Ruth Naomi (Stevens) Lindley |
| Posted 2009-01-26 by Judy Wight Branson |
| The Daily Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Sunday, March 12, 1995 Naomi Ruth Stevens, 80, died February 21, 1995 at the Veterans Medical Center in Prescott, Arizona. She was born January 9, 1915 to Wilhelmina Regina James and William Robert Stevens in Glendale, Arizona. Naomi was the youngest of seven children. Her sisters and brothers were Ethel, Grace, Isabella, Claude, Cecil, Irean and Hazel. She attended the Kitty Dixon Business College, Phoenix, Arizona in 1932. She made a major career change and entered nursing school at the Good Samaritan Hospital School of Nursing, Phoenix, Arizona in 1934, graduating with a nursing diploma three years later. During WWII, Naomi enlisted (June 8, 1942) in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps. First Lt. Stevens served as Head Nurse and Operating Room Nurse during the European Theatre of Operations. She was in the battles/campaigns of Normandy, Ardennes, North France, Central Europe and Rhineland. She received the European African Middle Eastern Campaign medal with 5 Battle Stars, the WWII Victory Medal, the American Campaign Medal and 3 overseas Service Bars. She was released from active duty Feb. 9, 1946. It was during the war that she met her husband, John (J.C.) Cyrus Lindley. After the war, they settled in California. Naomi worked as a School Nurse and Health Coordinator at the Lynwood Unified School District in Lynwood, Ca. Furthering one's education was always important to Naomi. She entered UCLA in 1953 and earned her Masters Degree in Health Education. Naomi and John moved to Dade County, Mo. in 1953. She worked as a county public health nurse (PHN) for the Missouri Division of Health and Polk County Court. As a PHN Supervisor, she provided supervision and consultation to PHN's in 22 county and 2 city-county health departments to implement and maintain nursing services. As nursing instructor in the Associate Degree program of Nursing Education at Southeast Missouri State College, Cape Girardeau, Mo., Naomi taught Pediatrics, as well as beginning and advanced Medical-Surgical Nursing; team taught psychiatric nursing and assisted with students' applied experiences at Anna State Mental Hospital, Anna, Illinois. At Drury College, Springfield, Mo., she was an instructor in the Dept. of Adult Education and taught Principles of Public Health Nursing and Ward Management. She accepted a position with the Missouri Division of Health, Jefferson City, Mo. as Clinic Administrator and PHN Consultant (Mental Retardation). At the University of Mo., Columbia, she taught Community Health and Medical Practice and worked in the Multiple Handicap Clinic. Mrs. Lindley came to Oklahoma City in Sept., 1969 to accept the position of Assistant Chief of Nursing Services at the Okla. State Dept. of Health. Hired as Assistant Professor in Jan. 1973 by the University of Okla. College of Nursing (OUCN), she was responsible for students in clinical groups in Pediatrics, Community Health and School Nursing. For 3 years, she served as the Coordinator for the OUCN rural Nursing Practicum. She retired June 30, 1980 from OUCN. In the fall of 1980, Mrs. Lindley became a very important faculty member of the nursing program at Southern Nazarene University, Bethany, Ok. She was instrumental in developing the curriculum which was used in the beginning years of the program and serves as a basis for the curriculum now in use. During her lifetime, Naomi belonged to and supported the following organizations: UCLA Alumni Assoc., Good Samaritan Hospital Alumni Assoc., Okla. City Inservice Coordinator's Group, National Council for Homemaker-Home Health Aides, American Public Health Association, National League for Nursing, Okla. League for Nursing, Okla. Health and Welfare Assoc., Higher Education Alumni Council of Okla., American Nurses Assoc., Okla. Nurses Assoc. (she worked parttime as staff coordinator for CEARP, 1979-83), ONA District 1 (she was responsible for naming the annual summer Continuing Education session called "Potpourri"), American Lung Assoc. of Oklahoma, Sigma Theta Tau (inducted 1973), Okla. City Audubon Society, Tinker Retired Officers Assoc., Am erican Museum of National History, National Geographic Society, Charter member Nutrition Today and National Society of Literature and the Arts. When Naomi finally retired, she became an avid genealogy researcher of her family ancestry. Suffering from severe arthritic pain, she still managed to focus on collecting many documents and photos for the two books she planned to write. Mrs. Lindley was preceded in death by her husband, John. She is survived by her son, Tyrone Steven Lindley, Vian, Ok.; granddaughters, Tami Naomi, Sherrie Tylene, both of Oklahoma City; sister, Hazel Metzer, Monterrey, Ca.; and brother, Claude Stevens, Glendale, Az.; and several nephews, nieces, grand nephews and grand nieces. Services were held February 27, 1995 at the AL Moore and Sons Funeral Home in Phoeniz, Az. with burial at the National Memorial Cemetery of Arizona. It was only fitting that the Chaplain presiding at the graveside ceremony had served in WWII and may have been one of the wounded Naomi aided. Naomi's friend s described her as loyal, caring, inspiring, enthusiastic, intellectual, proactive for nursing education, an effective communicator, creative thinker and dedicated to professional nursing. She was loved and will be missed. Memorials may be made to the Ar thritis Foundation or Sigma Theta Tau Nursing Honorary Society. |
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