President's Message

Annual Meeting, September 29, 2007

The 115th Annual Business Meeting of The Johns Hopkins Nurses’ Alumni Association (JHNAA) was called to order on September 29, 2007, at 10:38 a.m. in The Tremont Grand by Deborah Baker, Accelerated ’92, MSN ’97, president.

Minutes: Motion was made and seconded to approve the minutes of the 2006 Annual Business Meeting as published in Vigilando in Fall 2006. Action: Motion was approved unanimously. Roll Call: A total of 122 JHNAA alumni, 10 CHH alumni and three honorary alumni were present. The Class of 1957, celebrating their 50th reunion, had 33 classmates attend.

The names listed below are the deceased alumni from the past year read by Deb Corteggiano Kennedy, CHH’73 for Church Home and Tina Cafeo, MSN’97 for Johns Hopkins. Connie Heard Cole Waxter ’44 spoke about honorary alumna, Ella Rowe. Betty Borenstein Scher ’50 spoke about Maravene Deveney Hamburger’37. Jan Bankert Wagner ’52 spoke about Virginia Bell Somerville ’52.

Church Home
Ruth Young ’40
Margaret Wise Rishel ’42
Margaret Curtis White ’45
Sally Weida ’51
Helen Wagner White ’53
Margaret Matthai Briggs ’57
Margaret Knepper Stauffer ’57
Lillian Joanne Spangler Lambert ’58
Jacklyn Woolford Hardesty ’62

Johns Hopkins
Lois Hart Clapp ’31
Adelaide Forkner Nelson ’34
Marianna Engelking Jessen’36
Maravene Deveney Hamburger ’37
Pauline Dull Kim ’38
June Dell Syze ’38
Georgia Prichard Tilden ’39
Harriet Wenger Senf ’40
Margaret Sutton Temple ’40
Mary Morton Sexton ’42
Ann W. Soper ’42
Jeanne Freeland Bouldin ’43
Carolyn Knotts Inglett ’43
Lillee Elledge Schuster ’43
Dorothy Donnan Johnson ’44
Roberta Taylor Pullen ’44
Dorothy M. Corbin ’45
Christine Eggers ’45
Edith Jensen Fonde ’45
Roberta Hope Guthmann ’45
Maybel Hockett Vestal ’45
Evelyn Calhoon Carroll ’46
Betty Miller Edwards ’46
Dorothy Meadows Scribner ’46
Elizabeth Herrick Boettger ’47
Sarah (Sallie) Mitchell Hunter ’50
Eleanore Summers Kaschel ’50
Elizabeth Sisson Buress ’51
Elizabeth Lawrence Sherman ’51
Rosetta B. Bentley ’52
Carolyn Leedom Ely ’52
Virginia Bell Somerville ’52
C. Louise Cousar Pattison ’54
Mary Lou Elston Crook ’57
Kay Knapp Donald ’60
Mina Moore Page ’60
Sydney Tally Hickey ’61
Rene Wilhelm Keating ’61
Kay Rennard Evanson ’64
Deborah Fitzgerald Barrows ’66
Elaine Wasiowich ’68
Bonnie LeHew Samter ’73
Michel Zeltzman ’77
Mary McKay, Accelerated ’95
Ella Rowe, Honorary
The name of Myra Ella Spinner Harter ’47 was missing from the list.

President’s Report: Deb Baker

Welcome to our annual JHNAA business meeting. The cocktail party last night was a hit—again! We are looking forward to another great year. We are excited that our membership numbers are on the rise, and we hope it is because our concentrated efforts to reach out are working. The focus of the board this year was to assess the needs of students that could be met by the alumni association with the goal of increasing our new graduate membership.

We learned many things during our focus groups with the students. They really want the alumni to assist them with getting to know each other better and thus foster lifelong relationships. They think it is an inspiration to stay connected. They also were very interested in getting to know alumni and obtain a detailed understanding of the history of the school and the hospital. Finally, they asked us to provide opportunities for the alumni and students to work together on school projects and community activities. We, of course, took all of this to heart and began to find ways to be more present on campus. We have encouraged them to do “shadow” days with us in the hospital and to provide tours. At each event we remind them of one historic fact—that many Hopkins nursing alums believe it is their duty to belong to and support the alumni association. We want to engender this loyalty today and for years to come.

