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Nursing school grads to be recognized 50 years later

Annual OSMH Nurses Alumnae dinner will honour class of 1969
2019-05-17 Orillia School of Nursing grads 1969
The Orillia School of Nursing's graduating class of 1969 is shown. Supplied photo

The Orillia School of Nursing’s graduating class from 1969 will be celebrated this month.

The Orillia Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital (OSMH) Nurses Alumnae will hold its annual dinner May 31 at the Best Western Plus Mariposa Inn and Conference Centre.

So far, organizers have been able to contact 12 of the 17 surviving graduates.

Glenna Tinney, who graduated from the Orillia School of Nursing in 1972, had a message for the other five: “You’re out there somewhere and hopefully you can make it.”

The Orillia School of Nursing closed in 1974, but the OSMH Nurses Alumnae keeps the memories alive by annually celebrating the graduating class of 50 years ago.

“We do it because we think it’s important,” Tinney said.

Luci Hallett feels the same way. She was class president in 1969 and is looking forward to reconnecting with her former classmates this month.

“As you get older, you like to reminisce about the way things were,” said Hallett. “It’s interesting to hear where their careers have sent them.”

Hallett, who is from Orillia but now lives in St. Catharines, said the Sunshine City had something special in the nursing school.

“Our training was unique. There’s nothing out there now that can match it,” she said. “There was a lot more structure. We had house mothers. It was strict.”

It was about more than structure, though.

“It became a family,” she said. “We have friendships that have lasted over 55 years.”

Because the school closed in 1974, the last celebration of a single graduating class will be in 2024, but Tinney hopes the OSMH Nurses Alumnae will continue to have a presence long after.

“We could be a body that can do something for the community,” she said. “There are a lot of nurses out there.”

They’re doing their part in the meantime. Money raised at the dinner will go to OSMH to help with the purchase of a CT scanner.

The OSMH Nurses Alumnae no longer requires its members to be graduates of the Orillia School of Nursing. It is open to any registered nurse from a qualified facility.

The May 31 event will begin with a cocktail hour at 5 p.m., followed by dinner at 6. There will be a 50/50 draw, a silent auction and a quilt raffle.

For more information, contact Tinney at 705-835-6711 or [email protected].


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Nathan Taylor

About the Author: Nathan Taylor

Nathan Taylor is the desk editor for Village Media's central Ontario news desk in Simcoe County and Newmarket.
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