Page 9 - I-Wouldnt-Have-Missed-It

Young AdulT life 29

JulieTTe: After graduating in May of 1957, I spent the summer
living at home before moving to New Orleans to attend nursing
school at Hotel Dieu, which later became University Hospital. At
the time I attended, the school was run by the Catholic Daugh-

ters of Charity.
I lived in the dormitory on N. Pierre right across from the
hospital. Since I didn’t know anyone, the day I arrived, I was

eager to meet my roommate, Gloria, to whom I had written an
introductory letter. Instead, my real roommate walked in and in-
troduced herself as Yvonne, who went by “Brownie.” Brownie
and I remained inseparable throughout nursing school.
The program was intensive. I went for three years with only

one month of vacation the first year and two weeks of vacation
for the years after that. I worked straight through summers, be-
ginning classes around 7 a.m.,

completing them around 5
p.m., studying at night, and
working on weekends. For
the first year, I joined the
other students on a bus to

Loyola to take general educa-
tion courses in the mornings
and more courses at Hotel

Dieu in the afternoon. Then,
I learned within blocks of
study that focused on nursing
specialties, such as pediatrics,

Juliette at Hotel Dieu, 1958