By Deborah Larsen
Lyla Mae Spelbring
Lyla Mae Spelbring was born in Illinois on October 23, 1922, and came to the Rochester area as a young woman just before World War II.
Lyla was inspired to join the Marines after the U.S. entered the war, but her Army-officer father disapproved, so she had to wait until she was of legal age to enlist. She joined the U.S. Marine Corps Women’s Reserve in 1944 at age 21 and was selected for motor transport school. There she learned to operate jeeps, ambulances, and one-ton trucks and to perform preventive maintenance on the vehicles. Lyla transported troops and supplies at bases in Hawaii.
After the war, Lyla used her G.I. Bill to earn a degree in occupational therapy at Western Michigan University. She returned to active military duty in the U.S. Army Women’s Medical Specialist Corps during the Korean War. She continued to serve in the Army for 21 years, through the Vietnam War, and retired as a colonel in 1982 with a total of 27 years of military service.
After the close of the Korean War, Lyla was on reserve status and earned a master’s degree from WMU in 1959 and a PhD from the University of Michigan in 1981. She served as director of occupational therapy services at the University of Michigan Medical Center for 13 years. Dr. Spelbring also joined the faculty of Eastern Michigan University, where she headed EMU’s occupational therapy department until her retirement in 1984.
Dr. Lyla Spelbring won many awards for her leadership and influence in the field of occupational therapy. Eastern Michigan University established the Lyla M. Spelbring Lectureship in Occupational Therapy in her honor. Lyla died in 2011 at age 88 and was laid to rest in White Chapel Cemetery.
Photo credit: Lyla Spelbring Lectureship, Eastern Michigan University