As nurses in Colorado are preparing for the Sunset of the Nurse Practice Act in 2027, this quarter we honor Louie Croft Boyd, the first licensed nurse in Colorado. She dedicated her life to the nursing profession and to raising standards for nursing. As a teenager, she was a suffragette and newspaper journalist. She came to Colorado at age 21 and enrolled in the Colorado Training School for Nurses at City Hospital, later known as Denver General and now known as Denver Health. After graduating in 1899, she completed post graduate training and earned a teaching certificate in Chicago and returned to Denver to teach at Denver General. During her career she served as superintendent of nursing at Denver General, St. Luke’s and Rio Grand Hospitals in Colorado and Wyoming General in Rock Springs, Wyoming, seeking roles where she could affect working conditions and educational standards.

In 1904, Louie helped found the Colorado State Trained Nurses Association, now Colorado Nurses Association, and was hired as the association’s first Lobbyist. She wrote what was to become HB32 and SB9, introduced to the Colorado General Assembly to create legal licensure for nurses. Upon passage of the bill in 1905, creating the State Board of Nursing Examiners, Louie applied for and became the first licensed nurse in Colorado. She later served on the State Board of Nurse Examiners.

Louie Croft Boyd was posthumously inducted into the Colorado Nurses Association Hall of Fame, and the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame. A powerful advocate for nursing in Colorado, she is a true Legendary Leader.