In August 1919, The Fort Wayne Lutheran Hospital in Indiana agreed to admit deaconess students into the training school for nurses. The arrangement was that the deaconess students received the regular courses in theoretical and practical training as nurses, and, in addition, local pastors were to instruct the deaconess students in religion and other subjects designed especially to prepare them for their service as deaconesses. Thus the Lutheran Deaconess Association was begun.
Ina Kempff was the first student to enroll in the LDA training program. On November 1, 1922, she became the first woman consecrated under the auspices of the LDA. In 1922, newly consecrated Ina became the matron of a new hospital in Beaver Dam, WI, a position in which she is likely to have supervised patient care and been responsible for the efficient running of the hospital, huge responsibilities for a new young deaconess. She also no doubt had some responsibilities for the training of deaconess students.
Ina left Beaver Dam in 1925 for a very different sort of ministry. She was called as a deaconess nurse for the City Missions of Detroit, MI, where she served until 1926. In October of 1926, Ina resigned her position as a deaconess to care for her aging parents. Sometime later, Ina met and married Walter Meyer, and they made their home in Milwaukee. Despite her official resignation, her son Jim recalls that his mom never really stopped being a deaconess. She continually witnessed to others about the faith that was in her.
After a long and faithful life, Ina Kempff Meyer died on July 19, 1980. To the end, her life was marked with a commitment to Christ and the Church, to her family and to serving those in need.