It is a pleasure to honor Mame Warren with an honorary alumni membership and pin. She was deeply moved and had many kind words for Linda Sabin and Fran Keen—partners in creating our fabulous nursing book.

We need volunteers from the association to either come down to campus and get involved with students and/or contact past graduates and encourage them to join the alumni and help us grow stronger. We are passing around sign-up sheets today and will ask for more volunteers on the listserve.

We thank the Homecoming Committee for planning another memorable weekend and ask everyone to keep watching for more events and opportunities to join us.

Treasurer’s Report: Sue Culp

The Alumni Association is in good financial standing. We received the first proceeds from the sale of “Our Shared Legacy” which totaled over $11,000. We will continue to receive royalty payments every year, so please continue to encourage sales. We received $18,000 in dues this year, and we can receive more if we all encourage at least one other nursing alum to pay their dues. The Association’s investment funds are doing well, and this allows us to continue to support Homecoming events, scholarships, archive maintenance and the magazine. None of which we would be able to fully support without our strong investments.

Committee Reports:

Archives: Ruth Carver

I have had the pleasure of working on both the Johns Hopkins Nursing Historical Collection and the Church Home Nursing Collection for just over a year, and look forward to continuing to process the materials this year. In the Johns Hopkins Historical Collection, the 168 Personal Papers Collections are nearly complete, and most have archival-level descriptions. These descriptions in the catalog will help researchers find biographical information and determine what materials are available at the Archives. We receive personal papers on an ongoing basis, and new additions, like the collection of Maravene Deveney Hamburger, class of 1937, are valuable additions to the historical collection.

I am now focusing on processing the records of the Johns Hopkins Nurses’ Alumni Association. These include founding documents, administrative records, and the records of the executive secretary, Dorothea Robertson, and the alumni coordinator, Melinda Rose. The documents of the publications and history committees hold valuable information about the writing of the Johns and Pfeffercorn book and efforts to update that history. We have also recently received the remainder of Mame Warren’s research materials from Our Shared Legacy, so future researchers will have access to this primary-source information.

The processing of the Church Home and Hospital Nursing Collection is nearly complete. Collection and series-level descriptions are written, but need to be edited, and final labels for artifacts and boxes need to be created. The collection holds some interesting personal papers and scrapbooks, and this year we received some very nice uniforms, such as those of Frieda Kiracofe Thornburg, class of 1929, and Mary Catherine Muse, class of 1970. This small collection offers a glimpse at the history of the Church Home and Hospital School of Nursing and its Alumni Association. The financial records of the Alumni Association and its scholarship fund are well-documented. Additional materials would be welcome, especially student notebooks, biographical and personal papers, and correspondence. These types of materials would give a more complete picture of what student life at Church Home was like. Any information about the professional activities of graduates or former faculty members will also aid in documenting the legacy of this institution.

We also received important materials from the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing Office of Communications, including slides and audiovisual materials. Marjorie Winslow Kehoe completed a new exhibit entitled “Johns Hopkins Nursing: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow,” which is on display in the School of Nursing.

Betty Scher continues to index and catalog the alumni magazine so we are able to quickly find information about individual alumni for patrons. In the past year, she has completed all of the magazines from 1960 to 1996. There are other areas in which volunteer assistance would be much appreciated; we still have financial records to be sorted, photos to identify, and would welcome your insider-knowledge! The continued support of the Johns Hopkins Nurses’ Alumni Association and the Alumni Association of the Church Home and Hospital School of Nursing allows for the processing and upkeep of these important collections. Thank you also to the Alumni Association Archives Advisory Committee members, Melinda Rose, Sue Culp, Lois Hoffer, Betty Scher, Phyllis Naumann, and Deb Kennedy for all of their help this year. Please contact us if you are interested in contributing to your archives in some way.

Nominating: Leslie Kemp

The slate of officers for 2007 is:

Vice-President – JoAnn Coleman ’95 Postmaster’s (for second term)
Treasurer – Sue Culp, MSN’94 (for second term)
Elected Director – Matt Soladay ’06
Nominating Committee: Sandra Stine Angell ’69, Neysa Ernst ’06, Amy Margolis Hardin ’91
Motion unopposed to accept the slate as presented.

