Hazel Peterson Currier Obituary
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By Wilma Gillis, CRNA, in consultation with Patrick Downey, CRNA and Nancy Daly
(Hazel’s niece)
Last fall, as I took on the president elect responsibilities, I was asked by our former
AANA and WANA president, Patrick Downey, CRNA to keep watch over his “Montana
cousin”, Hazel. She too was a past president (1967) of AANA and a recipient of the
AANA Agatha Hodgins Award for Lifetime Achievement in the early ‘90s. Patrick had
been a professional friend of and frequent correspondent with her for more than 40 years
through various AANA work and meetings. At the age of 102 1/2 she had moved from
her own home in Pennsylvania to live in Madison at Oakwood Retirement Village to be
nearer to her niece. Her former caretakers had grown too old to continue caring for her in
her home. Near her 103rd birthday in late fall, I sent a bouquet of roses to her from
WANA along with an invitation to be our guest of honor at the Wisconsin Spring
Educational Meeting’s luncheon. She proudly told everyone she met in the next weeks of
her invitation to our luncheon. At 103, she was still able to ambulate to her dining room
at Oakwood. What an impressive and commanding presence she maintained!
Hazel was born in Absarokee, Montana in Wild West ranch country. As a child, she
hunted coyote pups for bounty, attended a one-room country school, lived on a ranch and
found her own amusements in nature. She never saw indoor plumbing until, at age 13,
she came to Minnesota by rail to join her older brother. He wanted her to have the
rightful opportunity to be educated, so she could choose a path other than ranching if she
wished. She got a nursing education at the University of Minnesota and learned
anesthesia at St. Joseph Hospital in Chicago. In 1929 she gave her first ether anesthetic,
with only a can and no monitors. The technology we use today astounded her. Patrick
recalls her saying, “I think they are just showing off to use such fancy machines!” She
worked long, hard hours for low wages and still managed to give back to her beloved
profession.
She was a long time friend of the formidable Florence McQuillen, CRNA, and first
executive director of AANA. Hazel alone could get away with calling her “Mac”. She
had charisma and courage. Her most favored earthly possessions were her gold past
president’s pin which she wore as a necklace and her Agatha Hodgins Award crystal
trophy. She loved flowers, sugar cookies, the color aqua (AANA’s color!), and
students… especially nurse anesthetist students. Perhaps her last gift to our profession
was the inspiration she gave to young nursing students who cared for her in the hospital,
nursing home and, finally, Hospice. Advanced age certainly did not strip her of presence
as a powerful person who had lived life fully.
It was sadly not to be that Hazel would join WANA at the recent spring luncheon. She
suffered a stroke and other medical set-backs in December and never regained her
strength. I visited with her several times after the stroke, taking her flowers, fruit, rocks
from her beloved Montana and Nurse Anesthetist Week materials to decorate her room.
She had the best of care from her niece, Nancy Daly, the staff at Hospice and her
therapists. She enjoyed many joyful moments in Madison and, as she neared death, had
many delighted “glimpses of the other side” by “visitors” whom only Hazel saw. At her
death on March 23, 2007, in the wee hours of the morning, the 2007 National Nurse
Anesthetist Week “Rest Assured” poster was on her bed stand. Patrick Downey has
been asked by the family to accompany them in June to take Hazel’s cremains to
Rosebud Cemetery in Absarokee, Montana, joining the brother who educated her in his
resting place.
Proceeds from this spring’s silent auction conducted at our Spring Education Meeting,
along with donations given at our business meeting, all totaling $1022, will be made to
AANA Foundation in her memory. A customary WANA donation of $100 will also be
made to our own Sr. Yvonne Jenn Scholarship Fund. (Hazel knew Sr. Yvonne well
through AANA activities, although she never practiced in Wisconsin.)
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