As we salute and honour those in the nursing profession on this International Nurses Day, I salute and honour them and some members of my family who spent their lives as nurses.

Look closely at this family photo of my dad (standing on the left in his U.S. Marine Corps uniform), his siblings and their parents (my grandparents). Two of my dad’s sisters, my Aunt Shirley and Aunt Barb, became nurses. Aunt Barb (seated on the far right) worked most of her life in Hamilton before retiring and passing away in 2015.

(my two nurse aunts, Shirley, seated second from the left, and Barb, seat on far right)

My Aunt Shirley (seated second from the left in her nurse’s uniform) went on to marry an American doctor and moved to the States. They lived for a time in Maryland where she worked in the Intensive Care Unit of a hospital and would move to Arizona, where she was involved in a hospice program there. She almost became a part of American history.

48 years ago this Friday, Alabama Governor George Wallace was shot while campaigning for the presidency in Maryland. I remember watching the shocking TV video footage that day (captured in still frames in Life magazine). If my Aunt Shirley hadn’t earlier moved to Arizona, she likely would have part of the medical team that treated Wallace.

(Life magazine’s 2-page spread of video frames from the Wallace shooting)

Wallace was left paralyzed from the waist down for the rest of his life. He died in 1998.

My Aunt Shirley is still with us, enjoying her retirement and her family.

Thank you, nurses, for all you do, for all you’ve done and for stepping into the frontlines of the current pandemic. And thank you, Aunt Shirley and Aunt Barb.