Keller, Nettie Florence (1875–1974)
Keller, Nettie Florence (1875–1974)
American-born physician, surgeon, professor, and social reformer. Name variations: Nettie Florence Armstrong. Born Nettie Florence Armstrong, Mar 18, 1875, probably in Carthage, Missouri; died Jan 15, 1974, in Los Angeles, California; dau. of James Armstrong (timber merchant) and Frances (Haxton) Armstrong; attended Walla Walla College; studied at Battle Creek Sanitarium, 1890s; American Medical Missionary College, diploma in medicine, 1900; m. Peter Martin Keller (physician), 1901); children: 1 daughter.
Arrived in New Zealand as medical missionary with Seventh-day Adventist church (1901); practiced medicine with husband at Christchurch Medical and Surgical Sanitarium, Papanui (1901); lived briefly in Sydney, Australia, and returned to New Zealand (c. 1904), to practice medicine in North Island (1904); returned US to tour children's hospitals (1915), and for postgraduate course in surgery in Chicago (1917); active on Auckland Hospital and Charitable Aid Board (1913–19); executive member of Auckland branch of National Schools Defense League; returned to US to teach in department of obstetrics and gynecology at College of Medical Evangelists, Linda Loma, California (1919); became surgeon at White Memorial Hospital, Pasadena; elected fellow of American College of Surgeons and International College of Surgeons.
See also Dictionary of New Zealand Biography (Vol. 3).