Joanne Walker

HOLDEN-Walker, Joanne Lourdes, 66. God must need a very special nurse, because Thursday March 8 he called Joanne Lourdes Walker, of Holden, to his side. Joanne was a diabetic from age eleven, but undeterred by that terrible disease she chose nursing as her life's work. She married Ed "Dusty" Walker right out of school in 1961 and together they shared their medical skills in a Johnney Appleseed kind of life, moving across the Northeast, planting programs and training people to save lives.

Joanne's life was filled with achievement. She planted seeds and delivered training that help start and grow rescue squads and volunteer ambulances in rural areas wherever they went. She began in upstate NY when CPR and EMT's were just being thought of. She helped found and teach in the SUNY Upstate (Medical Center) Medical Emergency training program. Her National Registry number was only four digits long. At St. Joseph's Hospital in Syracuse she also worked and taught in labor and delivery and the emergency Room. Later, while her husband finished his work there, she did some work investigating urban emergency medical care in a program at Dartmouth Medical School. They moved on to Portland, ME and with Federal help, together, they formulated and oversaw the establishment of MEDCU, the cities Medical Crisis response program. In Portland, Joanne saw another need too. She established a certified training program with the community college to help teenage emancipated girls study to become certified nurses aides. Joanne was a certified cardiac care instructor and was devoted to teaching CPR. She officially certified more then five-thousand lay people in CPR throughout her life not to mention another five hundred EMT's.

Coming to Worcester in '77 she helped her husband establish the Great Brook Valley Health Center, worked as the nurse for the U.S. Post Office Center in Shrewsbury and she was the nurse for the Wright Line Company and the Morgan Construction Company. She has received commendation from dozens of organizations, not the least of which was a lifetime nursing award from her nursing college's Alumni Association, the Red Cross and a commendation from U.S. President Ford. She did all of this while fighting diabetes, earning a degree in nursing from Anna Maria College and raising two wonderful children, Mark Walker and Lysa Ringgard. She railed against diabetes having seen her children and a grandchild all fall victim to the torments of this wicked disease-the disease that which has now taken her from us.

Friend's of Joanne's are invited to visit her for a last time at her home, 21 Mark Bradford Drive, Holden, anytime between 11:30 AM and 8:30 PM on Sunday or Monday March 11th and 12th. A Mass will be offered by the family's friend Fr. Tom Fleming at St. George's Catholic Church on Brattle Street in Worcester at 11:00 AM on Tuesday. A full celebration of Joanne's incredible life will take place on April 28th beginning at 200 PM at her daughter's home, 7 Naquag Street Rutland Ma. In lieu of flowers Joanne preferred that you migh send a gift to the Joanne Paino Walker Diabetic Student Nursing Scholarship Fund at Saint Joseph Hospital School of Nursing, Prescott Street, Syracuse, NY. Or drop your donation at the house for forwarding. Fay Brothers Funeral Home, 1 W. Boylston St. W. Boylston is assisting the family with arrangements. For on-line condolences please visit. www.faybrothers.com