Ruth Anne (Palmer) McDonnell |
| Posted 2009-06-30 by Superior Sun News |
| Ruth Anne Palmer McDonnell, 64, of Cape Giradeau, Missouri, died Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2002. She had fought a two and a half year battle against multiple myeloma cancer. She was born July 15, 1938, in Dubuque, Iowa, where she spent her childhood. While attending nursing school at Finley Hospital in Dubuque, one of the patients she attended to, Mac McDonnell, later became her husband. The couple came to Arizona in 1964 and resided in Superior before moving to Kearny in 1965. It was her great joy to serve 21 years as a nurse at the old Kennecott hospital in Kearny. After returning to college to earn her bachelor’s degree, she transferred to Desert Samaritan Hospital in Mesa. During her 10 years of working as a nursing administrator for Samaritan Health Systems, she earned her master’s degree in nursing from the University of Phoenix. Looking for a quieter life like the one she and Mac had left behind in Kearny, they moved back to the Midwest. The move brought her closer to extended family and allowed her to continue to move up the career ladder. In 1996, she became the director of the Heart Institute of St. Francis Hospital in Cape Giradeau and worked there until her illness prevented her from continuing. She is survived by her husband, Mac, who worked at Ray Mines until 1987; son, Guy of Leander, Texas; daughter, Rhonda of Gilbert, Arizona; brother, Don Palmer of Dubuque; sisters, Dorothy Fay and Sheila Pauly, both of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; and grandsons, Scott and Derek. Services were held at Ford and Sons Mortuary in Cape Girardeau Sept. 7, 2002. To allow her Arizona friends and family to celebrate her life, a memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 14, at Fountain of Life International Church, 1055 E. Hern Rd. in Phoenix. To get to the church from the Copper Basin area, take U.S. 60 west to I-10, west to I-17 north, Exit I-17 north on Thunderbird Road. Go east on Thunderbird to 7th Street and turn left. Continue on 7th Street to Hern and continue north. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Ruth’s name to Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy, University of Arkansas Medical Sciences, 4301 W. Markham Street, Lot 816, Little Rock, Arkansas, 72205-9985, or to St. Francis Foundation, 211 St. Francis Drive, Cape Girardeau, Missouri 63703. Superior Sun September 10, 2002. |
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