Retired nurse, 80 something, goes back to school

Sister Rita Kennedy of the Grey Sisters of Immaculate Conception is going back to nursing school tomorrow.

The former director of St. Mary's School of Nursing is in her late 80s.

She's a retired nurse who's worked as an instructor, supervisor and administrator in many settings for more than 30 years.

For a few hours tomorrow, Sister Rita will be returning to school at Sault College with St. Mary's School of Nursing alumni.

It's part of the school's 2008 reunion, marking the hundredth anniversary of the institution's opening.

More than 500 nurses who graduated from the place before it closed in 1971, says alumni president Maureen McCarthy.

Sister Kennedy is received special recognition from the alumni at a dinner tonight honouring her many years of dedicated service to the school and its students.

Kennedy and McCarthy are seen at the Sault Ste. Marie Museum display on nursing history this afternoon, where a come-and-go reception was organized for St. Mary's alumni.

Also honoured tonight was the class of 1958.

"Each year we honour the class that's reached its fiftieth anniversary year," McCarthy said. "This year it's the class of 1958."

For the past 18 years, about 60 to 70 alumni have gathered for dinner each year, most of them from the Sault, said McCarthy.

For the hundredth anniversary of the founding of the school, close to 170 alumni are attending, with about half from out of town places like Australia, the United States and southern Ontario.

McCarthy said she's also looking forward to visiting the facilities at Sault College tomorrow.

"In St. Mary's we had one solitary mannequin called Mrs. Chase," she said. "At Sault College they have electronic mannequins [of everything from infants to adults] that do everything that a human person does."

This year's reunion wraps up tomorrow with a cafeteria luncheon at the college after class.