Gather Here" Washington Herald (November 10, 1913): 2. via Newspapers.com
Leete was a charter member of the National Committee on Red Cross Nursing Service."The Passing of Harriet L. Leete" American Journal of Nursing (January 1928): 71-72. In 1917, she was in the first hospital unit to sail from the United States for France, as a member of the Lakeside Base Hospital Unit of Cleveland. In Paris she worked with the Red Cross Children's Bureau."Women in the War" Wilmington Morning Star (April 28, 1918): 11. via Newspapers.com She was chief nurse at the American Red Cross Hospital Number 5, at Auteuil. She went to work for the Balkan Commission, as Chief Nurse for northern Serbia,"Nursing Plans for the Balkans" Red Cross Bulletin (February 17, 1919): 26. based at Belgrade Hospital.Clara D. Noyes, "The Red Cross" American Journal of Nursing (March 1919): 447. She contracted typhus at Palanka It is known as Smederevska Palanka in modern Serbia. and returned to the United States in July 1919.American Red Cross National Nursing Service,History of American Red Cross Nursing (Macmillan 1922): 1118-1120. The Serbian government awarded Leete the Order of St. Sava for her wartime efforts.After the war, she was field director of the American Child Hygiene Association,"Baltimorean Makes Report; Miss Harriet L. Leete Gives Survey of Child Hygiene" Baltimore Sun (November 3, 1921): 2. via Newspapers.com which involved extensive travel and lecturing.K. Clements, The Life of Herbert Hoover: Imperfect Visionary, 1918–1928 (Springer 2010): 168. "This twentieth century does belong to the child," she wrote, "and unless we as nurses — not just public health nurses, but all nurses — meet this challenge... we shall be liable to the reproach of those who follow us."Arlene W. Keeling, "Nurses, Babies, and Public Health" in Arlene W. Keeling, John C. Kirchgessner, Michelle C. Hehman, eds., History of Professional Nursing in the United States: Toward a Culture of Health (Springer 2017): 216-217. From 1925 until her death, she was superintendent at a convalescent home in Far Rockaway, New York."Miss Harriet L. Leete" New York Times (November 21, 1927): 23.
Personal life Leete died in 1927, aged 56 years, at a hospital on Long Island, from complications after an ear infection.
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