Cochise College’s first nursing class, pictured in 1965 at the capping ceremony.
SIERRA VISTA — Cochise College’s Nursing Department is inviting its alumni to the Sierra Vista Campus for a nursing program reunion at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 2, in the Student Union.
Tickets are $15 each and include brunch, tours and time for networking. The deadline to RSVP, by calling (520) 417-4735, is April 29.
“We are hoping to make this an annual event to serve as a networking opportunity for our alumni, both professionally and personally,” said Jennifer Lakosil, Director of Nursing and Health Sciences. “The proceeds will be used exclusively for the nursing program.”
Many of the college’s first nursing students are signed up to attend. There are 18 LPN (Licensed Practical Nurse) program students pictured in the 1965 yearbook, representing nursing’s first class at Cochise College, and 12 of them have made plans to take part in the 50th reunion, according to 1965 graduate Esther (Bethea) Cotton.
“We’re going to go, rejoice, and be glad we’re all still alive,” laughed Cotton, who is 87 and lives in Bisbee. “There were three of us who started the program at middle age, the rest were right out of high school, and we just had a great time.”
Cotton recalls the program starting at the very beginning of the fall semester in 1964, when the college first opened for classes on the Douglas Campus. She and her classmates took courses in mathematics, English and physical education, in addition to nursing classes under full-time instructor June Lubker. To perform their “floor work” at local hospitals, they divided into two groups and spent half days in Douglas or Bisbee.
Midway through the year, they celebrated their capping ceremony and recited the nursing oath. They wrapped up their schooling at Tucson Medical Center where, under instructor Eva Wright, they learned pediatrics and obstetrics while housed in the nurses’ building.
“I cherish that one year we all spent together,” Cotton said. “And most of us have kept kind of close, but we don’t get to see each other very often.”
LPN certification was a pilot program for the college in its early years. It soon proved successful enough for the two-year associate degree nursing program to begin at Cochise in 1970. Some of Cotton’s classmates went on to complete their RN degrees, but Cotton returned to work at the Copper Queen Hospital, where she had performed many LPN duties prior to officially earning her certification at Cochise. Cotton said she feels privileged to have been part of the first group of students in what has become one of the college’s most successful programs.
“We were proud of our class,” she said. “My husband and I have been to quite a few of the commencement exercises, because we’re still interested in them.”
All of the first LPN graduates remained within or close to Cochise County, according to Cotton. She said most of the class of 1965 will be traveling to the reunion from Douglas, Bisbee or Tucson, and one from New Mexico. The last time the first class gathered was to celebrate its 25-year reunion on the Douglas Campus.
“This year, we’ll get together for probably the last time and just enjoy each other’s company,” she said. “And we want to enjoy the newcomers and be proud of the present nursing program.”
The college’s nursing department currently has nine full-time nursing faculty, three of whom are Cochise alumni. In just over a year, Nursing and Health Sciences is slated to move into remodeled space within the former hospital complex in Sierra Vista, at the corner of El Camino Real and Wilcox Dr., donated to Cochise College by the Legacy Foundation of Southeast Arizona.
For more information about the nursing program at Cochise College, visit www.cochise.edu/nursing or call (520) 515-5309.