Christine Iverson Bennett

Christine Iverson Bennett, born Anna Christine Iverson, (1881–1916) was a Danish emigrant to the United States and member of the Arabian Mission. Iverson graduated from the University of Michigan with her Medical Doctorate degree. After a few years of medical work, she became a medical missionary of the Arabian Mission, and moved to Bahrein in 1909, to work at Mason Memorial Hospital. Marrying Dr. Arthur King Bennett in 1911, they relocated to Busrah, Arabia where the couple continued missionary work at the Lansing Memorial Hospital. She was known for her impact on treating large numbers of patients, both at the Lansing Hospital and in the surrounding area. Additionally, when World War I limited her travel, Iverson began using the hospital specifically to treat wounded soldiers. In 1916, an outbreak of typhoid fever occurred and, while treating infected individuals, she contracted typhoid fever, resulting in her death at age 35 in 1916.

Early life Anna Christine Iverson was born on January 4, 1881, in Denmark. In 1893, at the age of 12, she immigrated to the United States with her family, settling in South Dakota near a Sioux Indian Reservation. While in primary school, Iverson wrote of herself reading The Post of Honor. According to self-proclamation, the story about missionary life in Madagascar portrayed in the book motivated her to pursue missionary work.

Education Iverson attended primary school in Chamberlain, South Dakota. Due to familial relocation to a town near Yankton, South Dakota, she received her high school education at Yankton. Following the completion of high school, she enrolled at Yankton College for one year before dedicating two years to teaching in efforts to raise funds for medical school. where she was Assistant Demonstrator of Anatomy and Secretary of the Medical School class of 1907.

Personal life After setting out to Bahrein, to work at the Mason Memorial Hospital with the intention of providing care to women, Dr. Iverson connected with Arthur King Bennett, an individual she knew from the University of Michigan. The two then moved to Busrah, Arabia to pursue medical missionary work. On July 9, 1912, while in Busrah, she gave birth to her only son, Matthew Cole Bennett. She received a $16.00 monthly salary and oversaw most laboratory work with the help of her future successor, Dr. Maud M Rees. Mr. Van Ess, an individual from the mission, conducted Dr. Christine Iverson Bennett's funeral service and many important individuals, including the military governors of Busrah and Ashar and Sir Percy Cox, were in attendance.