100 Years of Nursing Alumni Stories




Beryl Rowntree

Beryl Gaspardy, BScN, 1964


I received my nursing diploma at the Toronto General Hospital in 1946. I worked as general duty nurse in several Red Cross hospitals in northern Ontario, in the “outpost” towns of Espanola, Mindemoya, Dryden, and Chapleau. At that time, I was earning $40 a month plus room and board in the accommodations provided for the nurses at easch outpost. I eventually became Matron of the Espanola hospital, then on to Matron of the Dryden hospital: that position boosted my monthly salary to $60 plus room and board.

In 1950, I enrolled one year at the University of Toronto to take courses towards my BScN. I really wanted to see the world, so I travelled to London, England where I worked in a hospital where I eventually became charge nurse. I remember counting knives and forks on hospital trays because there were desperate people needing such items after the war. During my holidays, I enjoyed travelling with my friends to see many parts of Europe.

When I returned to Canada, I worked as an Assistant Director of Nursing at the Windsor Metropolitan Hospital that was establishing a School of Nursing there. My aging mother was living in the Toronto area at the time and I needed to be more available to her. The Ford Motor Company in Oakville hired me to head the Occupational Health programme in that plant, which I did for about 3 years.

After that, I did more travelling in Europe and eventually left England by ship to travel to Australia and New Zealand. While in Nelson, New Zealand, I lived with my friend (whom I had met on board ship on a previous trip from England back to Canada). Her brother, who was a surgeon in Nelson, reported that there was a great need for nurses at the local hospital. So, I worked night shifts for 2 years in a post-surgical unit and spent much of my daytime time off enjoying daily tennis and travelled all over New Zealand with my friend.

When I returned to Ontario I worked as Unit Manager, Medicine and Children, at the North York Hospital in Toronto and was happy there for a while. Soon four of my international nursing friends (3 New Zealanders and a Brit) and I decided we should go north, this time to Chapleau where they could take on all five of us. The hospital staff was pleased to see us! We were together for a year before those friends began to leave for their own marriage plans, leaving me alone at Chapleau.

While at Chapleau I was approached by the rail company to train their employeees in the St. John's First Aid program. I attended the meetings with pleasure. I was encouraged by friends to apply for Countess Mountbatten of Burma Bursary. I was one of nine people in Canada to be recognized that year and was awarded $500.00, a very substantial amount in those days! That funding later helped with my costs of studies toward my nursing degree.

The Plummer Memorial Hospital School of Nursing in Sault Ste. Marie was inviting me to fill a too-long vacant teaching position but the salary offered was too low. The School was then informed that they would lose all of their students if a qualified nurse was not promptly hired. My salary requirement, in acordance with the Registered Nurses of Ontario guidelines, was soon accepted and I moved to Sault Ste. Marie. I was warmly welcomed by all of the staff members and soon learned that as a result of my increased salary their wages were similarly reviewed and increased! I enjoyed my time at the Plummer. When my students wrote their RN exams they, as a group, earned the highest marks in the province that year. Most of them went on to their own successful nursing careers and to this day I maintain correspondence with them all.

While in the Sault I decided I needed to complete my Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree and soon found a placement at the then University of Western Ontario school of nursing. With all my travelling around the world, I didn’t have a lot of money in my pocket. To supplement my funds for full tiome studies I became a Don at the Sydenham student residence and received free room and board plus $15. The Countess Mountbatten bursary and this stipend helped me pay my tuition.

After graduation in 1964, I was hired as one of the first instructors at the Quo Vadis School of Nursing. It was an experimental school that enrolled mature students, 35-50 years of age, many of whom were new Canadians. I looked after student placements at various hospitals, including the Queensway Hospital. I believe I am the last living Quo Vadis teacher; I still keep in touch with many of those students and attend the annual alumni luncheon in Toronto.

After 3 years with Quo Vadis, I was recruited to become the Director of Nursing at Queensway and remained there until I retired in 1975.

I married Géza, an engineer, in 1965 and I am still living in the same house we shared from 1967 until his death in 2009. I have spent my retirement years maintaining contact with my widespread nursing colleagues and my many students. With other family members I have been exploring and preserving the history of my Rowntree Family and researched and wrote Part 2 of The Rowntree Book in two parts.

Isabella Grace Frick


What inspired you to choose nursing as a profession?

I have always been interested in health care and helping people. My deciding moment was on February 28th, 2018. This is the day that my niece was born. Although we aren't blood related, she is family. This little angel was born after 27 hours of labour and then an emergency cesarean section, making for an exhausted momma. My niece's momma was a superstar throughout her labour because her nurses were there for her every step of the way. The way the nurses handled all the situations and their caring demeanour made me want to be just like them. The nurses were dedicated to making the very difficult birth as easy as possible, and cared not only for baby and mom but also the people supporting them. Even small acts like offering us blankets and pillows to make us more comfortable over the long day made such an impact. That day was when I had my heart set on becoming a nurse and helping people like those nurses helped us.

