Theo Fenton (Bird) and her sisters Polly and Ida were early initiates of the Theta Chapter of Alpha Xi Delta at the University of Wisconsin. The chapter was installed in 1905. Unlike her sisters, Bird did not finish her educational career at Wisconsin. She earned a degree from Stout Training School and taught domestic science at Madison High School, but she spent time with her Alpha Xi sisters whenever she could.
In March 1918, after the United States entered World War I, Base Hospital No. 22 was organized in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and she joined the effort. She along with the other women who enrolled spent two weeks at the U.S. General Hospital in Lakewood, New Jersey. From there, they were ordered to New York where uniforms and equipment were distributed. Bird prepared for her work as a laboratory assistant by studying the Carrel-Dakin method of wound care at Cornell Medical and Bellevue Hospital.
In the first week of June, they boarded a ship bound for France, but spent a day in New York Harbor because of an enemy submarine scare. The ship made it to England without incident. From there, they traveled by train to Bordeaux, France. At first she was stationed with No. 6 at Bordeaux. In early August, No. 22 was ready to accept patients. Until November 11, it was a busy hospital. Although built for about 500 beds, at one time the unit handled the care of 4,500 sick and wounded.
Bird kept a diary during her service. On October 22, 1918, she wrote:
Our hospital has been made four times as large as it was in the beginning. No one could have made me believe that we could handle so much and we keep on handling more. You ask me why I don’t write more in detail. I have tried it and have had my letters returned. I get up at 6:30, eat, and go to work. Go out with whatever physician calls me. Go over wound after wound, some of them very serious and horrible, and some are superficial. I count bacteria for secondary suture work and culture for different infections. I am very busy but much interested.
After she returned to the U.S., she married Wayne D. Bird and they had two daughters.
Bird seemed to remain involved in the Madison Alpha Xi alumnae organization. She hostessed events including the June 1919 picnic and the October 1926 dinner mentioned in these Wisconsin State Journal clippings.
On November 11, 1933, the Wisconsin State Journal had an article entitled “One Unknown Soldier” written by Mrs. Wayne D. Bird. This is the introduction to the article:
To us, Mrs. Bird’s article seemed particularly appropriate for publication on the Armistice day, the 15th anniversary of the official end of the great conflict that bathed the so-called civilized world in the blood of its finest manhood and womanhood. It tells the story of a young man who died just before the first Armistice day, his identity a mystery, the secrets of his brief existence carried to the rude grave of a soldier. There were others like him, some known, some unknown, – the millions of World war dead, gallant, courageous, reckless youngsters who fought the war that was to end all war.
Bird died on Feb. 27, 1977 at the age of 90. Her sister Polly served as Alpha Xi’s editor from 1911-18 and as National President from 1918-20.
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