I thought this was interesting: http://www.wlfi.com/dpp/news/local/pioneer-nurses-receive-awards--

Alumni of the St. Elizabeth School of Nursing got together to share memories, and honor some of the pioneer nurses to come from the local nursing school.

The theme of this year's honorees was pioneer nurses, women who had done what others in their field had not done before.

"These nurses are pioneers. the one who graduated in 1952 opened her own business. And the other was also a pioneer. She was a nurse practitioner, which, again, when we graduated in '60, we didn't have nurse practitioners," said Judy Rausch, St. Elizabeth alumni association chairperson.

Honoree Marcella Smith, doesn't let her 88 years slow her down, she continues to teach to this day, she also still visits 14 patients weekly. Smith said her teaching career began in nursing school where she saw the 'need' to reach out.

"When I went to nursing school I said...'who's going to be teaching about the aging? We don't have anyone.' Then I said, 'well I can do that!'," said Smith.

Both women said they were not expecting to receive the honor.

"I was very surprised and very honored to receive this award," said Dorothy Ball.

"I still can't believe it, I am still kind of sitting here wondering. Because you see that was never my goal. My goal is to help this vast amount of elderly people. To get some better care for them," said Smith.

Ball and Smith both said it takes a special, nurturing person to succeed in the nursing field.

"You can be very brilliant but if you don't have a heart for nursing I guess you should do something else," said Ball.

The women agreed their field has changed a lot in the half century they've been practicing nurses.