Describe your nursing career to date.

As a first year student, I haven't had a lot of experience but learning about the proper way to do assessment and interact with patients has been incredibly interesting. I very much look forward to community placements in second year, as I find Health Promotion and Caring very thought provoking and important. Working in a community is something I can see myself doing after graduation.

What was your fondest memory during your time studying nursing at Western?

I have two equally fond memories while studying at western so far. The first is the feeling of accomplishment when I finished and excelled my first Holistic Health Assessment exam. I felt like my hard work was paying off and I had chosen a career path that I can enjoy forever. The second was the immense feeling of accomplishment when I gave my now two year old niece a western sweater. Her birth was the reason I decided on nursing and to give her that tiny purple sweater made me feel like I was doing something bigger than just going into a career to make money. I�۪m going to be a nurse to help bring into the world beautiful little humans, help elderly exit live gently and everything in between.

Janis Shkilnyk, BSCN, 2002


What inspired you to choose nursing as a profession?

My Grandmother and being a candy striper

Describe your nursing career to date.

I have worked 30 years in nursing- primarily in long term care in nursing leadership roles. It has been both the best of times and the worst of times...a passion, a lifestyle, a calling...

Maryium Mansur


What inspired you to choose nursing as a profession?

I chose nursing because to me it was an act of giving! Giving back to the community that raised me. Giving back to the people that shaped me. Giving back to the country that provided me with opportunities. Giving back to make the world a better place.

Maureen Leyser, BScN, 2001

Nurse Practitioner, London Health Science Center


What inspired you to choose nursing as a profession?

After my first experience of "candy-striping" at a local nursing home at the age of 17 (1987), I knew Nursing was going to be my life-long profession. I enjoyed the interactions with the elderly people while caring for their basic needs of feeding, bathing, and toileting. I also enjoyed working as a team along side the other nurses. I left each volunteer shift feeling grateful and personally fulfilled to be able to help others of need.

Describe your nursing career to date.

1992 - Graduated with a Nursing diploma (RN) from Conestoga College. 2001 - Graduated at UWO - Post RN - BScN degree 2002 - Graduated at UWO - Primary Health Care Nurse Practitioner 2007 - Graduated at University of Toronto - Masters of Nursing - Acute Care Nurse Practitioner 2017-Present - Enrolled at Western University in Ph. D Nursing Program -

What was your fondest memory during your time studying nursing at Western?

My fondest memory was when my professor and classmates were developing a back up plan if I went into labour on the day of the final exam within the PHCNP program. I was 37 weeks pregnant with my second child and my home hospital was one hour away from the university. A true sense of community and family was evident within my time at Western.

Michelle Neumann, BScN, 1995

RN Supervisor, Fideliscare


What inspired you to choose nursing as a profession?

Every nurse I knew growing up had so many interesting stories and I loved the idea of teaching people how to stay healthy.

Describe your nursing career to date.

I have worked in public health and in several capacities in home care and in home hospice care for most of my career. For the past two years I have supervised nurses who do telephonic case management.

What was your fondest memory during your time studying nursing at Western?

Frosh week, fire alarms at Saugeen, lots of friendships that through the magic of social media are maintained to today, early morning clinical, barely passing chemistry are all memories that are close to my heart. Writing careplans from scratch, seeing a baby born less than an hour into my first maternity rotation and Ann Schweitzer "hinking outside the box"...I have never heard that phrase without thinking that the nurses who taught us were ahead of their time. (And I still loathe the formality of careplans!)

Nour Al-Farawi

Nurse Practitioner, Thames valley family health team


What inspired you to choose nursing as a profession?

Side note: I am the nurse in the green scrubs in your picture. To answer the question: Many would say helping others, this holds true for me. However, it's much more than that. It is being able to be present and there for a patient in their greatest time of need. Often times for patients and families, they encounter a nurse during the most difficult times of their lives. It is an absolute privilege to be able to help them through those difficult times and of course celebrate the triumphs big or small.

Describe your nursing career to date.

Graduated with my BScN and BHSc in 2012. That year I began working at lhsc on the neurology neurosurgery floor from 2012 to 2015. During that time I began my masters in nursing and nurse practitioner program at western as well. I worked full time while I completed the masters portion. After finishing and graduating in 2015 with my Masters of Nursing and Nurse Practitioner certification I began working with the Thames Valley Family Health Team here in london Ontario where I work in family practice. I see patients of all ages and stages in life for any concern under the sun. I love preventative medicine. I love taking the time to explain/teach and work with patients to better their health and prevent diseases before they happen. I love catching illnesses early before complications arise. Most importantly I enjoy creating a safe environment for patients and their families to come in and discuss any concerns they may have. This is especially important as mental health concerns are usually found and talked about when patients feel you are listening and truly care. I also enjoy taking students from Western's MN-NP program.

