It’s pretty rare for a graduating nursing class to remain connected with one another decades later, but a group of roughly 30 former nurses will gather in the coming days to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their 1973 class at the former Hotel-Dieu Hospital.
Not only is it the group’s 50th anniversary, but they were also the final official graduating nursing class from the downtown hospital which at the time saw them live inside the Jean Mance residence while receiving their two years of training to become nurses.
The hospital is now the Ouellette campus of Windsor Regional Hospital.
“We were the last graduating class from there,” said Julie Gauthier, organizer of the upcoming three-day meeting which will be held in the central location of Chatham starting on Sept. 17.
“It was a class that just blended really well. We have been getting together every five years from the time we graduated. We have traveled to all different places (for the reunion). St. Jacobs, Niagara, Grand Bend. We just really enjoy getting together and everyone always keeps in touch.”
The 1973 class graduated at Hotel-Dieu with 49 nurses. They then scattered to work primarily at various locations across Southwestern Ontario, said Gauthier, who resides in Amherstburg,
Passage of time has done little to lessen the bond among the group, although five members of the class have now died.
“I think it’s just really special for all of us,” Gauthier said. “With other (nursing) classes, you might have a few that get together, but for us to have this many — and then when all of us see everyone it really warms everyone’s heart.
“We came into training young, scared and being away from home for the first time for many of us, carrying our own stories. Living together, we learned to accept and respect each other’s similarities and differences. We became a family there and forged some deep, long-lasting friendships.”
Parts of the group will also occasionally get together with one another in between meetings for dinner or during Christmas.
“Someone will put out a notice to go to a certain restaurant and people just show up,” Gauthier said.
But the reunion even after 50 years is the focal point for everyone to renew their friendships, she said.
“It’s like everything else in life,” Gauthier said. “You think 50 years might be so long ago, but it goes by in a flash. It feels like it has gone by quickly.”