Mary J. Scheirer was born on April 6, 1894 in Reading, the middle child and only daughter of William H. (1872-1935) and Mary Ida (Lengle) Scheirer (1866-1927). She was an active member of the Zion Reformed Church at Washington and Cedar Sts. in the city and of its Sunday School. She also was a member of the Elizabeth Herr Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star. Scheirer attended the public schools of Reading and was employed as a worker in a hosiery mill before attending the Collegiate Institute in 1911. She then entered the Reading Hospital School of Nursing, graduating in 1914, before accepting a position as a Private Duty Nurse at the Reading Hospital and she volunteered for the American Red Cross Nursing Service in April of 1918. Certainly, there was a desperate need for nurses at this time due to the thousands of military cases of the Spanish Flu, which struck the normally healthy young population in greater numbers than any other group. She was stationed at the U.S. Army Debarkation Hospital #1 on Ellis Island, New York. There, in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty, ships carrying wounded soldiers docked upon returning from the war zone. Patients were quickly evaluated and transferred to hospitals that specialized in treating their individual conditions. Unfortunately, these troops often carried the flu with them. Mary, herself, contracted the dreaded disease while performing her duties and succumbed on October 5, 1918 at the age of 24. She is now buried in Saint John's Lutheran Cemetery, Pine Grove, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, USA.