What was your fondest memory during your time studying nursing at Western?

Graduating with my classmates who became family very quickly.

Rachel Downie, Bachelor of Science in Nursing, 2015


What inspired you to choose nursing as a profession?

I knew I really enjoyed learning about the human body and working with people, but I wasn't sure nursing was for me at first. I applied to everything science based out of university and I was accepted into nursing first, so that's what I picked. Best decision I made!

Describe your nursing career to date.

I've primarily worked in inpatient surgical care. I floated for thoracics, burns and plastics and urology and ENT for the first part of my nursing career. I then transitioned over to another inpatient surgical unit focusing on orthopaedics (hand and upper limb), urology, ENT, ophthalmology, plastic surgery and dentistry.

Siobhan Kathleen Carrick, BScN, 2011


What inspired you to choose nursing as a profession?

I actually had no idea what a nurse even did. I enrolled because I knew I wanted to travel and look after others.

Describe your nursing career to date.

I graduated from Western in 2011 and worked as a medical-surgical nurse at LHSC for three years. I then did a post-graduate degree in critical care nursing and immigrated to Australian where I began my career as an ICU nurse at the Royal Brisbane and Women�۪s Hospital. I returned to Canada in 2016 and worked at Vancouver General Hospital in their ICU. I am now back in Australia living on the beautiful Sunshine Coast and working as an ICU nurse at the Sunshine Coast University Hospital while also studying another post graduate in emergency nursing.

What was your fondest memory during your time studying nursing at Western?

I felt so much pride to be a nursing student at Western. There was a wonderful culture of tradition and prestige associated with the nursing school. My favourite class was microbiology with Dr. David Colby. What a dude!!!

Yvette Rose Laforêt Fliesser , BScN, MScN, 1974, 1981


What inspired you to choose nursing as a profession?

I was 10 years old when my father had his first MI. VON nurses would visit my father and mother at our home and this really fascinated me- that nurses actually worked in homes and in the community. I was in Grade 9 when I decided that I wanted to be a community health nurse. I was fortunate to have a guidance counsellor who seemed to know that I would need a BScN to do this type of nursing. I applied to Western and another university and was delighted to get accepted at Western, my first choice.

Describe your nursing career to date.

During my 45 year career, I was fortunate to fulfill my dream of becoming a community health nurse. After graduation, I worked with the Windsor-Essex Branch of the VON. I was a district nurse and provided a variety of nursing care to post-surgical patients, medical patients, and prenatal and postnatal families. I loved it! Two years later, my husband and I moved to London and I had hoped to continue with VON but there were no positions available in London. On the advice of my Director in Windsor, I applied to Western's Faculty of Nursing that was recruiting clinical instructors with experiences in maternal-child nursing and community nursing. I loved working in the postpartum unit, labour and delivery at Victoria Hospital and supervised students in these settings as well as in the community where students visited a prenatal and postnatal family over the course of the academic year. The following year, I applied to Graduate Studies as a part-time student in the nursing education stream of the MScN programme. I enjoyed graduate school and was able to apply what I learned in the course work directly into my teaching in Year 2 of the BScN Programme. I returned to practice after I completed my MScN in 1981 and worked in public health for 2 years. After the birth of our second child, I wanted to work part-time and returned to Western to work as a sessional clinical instructor in the family and community health nursing courses in Year 4. Over the next 16 years, I honed my skills as a nurse educator in community health nursing and took on various leadership roles including course coordinator and undergraduate programme chair. I was fortunate to work with a number of nurse scholars and educators in designing new courses and curriculum and in conducting research in clinical education. I finished my full time nursing career as a Manager of the Young Adult Program at Middlesex-London Health Unit where I became a strong proponent of school-based health promotion and also becamed involved in professional nursing associations such as CHNIG and CHNC that were promoting the Canadian Community Health Nursing Standards in public health nursing practice. During this time, I maintained an academic appointment with the Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing as Adjunct Associate Professor. I continue to be an active volunteer in the community and serve on committees of the Community Health Nurses of Canada and I am an active alumna of the Nursing Alumni Chapter at Western. I am grateful to Western for providing the foundation for a rewarding nursing career in academia and in community health/public health nursing. Thank you! Purple and Proud forever!

What was your fondest memory during your time studying nursing at Western?

I enjoyed the coffee houses on campus and in downtown London. I enjoyed playing and singing at these venues and also enjoyed Smale's Place and Sunday 9 O'Clock concerts at Alumni Hall. I also enjoyed serving on the Nursing Students' Council and planning social events such as the Formal and Tachycardia. Academically, I appreciated getting clinical experience in hospitals and in the community setting and in taking interdisciplinary courses with students from PT, OT, Communication Disorders, Medicine and Dentistry. I thought I had the best of both worlds: small classes in nursing and health sciences and larger classes in the sciences and social sciences.