Dorothy Mae Strickland

Dorothy Mae Strickland worked for forty years as a registered nurse in the pediatric ward of a regional hospital in North Carolina, becoming one of those rare constants that families in crisis counted on by name. She started an IV with a calm that communicated itself across the room and knew instinctively when a frightened child needed a story rather than a procedure explanation. She retired in 2010 and spent her remaining years gardening, visiting grandchildren, and occasionally calling former colleagues to ask how they were holding up.