Mary Alice Rothrock was born in Steelton, Pa. She completed her primary schooling and then went on to study music at Lefson Hill Conservatory.
After completing three years at Lefson, she decided to attend nursing school, which she completed in 1911.
Before she moved to Clearfield, she served as supervisor at an institution in Philadelphia, the superintendent of Mercy Hospital in Altoona and superintendent of the Lewistown Hospital.
A.W. Lee and H.B. Powell offered Miss Rothrock the position of supervisor at the Clearfield Hospital School of Nursing, which she accepted in 1915.
By 1916, she was superintendent of the school and director of nursing. She had a weekly article entitled, “Its’s a Fact” in The Progress.
Miss Rothrock left her position at the Clearfield Hospital School of Nursing to take the position of secretary of the State Board of Examiners in 1939, a board that she had served on since 1925 and continued to serve on until 1941.
She served as president of the State League of Nursing Educators from 1927 to 1929. On top of these two prestigious positions, she also served as president of the Pennsylvania Nurses.
