Retired nurse recalls graduating 75 years ago

[cougarnurse]

Good story! Retired nurse recalls graduating 75 years ago - Community Press - Ontario, CA

When the Belleville General Hospital and Edith Cavell nursing school alumni met for their annual dinner this year there was a 75-year alumnus in their midst.

Molly Mairs graduated from the BGH nursing school in 1934 and worked as a nurse on the maternity ward for two years, part of that time as second in charge on the floor, before getting married.

“A lot of people felt I didn’t work long enough,” Mairs said before last Friday’s dinner at the Ramada Inn.

Now in her 97th year, Mairs said her husband didn’t want her to work after she was married, although she did serve as a housemother in the nursing residence for a time looking after the students.

Mairs said she does not normally attend the alumni dinners, mostly because she didn’t have any way to get to them, adding she might have been to one in the past.

This year it was her foot-care nurse Judy Heasman who asked Mairs if she wanted to attend and she offered to take her. Mairs didn’t even realize until she figured it out before the dinner that it was 75 years since her graduation.

“She’s a delightful person,” said Heasman, a Loyalist College graduate who also worked at BGH in the past and has been taking care of Mairs’ feet for more than 10 years.

“It’s nurses helping nurses,” Heasman said with a smile.

She said she would bring Mairs to the dinner again next year as well.

Mairs has lived in Belleville most of her life, spending time in Toronto and Kingston as well. She said Belleville has changed and grown a lot over the years. She can recall when she would know most people she met on Front Street.

Mairs has been a window since 1973. Her daughter and two sons all live in Belleville.