NMH Nursing School Alumni Bulletin Board

Nursing School Alumni Bulletin Board

Earlier this year we heard from Joan Cantwell and Doris Popovich, both 1979 graduates of the Wesley-Passavant School of Nursing. Having discovered their mutual interest in writing a couple of years ago, they set to work collaborating and have recently released a book called 21 Peaceful Nurses: Essays on a Spiritually Guided Practice. Joan describes the book as, “an anthology of essays written by nurses, for all care givers, on the topic of spiritual fitness for a balanced nursing practice.” It is available at www.amazon.com. We at Alumni Affairs have also heard good things about the book from the nursing staff at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Both Joan and Doris are contributors as well as co-editors. We congratulate them on their success!

Susan Shayne McKeon, Wesley-Passavant School of Nursing class of 1981, wrote to us this spring with an update of her recent adventures. Susan and her husband for many years have moved back and forth between the United States and Europe. In her most recent time in Europe, Susan served as the nurse at the American Embassy in the Hague, Netherlands. When President Bush visited Maastricht, Susan coordinated with White House doctors to plan for any care the president might have needed during his stay. Susan writes, “It has been a wonderful and exciting career. I was called to serve and serve I have done!!”

Joan K. Arteberry Zavits, Ph.D, James Ward Thorne School of Nursing class of 1959 let us know she retired from Aurora University four years ago. At Aurora, Joan was both a professor in the communications degree program, as well as a founding dean of the baccalaureate nursing program. Now Joan writes a weekly general interest newspaper column and enjoys spending time with her husband, daughter and granddaughter.

Joan also took the time to update us on the distinguished career of her friend and James Ward Thorne classmate, Nancy Schildberg Hogan. Dr. Hogan is a professor and Associate Dean of Research at Loyola University in Chicago where she researches and has published on bereavement and is a “much loved teacher and mentor.” Joan also recalls the care and dedication of their “mutually held heroine: Millie Walker, R.N., the head nurse of Passavant’s Fourth Floor!”

Many requests to be in touch with classmates have come our way following the April publication of Nursing Now where we featured alumna Marcia Jones Laker, James Ward Thorne School of Nursing Class of 1957 and her efforts to organize with Alumni Affairs a 50 year reunion for her classmates this fall. We are now exploring putting together an alumni directory to better facilitate class connections and would love to hear from you if you have comments or suggestions about this idea.

Also, Joan Holecek Briscoe and Ruth Neiman Wukasch, James Ward Thorne School of Nursing Class of 1958, are already planning their 50 year reunion for the fall of ’08. We at Alumni Affairs were glad that they let us know so that we can help them. Joan and Ruth have found all but three of their classmates. If anyone is in touch with Marilyn Rice, Helen Skinner or Louise Stevens, please let us know so that we can put them in touch with Ruth and Joan.

Finally, several alumni participated in Northwestern Memorial’s recent telefundraising initiative in support of the new Prentice Women’s Hospital. Your support helped us make the Kresege Challenge Grant, ensuring an additional $2 million in support of programming in the new hospital. We were touched by your generosity and thank you for your help.

Please write to us and let us know how you are and what you are up to these days:

Nursing School Alumni Affairs
c/o Northwestern Memorial Foundation
676 North Saint Clair Street
Suite 2050
Chicago, Illinois 60611
312.926.2033
email: nursingschoolalumni@nmh.org