Jean McCammon

Jean Lambert McCammon recalls her volunteer work with the American Red Cross as one of most satisfying in her career as a registered nurse. Jean travelled many places "for a job of course" including Boston Children's Hospital, pediatrics in New York City, and to Denver.

"I did not know a soul, but I went for a drier climate to help my sinusitis and continue my professional career," she remembers. Jean worked at the Colorado General Hospital where she met her husband to be, Robert McCammon, a medical student. Not yet ready for marriage, Jean made a career move to Seattle where she remembers making the decision that would ignite her passion for volunteerism. "Shortly after the Pearl Harbor 'blitz,'" said Jean, "I saw an advertisement in the paper looking for 50 Red Cross nurses to travel to Hawaii and help nurse families impacted by the bombing and provide care in local hospitals. There was a poster that said 'Volunteer for Victory' and I thought well…that would be nice to do. So, I applied."

Jean and the other Red Cross nurses were given passage on a Lurline Liner, used by the military to transport troops and supplies. This was no fun cruise. It was a grueling trip during wartime where emotions ran very high.

"When we arrived in Hawaii, we were greeted at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel and then stayed two days at what had been the Japanese Embassy. After in-processing we were taken to a school near Wahiawa [middle part of the Island near Wheeler Army Air Base and Schofield Barracks] which had been turned into a place for us to live and a makeshift hospital," she recounted

The group of Red Cross nurses staffed two hospitals, the one at Wahiawa and the larger, Sacred Heart Hospital in Honolulu. They did shift work, 6 days a week, 10-12 hours a day.

There was not a lot of time for recreation, but the nurses were able to go to Schofield Barracks for dinner and Mrs. Jean Henry Large, President Herbert Hoover's sister-in-law, had them for lunch and tea at her house on the Island.

Jean is quick to state "I loved Hawaii! The best part of my year there were the friends I made and the work – I was a workaholic." After her year in Hawaii, Jean returned to Seattle where Bob gave her a ring. They were married in 1943.

Since heeding the call for Red Cross nurses during WWII, Jean had three children and gave a lifetime of volunteer work to her community, through the schools, Public Health Nursing and the Library. She has low vision due to macular degeneration over the last 20 years, but that did not stop her from carrying the Olympic Torch in 2002. Her daughter, Betsy Black, provides several descriptions of her mother: "In her lifetime, she has done a marathon of good works and modeled herself to others by being involved in the community. She used to tell us kids to cooperate, don't compete!"

Now, 67 years later, at the age of 95, Jean, the Red Cross Nurse, Badge Number 84858, has given back to the Red Cross again through a very generous donation. After much thought, Jean decided to accelerate her bequest to the American Red Cross. Jean wants to give now rather than after she is gone so she can "pay back the Red Cross for what I consider to be the greatest highlight of my professional career." Jean's gift will be used now to support the vital humanitarian mission of the American Red Cross.

We encourage you to create your legacy of compassion through a bequest or other estate gift for more information contact our office at 1-800-797-8022, ext. 5, plndgiving@usa.redcross.org or log on to www.redcrosslegacy.org if you have already made a gift through your estate plan. News of bequest intentions is extremely helpful in our future planning and gives us the opportunity to thank you.