A Joint Project of the Sam Rayburn House Historic Site and the Fannin County Historical Commission

Celebrating America 250 with Spotlights of Fannin County Citizens Who Participated In or Witnessed Historical Events

Fannin County, Texas -- Harriet Zumwalt was born in 1921 in Philadelphia and trained as a nurse at Lankenair Hospital and Nurses Training school in Philadelphia.

Upon graduation from nursing school in 1943, she was commissioned a 2nd lieutenant in the U.S. Army Nurses Corps. By the end of the war, she was a 1st lieutenant.

Harriet was assigned to the USAHS Seminole, an Army hospital ship, which supported the Italian invasion. While stationed on the Seminole, Harriet made fourteen Atlantic crossings caring for both wounded soldiers and prisoners-of-war.

While aboard the Seminole, Harriet met Staff Sgt. Sammy Zumwalt, the Chief Radio Operator. They married at her home on Christmas Eve 1944 and returned to duty on the Seminole telling no one they were married. After the war they eventually moved to Bonham, where Sam was Agent-Yardmaster of the Texas & Pacific Railroad.

After her children graduated from high school, Harriet returned to service as a geriatric nurse at the Sam Rayburn Veterans Hospital from 1966 until retirement in 1983.

Harriet died in 2012 in Bonham and is buried at Willow Wild.