Membership: Kate Knott

In an effort to increase membership from the younger alums, we have focused most of our efforts on the current nursing students. We held monthly networking dinner events with a panel of alums talking about their careers in nursing and available for questions. We continued to sponsor the pinning ceremonies for the BSN students and a graduate career fair with the SON. We made presentations at new student orientations. We held alumni board meetings with student leaders to brainstorm about increasing membership. Our goal is to increase membership dues and interest in the Association. Ideas are welcome for events for alumni and students. The number of dues-paying alumni members increased by 15 for new graduates and by 80 for other alumni.

Homecoming: Paula Kent

There were 60 alumni registered for the New Campus Development talk; 165 alumni were registered for the Cocktail Party; 140 alumni were registered for the Business Meeting; 210 alumni were registered for the luncheon and 50 alumni participated in the tours for the school and hospital.

Editorial: JoAnn Coleman

Leslie Kemp and I continue to meet with the editorial staff of the Johns Hopkins Nursing magazine for ideas and brainstorming for future publications. Ideas for nursing articles, particularly those relating to current alumni, are promoted. We continue to solicit from alumni any ideas, and we welcome the opportunity to hear your thoughts and relay them to the editorial staff. Please send your ideas to the magazine staff or contact one of us through the Alumni office.

Education

A budget of $20,000 is helping 10 alumni attend graduate school this year.

Church Home Alumni Report: Deb Kennedy

Good Morning. It is my distinct pleasure to, for the third time, address this group at Homecoming. As consortium members, I know I speak for all of my fellow Church Home alums, when I say “Thank You” for your warmth and friendship as you again invite us to share in your special day.

I am thrilled to have alumnae from the classes of 1942-1976 here today. I want to especially welcome one member of the class of 1942 celebrating her 65th, who is here with her daughter; welcome to Anita Schauck ’42 and her daughter Wendy Hudson ’76. Welcome to 13 members of the class of 1952 celebrating their 55th, five members of the class of 1967 celebrating their 40th and our four “Golden Girls” from the class of 1957 celebrating their 50th. I especially want to welcome Mickey Buterbaugh ’52 and Emily Spears ’52 who have done so much for the CHH Alumni Association and for whom I have special gifts.

There have been three “Church Notes” published in the Johns Hopkins Nursing magazine this past year.

We are still looking for yearbooks from 1961, 1962, 1963 and 1965. Class pictures are still needed for 1965, 1967, 1969, 1970, 1971 and 1972.

Caps can be ordered from Kay’s Caps in New York. The Church Home pin and now ring can be purchased from Fino Jewelers.

The Archive Fund received several donations through the year, including a $500 donation from my classmate, Dee Plitt Donnelly ’73. Please continue to contribute to the Archive Fund through financial donations as well as materials you may find to complete our collection. I will tell you that a 1922 graduate’s family in Colorado found notebooks stored in a box in the attic. When they googled “Church Home,” they found our connection to Hopkins, and we were lucky enough to get those valuable and historical documents. Please contact Phoebe Letocha if you want to volunteer at the archives to help identify photographs, etc.

The Freda Creutzburg Scholarship is now endowed and will again help a student with funding toward her nursing education.

I want to end with telling you that I am awaiting an answer from a donor in regards to a classroom/lecture hall in the new school of nursing that would be named in our honor. I will keep you posted through Church Notes. Keep your fingers crossed!

Old Business:

Deb Baker presented Mame Warren with a Maltese cross pin. Mame was voted an honorary member of the JH Nurses’ Alumni Association at last year’s annual meeting. Mame thanked the Association and said what a privilege it is to be considered part of the JH Nurses’ Alumni.

New Business: Changes in Bylaws were presented by JoAnn Coleman and accepted; VP of Alumni Board will function as the chairperson of the Bylaws. Change Magazine to Editorial advisory committee (two board members). The Archives Committee was added to the Bylaws.

A replica of a 1915 Hopkins Nursing Doll made by Linda Sabin ’67 was raffled. Margaret Buderer Bivin ’52 won. The raffle collected $250.

Homecoming 2008 is tentatively scheduled for September 26 and 27 of 2008.

Meeting adjourned at 11:55 a.m.