Los Angeles
County
Biographies
JESSIE MARION STEWART
The
nursing profession has about it a quality of dedication that is not found in
quite the same degree in any other walk of life. The Director of Nursing at the City of Hope
Medical Center, Jessie Marion Stewart, in charge of a nursing staff of about
two hundred, has held that position since 1956.
Her four phases of activity include direction, supervision, and
provision of nursing care for the patients, including out-patients;
administration of the department, hiring, teaching, and related tasks;
cooperation in providing nursing experience and knowledge for people in the
community; and program coordination with other departments in the hospital.
The
vital young woman who accomplishes all these things was born on February 6,
1925, in Chicago, Illinois; she is the daughter of William Hughes of Cleveland,
Ohio, and Jessie (McLeod) Stewart of Loma Linda, California. Mr. Stewart is a native of Belfast, Ireland;
he is a past president of the East Cleveland Rotary Club, a Shriner, and branch
manager of Brown and Sharpe Manufacturing Company. Mrs. Stewart is from Providence, Rhode
Island, and has been active in Eastern Star.
Receiving
her elementary and high school education in Lakewood, Ohio, Miss Stewart was
elected to the Junior Honor Society for scholastic achievement and graduated
from Lakewood High School in 1943. She
graduated from Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania, where she majored
in Biology, in 1947, and was active there in the debating society, was a member
of the student council, and for four years was a member of the Allegheny
Singers, a touring choir. While in
college Miss Stewart was also studying nursing, starting at St. Luke’s Hospital
School of Nursing in Cleveland in the summer of 1945,
and graduating from the school of nursing simultaneously with her graduation
from college. She holds a Bachelor of
Science degree and is a Registered Nurse.
She was a member of a reserve unit of the Cadet Nurse Corps, but was not
called to active duty.
From
1947 – 1953 Miss Stewart was on the faculty of St. Luke’s and later Cleveland
City Hospital, teaching medical nursing.
In 1953 she came to California on a visit to a sister living in Monterey
Park, and has remained in the state since that time, being appointed to the
faculty of Los Angeles County General Hospital in 1954, and holding that
position until becoming Assistant Director of Nursing at the City of Hope in
1956, assuming her present position six months later.
Currently
chairman of the nursing education committee of the Tuberculosis and Health
Association of Los Angeles County, Miss Stewart is also on the board of
directors of that association and has been appointed as a delegate to its
annual state meeting. She is a chairman
of the nursing service administrators’ section of the California Nurses’
Association and has been elected to its board of directors; she is also a
member of the association’s personnel and legislative committees. A delegate to the American Nurses’ Association
in 1960, Miss Stewart will fill the same capacity in 1962. In 1959 and 1960 she was a member and vice
chairman of the Los Angeles County Heart Association and was elected a member
of the nursing education committee of the California League of Nursing. A member of the board of directors and
legislative chairman of the San Gabriel Valley District of the California
Nurses’ Association, Miss Stewart is also active, up to 1961, in the Pasadena
Community Planning Council.
Before
coming to California Miss Stewart was active in Eastern Star in Cleveland and
was the first president of the Business and Professional Women’s Auxiliary within
the chapter. She was also in the choir
of the Church of the Covenant.
Miss
Stewart’s special interest outside of her work is music, singing and
piano. She has been a member of the
adult choir at the Pasadena Presbyterian Church for eight years, and last year
was a member of the cabinet of the choir.
Her parents were active in their church choir where Mr. Stewart was a
bass soloist. Miss Stewart was formerly
a member of the San Gabriel Community Orchestra. She also has an interest in photography.
Transcribed by
V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Historical Volume & Reference Works Including Alhambra, Monterey Park,
Rosemead, San Gabriel & Temple City, by Robert P. Studer,
Pages 756-758, Historical Publ., Los Angeles, California. 1962.
© 2013 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES BIOGRAPHIES