Nurses gather for reunion at former school

Fort Scott, Kan. â€" Attending Mercy School of Nursing may have been challenging for the students who attended the school, but the former students admit that it was those challenges and the quality of education provided by the Sisters of Mercy that helped shape them into who they are today.

On Saturday, Oct. 13, about 117 former Mercy School of Nursing students came together at the old facility, 810 S. Burke, to reminisce about the school days long passed. Sister Concetta Cardinale welcomed the nurses with reflections of the former school, including displaying a photograph of the first Mercy School of Nursing graduating class. Sister Concetta said that this class was made up of four sisters and one lay nurse.

After Sister Concetta’s recollections, Mercy School of Nursing committee member JoAnn Thomas led the nursing school graduates on a tour of the former school, which now houses the Fort Scott Community College School of Nursing in addition to other programs.

The former students visited with each other as they passed through the building that was once their educational facility. According to former instructor Sister Mary Jeremy Buckman, the nurses did more than just live in this building.

“They studied, ate, slept and thought nursing,” she said.

According to several reunion attendees, the secret of the nursing school’s success was completely due to the quality of education that the Sisters gave each person who attended the school.

“The sisters were quality all the way through. They were structured, warm and friendly. I don’t know of any student who didn’t love the sisters,” Thomas said.

“The nuns were tremendous in helping us. They were hard school, but they helped us mature,” former student Pat Soft Dreis said.

Several of the nurses said that the sisters always treated them with respect.

“They always referred to us as ‘Miss’,” the nurses said.

Former student Alice Graves Irving said that the sisters were the main reason that young ladies who were poor could afford to go to college.

“I was the first student to come from St. Louis. I came because of Sister Mary Robert. She helped find me financing. I couldn’t go anywhere else because of money,” she said.

Dreis and Graves said that back when the nursing school was operating, women didn’t have many career choices.

“Women either had to be a school teacher, secretary, nurse or get married. We don’t know where we would be today if it were not for the sisters,” they said.

Graves said that she is sure that the sisters’ faith in God and in their students also helped to make the program a success.

According to Sister Concetta, many of the former students have lived very successful lives. Some have earned their Ph.Ds and some have written books, she said. This success has made the former instructors extremely proud of their students.

“I attribute their success to Mercy School of Nursing. The sisters helped the young ladies grow personally and beyond. They came in right out of high school. They were green, but when they left the school, they were grown up. They were prepared for life,” she said.

Mildred Crawford Harness, a former student, had not been back to Fort Scott for more than 40 years, but when she learned about the reunion, she decided it was time to make the trip back.

“I am totally elated that I am able to visit old friends and school,” she said.

Sister Mary Robert Edwards, director at the school for three years, said that she still has happy memories of her days in Fort Scott.

“I loved every minute of it, every student, every experience,” she said.

Sister Concetta said that she came away from the reunion excited about the interest of the nurses who came back for the gathering. She said that they were pleased with the new hospital in Fort Scott.

“The nurses liked the new Mercy facility. They think it is the way to go in 2007,” she said.

The closeness of instructors and students was evident at the reunion. The sisters are proud of their students, and the students are proud of their instructors.

Thomas said that when she began teaching, she tried to model the sisters.

“They did it the right way. Every patient was treated with dignity and respect,” she said.

“The sisters are so proud of what the nurses have done,” Sister Concetta said.

Mercy School of Nursing opened its doors in 1914 and continued to operate as a successful educational facility until 1975. According to Sister Concetta, this was the first school of nursing in Southeast Kansas that trained black students as nurses.