Rex Hospital School of Nursing - Nightingale Yearbook (Raleigh, NC)

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C560 NIGHTINGALE 011I1'IJIlI!I!11111II'1Ix 2 W .D K IIZIIJIIIIIIJIIDI? 1. U ,W MD The Summer of 1926 came and we were seniors! Could it be possible that we were to wear our black bands? But what was all this commotion? A party !-yes, a real party, with ice cream and cake. But the happiest time was coming yet, when Miss Marshbanks presented us with our black bands. With what dignity we stepped on the halls and how high we held our heads! This was the beginning of a round of parties, good times, and vacations for the summer. As fall approached we took up our senior duties in earnest, realizing this was our last chance before the final reckoning. But horror of horrors I-what did Miss Beeker say-a class at 6:30 a. m.? Yes, it certainly was true. Those were days when Saturdays and Sundays were appreciated, for then we could sleep thirty minutes more. The class- room became almost our living quarters, for we were there until 9 o'clock every night. Christmas holidays brought a well-deserved Cwe thoughtj rest. There is not one who will not remember with appreciation and love our last Christmas in the hospital. If anything could crown our joys at Rex, this did. Our tree was wonderful and held scores of presents for all. And then just as we sank into belated slumber the carols rang out on the cold night air. It seemed no time until the bell was ringing, but for once it was a welcome sound. For the Hrst time in the history of our hospital we were allowed to sing Christmas carols to our patients in the wards and to carry some gift or little remembrance to each of the patients. Many weary faces lighted up and there were no few tears as they tried to show their appreciation. As Spring came again the realization dawned that we were soon to part, but we could not dwell on that, for lectures still poured in, and exams. were to be taken. Too, there were many informal merrymakings. As seniors we were guests of honor at banquets and balls. We were kept busy, but we were happier than we had ever been before. There needed only one more word to crown our happiness, and that was on the horizon just ahead-commencement! As we leave the walls of our dear Alma Mater we look back with pleasure on our past. We trust Time to erase any heartaches there might have been, and Love to keep awake and bring back sweet memories that set joy bells ringing. Eighteen

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C569 NIGHTINGALE W m z.. s :mo lays C53-fzkfo ry ENIORS! Can it be possible that we are seniors, and soon to gradu- ate? Yet, three years can be a mighty short space of time when spent pleasantly. It seems hardly any time since the first members of our class were probes, and watching with anxious eyes for the other section which would make up the Class of 1927. Can anyone ever forget that first night at Rex on a tear-soaked pillow? But, Watchman, what of the morning? With red eyes, we dressed painstakingly to meet Miss Doe in chapel. Speaking of soldiers-it took some real ones to force coffee and toast down that constricted esophagus of ours, and we were glad to escape further efforts. Then came the initial instructions in our work-my! but there were lots of them. Life seemed one tragedy after another that first day. There was the call before the Superintendent, the donning of long dresses, and the fare- well to stylish coiffures. Terrible as it seemed, we soon found it was only the beginning, for classes were on schedule. The demonstration doll seemed one of us, and Jimmie, the skeleton, grew to be quite familiar- so familiar, in fact, that he even inhabited our closets and wardrobes at unearthly hours. We realized later those were happy days, for did we ever cry so much, as probes even, as we did on the night Miss Doe left us? But who can cry salty tears and work? We began to realize we must make progress. The work in the wards was interesting and fruitful, while our class work was instructive. Several of our members fell by the wayside as Dan Cupid demanded his toll, but our righteous indignation was alleviated by the entrance of Miss Howard and Miss Frazier as intermediates. After all our losses we numbered six, but we were six happy, hale, and hearty girls. And now for some hard work. On came the lectures by Doctors Neal and Dewar, and Doctor Carroll's Now, the next young lady became a quite familiar phrase. More knowledge added greater responsibility. There was night duty and charge work. But don't for one minute think we worked all the time. Afternoons off saw us riding, shopping, or attending a matinee. The evenings found us around the victrola, dancing. Seventeen

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C569 NIGHTINGALE 'vzmmmmmv mv Amnmlrmmmmm 'uw' QQIMJ Glllrophecy T WAS the Spring of 1937, one of those warm Spring days that makes the house almost unbearableg at least it seemed that way to me. Thank heavens! my work was done for the day and I was free to get out in the open, which was calling me. I turned the lock on the operating room of the New Hope Hospital of the State of l and, catching up a rug and pillow, I started out for my favorite haunt under the elm. My! but it was cool and refreshing. I sank back, determined for the moment to be a lady of leisure. Then it suddenly came to me that it was the twelfth of May. Ten years ago today I had received my diploma and started out on my determination, for I certainly had nothing else. I had been busy and the time had passed so rapidly that I had lost track of my classmates and every old association. Letters are so unsatisfactory that I had almost ceased to write, so had not heard lately. How nice it was to lie there and just think! Suddenly, I found myself in the most beautiful of rose gardens, or was it one of Gene Stratton Por- ter's forests? I could not say which, but if Adam and Eve had been there it would certainly have been a perfect Garden of Eden. I had never seen such magnificent roses or lovely foliage in any of my travels. I reached out to take a rose-a whole bunch of them-for a favorite patient, when suddenly I felt a presence and, looking around, saw a little old man-if a man he could be called-he was so tiny. His hair and beard were very white, and I knew at once he must be old. His eyes blinked in such a jolly way that I was not at all afraid of him. Oh, I know who you areg you are Fate! I cried. Do answer just one question for me. And now I know who you are, he said. You are a mortal, for only mortals are curious, and I also know what you wish to ask. You would like to know where your old friends are-and that is a big question all in one. No, I said g I will be satisfied just to know what has become of my classmates of 1927, and what they are doing. He laughed. You are as reasonable as any mortal I have ever found. You want to know, in a few minutes of time, ten years of the lives of five Nineteen