In 1939, the year Marie Sgriccia graduated from high school, the 17-year-old had to wait a year before attending college to become a registered nurse, because they wouldn’t take her until she was at least 18.

“In those days, there wasn’t very much a girl could do if she wanted a job. She could be a teacher, be a secretary or go into nursing,” the 92-year-old Punta Gorda resident recalled with a smile. “I got started in nursing in 1940, before the war. They didn’t think nursing was a good thing for a girl to go into. But then World War II started and then it was a different story.