Bev

Today I went to the funeral of an incredible woman. Bev was an anesthetist in our department when I started. I only got to work with her for a few years, but she is like no other person I have ever met. She always had a smile on her face and a kind word.

Bev became a nurse many years ago. She was the director of nursing at our town's old hospital. I didn't know that. She was such a sweet woman it surprises me to hear she held that position. She became a nurse anesthetist. She was a missionary in African for more than ten years in the 1960s-1970s. She only left because it became so dangerous they couldn't stay anymore. She was literally airlifted out in the middle of a war.

I loved to hear her tell stories about doing surgery in Africa. They did amazing things with very little. For a long time after I started I thought she might be a nun. She never married and back then I felt sad for her that she didn't have a family of her own. As I got to know her I realized she had a very large family and was extremely close to many of her nieces and nephews. She had a wonderful family.

She retired in 2002, I think. She traveled some. She would stop in and visit us from time to time. She was thoroughly enjoying her retirement. Suddenly she started having some health problems. It took them a bit to figure it about, but she had ALS. Actually a fairly aggressive form of ALS.

Some of her friends and family formed a support group for/with her. I never went, but I'm not sure why. It makes me sad now that I didn't. Bev had a letter written at each of the meetings that was brought back to use and we have a special book where we keep these letters. This woman's faith was amazing. She never had a pity party, she never got mad at God for letting this happen to her. She never questioned why did this happen to her. She was amazing. She was a living breathing angel while she was here with us. Please watch down on me, Bev. Please help me to be a better person like you.