Colonel D. Inez Haynes
10th Chief, Army Nurse Corps

© Mary T. Sarnecky

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D'Lorz Inez Haynes was the first child born to the farming family of Floyd and Lola Rampey Haynes on 3 June 1909 in Paint Rock, Texas. She and her three brothers and sister grew up in the country around San Angelo, Texas. After her 1929 graduation from Miles High School in Miles, Texas, Haynes entered nursing school at Scott and White Hospital in Temple, Texas. As a newly registered nurse, Haynes listened to friends and family who spoke of the exploits of the Army nurses of World War I and she decided to join the Army. She applied to enter service at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas and began her career in the Army Nurse Corps, coming to active duty in 1933. Haynes spent six years as an operating room nurse at Fort Sam Houston and two additional years in the same role at Sternberg General Hospital in the Philippines. Six months before the Japanese invasion, she transferred to a brief assignment at Fort Lewis, Washington, and subsequently to Fort Worden, Washington. In 1942, Haynes again served in the operating room, this time at Walter Reed General Hospital. For the duration of World War II and in its aftermath, she served as chief nurse of several general hospitals in Europe and in the Pacific. In 1947, Haynes became chief nurse of the First Army Area in New York. In 1949, she began a four year tenure in the ANC Career Management Branch in the Surgeon General's Office. From 1953 until 1955, Haynes earned her bachelor of science in nursing at the University of Minnesota. In 1954, Haynes became the deputy chief of the Army Nurse Corps. In October 1955, she began her four-year term as the tenth chief of the Army Nurse Corps.¹

Colonel Inez Haynes retired from the Army Nurse Corps on 31 August 1959.² She immediately began a second career as general director and secretary of the National League for Nursing on 1 September 1959 and continued in that position until June 1969. At that time, she joined the faculty of the College of Nursing at the University of Texas. One year later she relocated to El Reno, Oklahoma, to care for her widowed mother and served at Oklahoma University, assisting the faculty in obtaining grants and funding.³ In her later years, Haynes finally had time to enjoy painting, art appreciation, symphonic music, and travel.⁴ At the same time, Haynes dedicated time and effort to civic endeavors as well. She actively supported the United Fund, Salvation Army, the local Junior College, the County Hearing Association, and other organizations in the community. She passed away on 29 May 1997 in El Reno, Oklahoma.⁵

Photo of Colonel Haynes