Year Inducted: 1996
As the first housemother of Battenfeld Scholarship Hall, Florence C. Montgomery personally touched the lives of hundreds of students at the University of Kansas. Born November 12, 1882 in St. Louis, Missouri, "Mother Montgomery" was a graduate nurse of Stormont hospital in Topeka before arriving at the University in 1940. According to Maurice Updegrove, a resident of Battenfeld under Mother Montgomery, "She was a caring, loving person... who established an at-home feeling for her charges." John C. Sells, also a former resident, remembers her "for her caring, teaching about the good things in life, and being 'our mom." In fond remembrance of Mother Montgomery's service to the University of Kansas, the residents of Battenfeld from the 1940-43 era established a permanent scholarship in honor of her. This scholarship honors returning students of Battenfeld Scholarship Hall, "who promote and exemplify commitment to the spirit of cooperative living." She was inducted posthumously into the Women's Hall of Fame in 1996.
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The University of Kansas Medical Center