Irene Courtenay

COURTENAY, Irene Doris Clark-Kennedy "Lieutenant Nursing Sister" July 1, 1920 - March 9, 2009 Professor Irene Doris Clark-Kennedy Courtenay, BSc, MPH, passed away on March 9 in the intensive care unit at Hotel Dieu Hospital in Windsor. A Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps veteran who had served in England during the Battle of Britain and the London Blitz, she was the youngest Canadian nurse to serve overseas in Italy . Her troopship, the SS St. Helena was bombed and sunk in the Mediterranean Ocean en route to Italy . She was rescued from a lifeboat by a US Navy destroyer and taken to South Africa.Reunited with the other survivors of Number 10 Canadian General Hospital she was transported to Italy . She recalled recently to nurses in Hotel Dieu Hospital how she danced all the way to Naples with doctors and pharmacist from her group. Irene had a fall in her apartment in November, resulting in spinal cord injury and quadriplegia. Despite being unable to move her arms or legs for more than two months she did not exhibit a single day of depression. Her death was caused by an infection in a sore from being bedridden and more probably because God had finally called her after 88 splendid years. Irene graduated from the University of Western Ontario with a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing and a certificate in public health nursing. She received a Master of Public Health (Industrial Health) degree from the University of Michigan . Irene had been an industrial health nursing consultant for the State of North Carolina , then professor of nursing at the University of North Carolina . She later established the industrial health graduate program for nurses at New York University , where she was also a professor. Irene is survived by and mourned by her brothers, Kenneth, Thomas and Vincent and her younger sister, Eileen. She was predeceased by her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Greer Courtenay and by a brother, Arthur Gordon Courtenay. She is also survived by many nieces and nephews and 24 grand nieces and grand nephews. She was very close to them. The internal medicine team, nurses and the intensive care unit team at Hotel Dieu Hospital did a magnificent job in caring for her during her final hours. She will be much missed by many. Two weeks before her death she was talking about plans for her 89th birthday and envisioned holding a party at the hospital. All Veterans are welcome to attend services to remember her. Visitation will be held at the Anderson Funeral Home & Cremation Centre, 895 Ouellette Ave. (519) 254-3223 on Wednesday from 2-5 & 7-9 p.m. Funeral Services will be held in the Anderson Memorial Chapel on Thursday, March 12, 2009 at (time later). Cremation to follow. A veteran service will held on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. under the auspices of the Windsor Veteran Memorial Service Committee.www.mem.com