By Geri McShane

assistant editor

Two graduates of the Naeve School of Nursing were honored for entering their 50th year of nursing on Oct. 10.

Ruth Sather and Mary Carstens were the guests of honor at a surprise party attended by family members, hospital employees, and even a former nursing supervisor and a former nursing instructor.

Sather said she knew she wanted to be a nurse when she was only 8 years old.

The Ellendale native said she chose the Naeve School of Nursing because it was close to home.

“It was a good school,” she said. “We got a lot of clinical experience.”

It was three years of intense training with no summers off, she said.

“Those days, we couldn’t leave campus,” she said. “It was very structured.”

But it made for close relationships, Sather said, and she still enjoys getting together with her classmates annually.

Sather said when she graduated from the nursing school in August 1959, she had a job waiting for her and began in September of that year. “I never had to apply,” she said.

She’s seen many changes in nursing over the years, especially in the area of how long patients stay at the hospital. Now many are in one day and out the same day or the next day.

“It’s much better for the patient,” Sather said.

She worked in nearly every department of the hospital, and helped start the ambulatory surgery unit 16 years ago.

“I’ve always worked with really great nurses,” she said. “And the surroundings are really nice. It’s a nice place to work.

“I just love my job,” Sather said. “I never wanted to do anything else. It’s been my social life and my home away from home.”

She semi retired 10 years ago and is now on casual status.

Carstens, who grew up west of Albert Lea, said she chose nursing because she had an older cousin who was a nurse who she admired a lot. She was a sophomore in high school when she made the decision to become a nurse.

Carstens said she appreciated the training she got at the Naeve School of Nursing. “What we learned in the morning in books we practiced in the afternoon,”she said.

All the training she and her classmates received was at Naeve Hospital, except for pediatric training at Anchor Hospital in St. Paul and psychiatric training in St. Peter.

Carstens also worked in most departments of the hospital at one time or another. She worked nights when she first started. She’s worked in surgery and obstetrics as well as kidney dialysis. She’s now on the medical and surgical floor.

One of the biggest changes for her was when the hospital instituted computer charting. “It’s a good safety factor,” Carstens said.

Jobs that may have been difficult for her in the beginning, like talking with patients, only got easier as the years go on.

“It seems I know everyone who comes in,” she said.

And it helps that she loves her job and has no plans to retire.

“I can’t imagine ever doing anything else,” she said. “It doesn’t seem like 50 years.”

Carstens was the recipient of the Mae Berry Award earlier this year. The award is given yearly to non-physician employees of the Mayo Health System.