Considering the prominence given to the nursing pin in this portrait, and the fact that Mom is no longer wearing a student nurse uniform, I’m reasonably sure this was taken when she graduated from nurse’s training and became a registered nurse. That would have been in May or June 1931.

After three years of hard work, she was finally, officially a nurse. Unfortunately the timing was not ideal. According to Mom’s written recollection:

After graduation I worked in Portland for a while, but it was depression time and not much work, so I came home to Tallman. After a while I got a job at Albany General Hospital. We had a good group to work with there.

She also mentions:

At that time, I was paid sixty-seven dollars and board-and-room each month at Albany General.

I seem to recall Mom mentioning that the rooms the nurses got were in the basement of the hospital.

The photo below was taken in 1924, but I imagine Albany General Hospital looked the same in 1931 (except for models of the cars).