Shirley A. Egan

A memorial Mass for Shirley A. Egan will be held at 11:00 am Thursday, December 30, 2010 at Holy Cross Catholic Church of Natchitoches with Rev. Jason Gootee officiating. Interment will follow at a later date in Edgewood Cemetery in Nashua, NH. Shirley Egan passed away Sunday, December 19, 2010 in Natchitoches, LA. She was born July 11, 1922 in Haverhill, MA. She was a graduate of Belmont High School in Massachusetts. She received her basic nursing education at St. Joseph’s Hospital School of Nursing in Nashua, NH; her Bachelor of Science in Nursing Education and her Masters Degree in Nursing Education Administration from Boston University, Boston, MA. Advancement of Doctoral studies where achieved at Karachi University (under the auspices of London University) in Karachi, Pakistan. Ms. Egan proudly served as a 1st Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Nurse Corp during World War II. A part of that service was aboard the U.S. Army Hospital Ship “Wisteria” which transported German ex-POW’s back to Germany and returned American sick and wounded to the United States. Her working career consisted of being a Science Instructor, Education Director, and Associate Director at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital School of Nursing (now Brigham and Women’s Hospital) in Boston, MA. She then accepted an assignment with U.S. AID which sent her to Pakistan for 8 years. While in Pakistan, she was appointed Principal of the Post-Graduate College of Nursing, a joint project between the U.S. and the government of Pakistan. Her duties included coordinating a two year program for Registered Nurses in teaching and administration. During her tour in Pakistan, she was afforded the opportunity to meet many dignitaries, including President Eisenhower, Vice President Hubert Humphrey, Lady Bird Johnson, Jean Kennedy Smith, Jacqueline Kennedy and Queen Elizabeth II. After completing her tour in Pakistan, she returned to Nashua, NH and accepted the position of Director of Nashua Visiting Nurse Service then went to Lowell, MA as Executive Director of the Lowell Visiting Nurse Association. She then accepted the position of short term consultant for WHO/PAHO to assist in setting up a nursing program on the Pakistan Model at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica. Following this, she returned to Peter Bent Brigham School of Nursing as Medical-Surgical Coordinator, Associate Director, and Director until the school was phased out in 1985. In 1987 she came to Natchitoches to retire but remained active as a part time weekend supervisor at Evangeline Nursing Home. She also taught Nursing Assistant classes at Louisiana Vocational-Technical College in Natchitoches and Many. Ms. Egan was a communicant of Holy Cross Catholic Church, member and Vice Regent of CDA, Court Bishop Malloy, Nashua, NH and several professional organizations. She contributed articles to international nursing journals and chapters in several text books. She is listed in “Who’s Who of American Women”, “Who’s Who in the East”, “Who’s Who in the World”. She was preceded in death by her beloved foster parents, R. Burton and Beatrice Willard.