Agnes von Kurowsky Agnes von Kurowsky Stanfield ( January 5 , 1892 – September 25 , 1984 ) was an American nurse who inspired the character " Catherine Barkley " in Ernest Hemingway ' s " A Farewell to Arms " . Kurowsky served as a nurse in an American Red Cross hospital in Milan during World War I . One of her patients was the 19 - year - old Hemingway , who fell in love with her . By the time of his release and return to the United States in January 1919 , Kurowsky and Hemingway planned to marry within a few months in America . However , in March she wrote that she had become engaged to an Italian officer . Although Kurowsky did eventually return to the United States , they never met again . Their story is shown in the 1996 film " In Love and War " . Hemingway used his experiences in Italy as the basis for ten short stories . Fictionalized characters based on Kurowsky appear in his short stories " A Very Short Story " and " The Snows of Kilimanjaro " , as well as his novel " A Farewell to Arms " . Background . Agnes von Kurowsky Stanfield was born on January 5 , 1892 , in Germantown , Philadelphia , Pennsylvania . Her parents met while her German - born father was teaching languages at the Berlitz school in Washington , D . C . . One of her uncles was the famous Chicago architect William Holabird , and her maternal grandfather was Gen . Samuel Beckley Holabird , who served as a Quartermaster in the United States Army . Although her family would move many times during her childhood , Agnes came to regard Washington as her home . She attended the Fairmont Seminary and a training program for the public library in Washington . She got her first job in 1910 as a cataloguer for the library there . In 1914 she decided to leave the library and attend nursing school . In her words " [ The library ] was too slow and uneventful . My taste ran to something more exciting . " She attended the Bellevue Nurses Training Program in New York City , graduating in 1917 . She applied for service with the American Red Cross , and , on June 15 , 1918 , she sailed for Europe . It was there , at her first assignment for the Red Cross at the Army Hospital in Milan that she met Hemingway . In 1919 , she rejected him through a letter , while he was in the United States . Agnes ' s identity as the basis for the fictional character was not widely known until Hemingway ' s brother , Leicester , published a book in 1961 about his brother . Leicester Hemingway visited with Agnes in Key West while researching his book . Agnes gave him some photographs from her scrapbook that now reside at the Hemingway Foundation . Marriages and death . Agnes von Kurowsky was married twice . She married Howard Preston ( " Pete " ) Garner on November 24 , 1928 , while stationed with the Red Cross in Haiti . After her Haitian assignment was completed , she obtained a quick divorce . She married for the second time to William Stanfield in 1934 . Stanfield was a hotel manager and widower with three children . During World War II , her husband and one of her stepsons both served in the Navy . Agnes and her two stepdaughters went to New York City , where Agnes worked at the Red Cross Blood Bank on Fifth Avenue . She remained married to Stanfield until her death in 1984 , aged 92 . She is buried in the United States Soldiers ' and Airmen ' s Home National Cemetery in Washington DC . She was honored for " her gallant and commendable services " with the American Red Cross during World War I .