Post by Okwes on Dec 22, 2005 22:03:01 GMT -5
Roxanne Struthers, 53, had a Ph.D. in nursing
Ben Cohen, Star Tribune
December 15, 2005
Roxanne Struthers, who grew up a poor farm girl in Sugar Bush Township
on the White Earth Reservation, knew early on that she wanted to be a
nurse.
Struthers worked in a senior citizens home as a teenager, became a
nurse's aide, and eventually was one of only 14 American Indians to hold
doctorates in nursing. "She had a dream that she was supposed to be a
healer," said her daughter, Julie Marson of Marysville, Wash.
The University of Minnesota School of Nursing professor died of leukemia
in St. Paul on Saturday. She was 53.
Struthers melded the healing aspects of her culture with her skills in
medicine. During her career as a registered nurse she worked on Indian
reservations.
Struthers earned her Ph.D. in nursing from the University of Minnesota
1999, conducted research on the health of Indians, especially in the
tribes of Minnesota and the Northwest. Her scholarly work focused on
tobacco use, diabetes, and traditional healing and healers.
She worked to record and preserve concepts of Indian medicine and
healing that often existed only in oral form. Tribal elders assured her
that putting it down on paper was appropriate and timely, wrote her
daughter Julie in a biography of her mother.
Struthers made presentations across the country and overseas, taught
nursing students at the university and has written or cowritten nearly a
dozen publications or works about to be published.
"What is so remarkable about Dr. Struthers is that she was an exemplary
teacher, scholar and practicing nurse," said Connie Delaney, dean and
professor of the U of M School of Nursing.
"She fully lived, personally, her Native-American values as well,"
Delaney said.
Struthers, whose tribal name is Falling Snow, was born and raised on the
White Earth Indian Reservation, where she worked and raised her
children. She moved to the metro area in 1996 to begin work on her
doctorate.
In addition to her daughter Julie, she is survived by her husband of 34
years, James Struthers, of Coon Rapids; sons, Jesse, of Mounds View, and
John, of Apple Valley; another daughter, Jodi Stark, of Coon Rapids;
brothers, Bob Shimek, of Bemidji, Minn., and Rodney Sullivan, of
Mahnomen, Minn., and four granddaughters.
Ben Cohen, Star Tribune
December 15, 2005
Roxanne Struthers, who grew up a poor farm girl in Sugar Bush Township
on the White Earth Reservation, knew early on that she wanted to be a
nurse.
Struthers worked in a senior citizens home as a teenager, became a
nurse's aide, and eventually was one of only 14 American Indians to hold
doctorates in nursing. "She had a dream that she was supposed to be a
healer," said her daughter, Julie Marson of Marysville, Wash.
The University of Minnesota School of Nursing professor died of leukemia
in St. Paul on Saturday. She was 53.
Struthers melded the healing aspects of her culture with her skills in
medicine. During her career as a registered nurse she worked on Indian
reservations.
Struthers earned her Ph.D. in nursing from the University of Minnesota
1999, conducted research on the health of Indians, especially in the
tribes of Minnesota and the Northwest. Her scholarly work focused on
tobacco use, diabetes, and traditional healing and healers.
She worked to record and preserve concepts of Indian medicine and
healing that often existed only in oral form. Tribal elders assured her
that putting it down on paper was appropriate and timely, wrote her
daughter Julie in a biography of her mother.
Struthers made presentations across the country and overseas, taught
nursing students at the university and has written or cowritten nearly a
dozen publications or works about to be published.
"What is so remarkable about Dr. Struthers is that she was an exemplary
teacher, scholar and practicing nurse," said Connie Delaney, dean and
professor of the U of M School of Nursing.
"She fully lived, personally, her Native-American values as well,"
Delaney said.
Struthers, whose tribal name is Falling Snow, was born and raised on the
White Earth Indian Reservation, where she worked and raised her
children. She moved to the metro area in 1996 to begin work on her
doctorate.
In addition to her daughter Julie, she is survived by her husband of 34
years, James Struthers, of Coon Rapids; sons, Jesse, of Mounds View, and
John, of Apple Valley; another daughter, Jodi Stark, of Coon Rapids;
brothers, Bob Shimek, of Bemidji, Minn., and Rodney Sullivan, of
Mahnomen, Minn., and four granddaughters.