I wanted to salute all those who serve and have served our country on this Memorial Day. Remembering the people in my family who fought wars and the women I lovingly call my nurses, the Nurses of Post 122!


1st Lieutenant Jane "Betty" (McGough) Rosenberger, ANC coming home from her service in Japan at the end of World War II.

1st Lieutenant Anastasia M."Nancy" Hartley, AAFNC leaving the nurses' quarters on Orly Field, Paris, France, on VE-Day. She would eventually become the "First Director of Nurses" of the ( then) St. Petersburg Jr. College's two-year registered nurse program in St. Petersburg, Florida.

 1st Lieutenant Louise Coleman, ANC, who served in many places including a hospital at Camp Rupert, a  prisoner-of-war camp for Italian and German POWs during World War II.

 Joan (Tyrrell) Arcand, Lieutenant Nurse Corps, USNR  who served in the Korean War and spent the Christmas of 1953 caring for wounded at the Naval Hospital in Yokosuka, Japan.

 Captain Rosemary Cianciosi, USAF, cared for wounded on a flight from Subic Bay, Luzon, Philippines during the Vietnam War.

 Lieutenant Mary Eileen (Newbeck) Christian , ANC,  with her graduating class from Flight School. The first group of nurses to be formally trained at Bowman Field, Louiseville, Kentucky. 1943

2nd  Lieutenant Antoinette "Toni" (Macedonio) Amato, ANC caring for a wounded soldier as part of the 147th General Hospital in Hawaii during World War II. 

1st Lieutenant Hazel (Stickney)  Murphy, ANC. She spent four years overseas with the 105th Hospital serving in New Zealand, Australia, New Guinea ( in this photo) and on the Island of Biak in the Dutch East Indies.  

You can find their stories and other nurses' stories of service in: 

Answering the Call: Nurses of Post 122  

      http://bookstore.xlibris.com/Products/SKU-0035836049/Answering-The-Call-Nurses-of-Post-122.aspx

Fred Koehler, -- author and illustrator of HOW TO CHEER UP Dad, published by Penguin, USA --  meeting one of his younger fans at the Author/Illustrator Event on April 5th, 2014.

Fred signing his new book at the all-day Author Illustrator Event that began with kids ages 6 to 99 attending Fred's workshop entitled, How to Make a Picture Book. The event took place at the Polk Museum of Art in Lakeland, Florida. 

PolkMuseumofArt.org.

Fred posing with me after the throngs of fans had their books signed.

Fred and Rob Sanders, author of COWBOY CHRISTMAS, posing for a photo op.

Fred and his proud Mom!