OUR CLASS NURSES

In interviewing Chris Large Hawkins and hearing about her nursing career, I stopped to think about how many of our classmates went into the profession of nursing. I came up with several and decided to briefly profile their careers here.

BECKY HAINES...

went to Santa Fe Community College late in life, obtaining an ADN (associate degree of nursing) a year after her daughter graduated from the same college. 

She then worked in labor and delivery for 26 years and was cross trained in NICU. Most of her career was spent in Gainesville but she also lived and worked three years in the San Diego area. She says, "Loved my job. I can only say that if my hospital was as caring for the nursing staff as they were for the patients, I would still be working part time. [I am} Missing seeing new babies."

BETSY MORETTA MILLER...

went to Columbus for her nursing career, and was an RN for 40 years. She retired from Affinity Medical Center in 2014. But she mostly sent information about her life outside of nursing: she has been married to Bill Miller for 45 years, and she has one daughter, Amy Snyder. Betsy and Bill have two grandchildren, Addison and Zachary. These days, she says,"I'm working on a bucket list!"

CARLEE CLAPPER ADAMS...

Carlee didn't start nursing school till her two oldest started school themselves, and she graduated from Aultman in 1977, starting immediately in the nursery of the OB Department. She also worked in OB at Doctor's Hospital where her most memorable infant was one born with seckle syndrome (bird- headed dwarfism). she says, " I could hold this infant in the palm of my hand, and when it left the hospital, it was so small it went home in a shoebox. Most of us nurses felt very protective of its privacy long before HIPPA!" 

After moving to Ft. Wayne, Indiana, Carlee took a position at a community hospital in Bluffton an hour from home. After another baby and working 24 hour weekend shifts, she looked closer to home: OB again at Parkview Hospital, where she stayed for about six years working the 11-7 a.m. shift. Next she went into an office setting with a large OB/GYN practice and was there for 22 years. She finished her nursing career with a short-term Hospice experience.

 

She says, "These days my nursing consists of listening to tales of broken or happy hearts of my older grands ( 27-15) and bandages and kisses for boo boos of the youngest little miss who is 2. I also do paper arts, read voraciously, (I never thought about getting old till I realized I probably won't get through my 'want to read' list) and when Bill can convince me, I spend a little of winter on a cruise or just somewhere warm."

GAYLE MANGUS WINDELL..

first went to Timken Mercy School of Practical Nursing. The training was only a year, an she thought she was going to marry her high school sweetheart. After graduation from the program, she broke her engagement and went to work at Aultman because they paid her tuition to Kent State become an RN. Kathi Lewis and she went through both programs together and became the best of friends. (Kathi has asked not to be included in this series.)  They graduated in 1973.
  
Gail worked at Aultman for a total of 42 years. During that time she worked all shifts and every unit in the hospital.

She says now, "What I miss the most since my retirement is the fast learning pace one must maintain to be an RN, constantly learning something new. I loved my career and have never regretted the choice."




LU RAINSBURGER-BERTZ...

went to Mercy School of Nursing in Canton, Ohio upon graduating from high school. She received a diploma in nursing in 1971. She then went to the Army for four years at Ft. Leonard Wood, MO. Lu received her BSN at Florida Southern in 1985. She worked in Los Angeles, California; Orlando, Florida; Rolla, Missouri; and Madison, WI. At most of those places, she was usually in the ICU. Before retiring eight years ago, she was an Allergy nurse and Treatment nurse. She says, "Loved it!! Never regretted my career."

LYNN KLOTZ MCCOY...

graduated from KSU in 1972 with a BSN. She then worked approximately 5-7 years in a couple of obstetricians' offices that practiced out of Doctors Hospital. These were not continuous years: they were  broken up by two pregnancies. Then in 1989 she went to work at the Stark County Health Department as an entry level public health nurse. She received her MS in Community Health in 2003. Lynn retired with 25 years of service as the Director of Nursing in 2013. She notes, "I know that does not add up to 25 but they offered a buy out for a number of long time employees and I took advantage of it."

MARY BRYDEN DALPIAZ...

went to nursing school at OSU after high school. She then got a job at Mercy Medical Center where she worked for 20 years. During this time, she worked on a on a medical-surgical unit. Mary also did patient education and staff development, then went to Stark State College where she taught nursing until she retired in 2014. She sent this message to those going to our 50th reunion: "Looking forward to seeing all of you in September!"

PEGGY COLE EVANS...

went to Nursing School at Massillon City Hospital School of Nursing September 1968 and graduated June 1971. She shared a lot! Here's just a part of her story:

After graduation, she moved to NJ where she took her state board exam and got her first job at Riverview Hospital in Red  Bank, NJ, gainomg experience in in orthopaedics, cardiology and general med/surg  nursing.  Put in charge on nights after two months she says, "Boy was that eye-opening, as well as a bit scary!" After one year, having gotten her eyes open, she went to work for an ophthalmologist for five years, then moved south in the fall of 1976 and has lived there ever since. One of her earliest positions in the region was as a Home Health Nurse in Columbia, SC, the most rewarding time of my career, in the days before cell phones. Such a challenge to locate some of the patients as most did not have telephones and many seemed to moved a lot! She notes, "You had to try and find people by landmarks. After my son was born in 1981 I moved to North Augusta, SC planning to be a stay at home mom. NOPE!" Instead, she decided to work two days a week, then after one year, she went back to full time at University Hospital in Augusta, GA from May 1983 until August 2015. After retirement, she continued to work part-time April 2018.

During her years at University she worked in various areas including Med Surg and Endoscopy/ Minor Surgery. She then took the exam for certification in Healthcare Quality and became a CPHQ (Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality), working for 28 years in Performance Improvement.

She says: "When I started out my career I could never have imagined that I would end up working on improvement teams and monitoring the quality of the care that was given as this was unheard of when I started out in 1971. The advent of CMS and the influence of insurance company guidelines was the stimulus for the growth in this area of healthcare. I will avoid the soap box and say that I am glad to now be retired! So, I have been an RN for 47 years!"

Two of our classmates that were nurses have since died, but we want to include them, too, among those who served

TOM HALE...

went to Central Ohio Technical College for nursing school, graduating in 1983, but he had an interesting career long before that.

He received his B.A. in 1972 from Case Western Reserve University, where he'd started in pre-med but switched to religion. He then obtained his M.Div. in 1975 from Colgate Rochester Crozer. Tom was an ordained Episcopal priest when he decided to go back to the medical field. After obtaining his nursing degree, he was a Flight RN with Grant Medical Center in Columbus from 1987 to 1992. He moved to TX in '95 where he continued his nursing career. Tom died in 2013, shortly before our 45th reunion.
(Many thanks to our classmate Dave Stockdale for providing the information on Tom's career.)

LINDA RYMAN

We are trying to find out information about Linda's nursing career. I knew her at Watson Grade School as a smiling, quiet schoolmate, who had to manage her childhood diabetes even back then and throughout our high school years. I imagine that experience may have led her to her career in health. She and I rode the same bus for 10 years, a ride of over an hours a day, so we had many long conversations, but I lost track of her when we graduated except for one long conversation we had at our fifth reunion. Chris Large Hawkins recalls Linda being a year ahead of Chris in classes at Aultman Nursing School. If anyone has any information about Linda or her nursing career, please contact me, and I will add it here.