By DIANE SCHLINDWEIN
Managing Editor 

Sister Gertrude “Trudy” O’Connor, OSF, says she can’t remember a time when she wasn’t interested in helping to heal the sick. That interest led her to spend over 50 years in nursing — all the while as a Hospital Sister of St. Francis. 

“I had always wanted to be a nurse, since I can remember,” said Sister Trudy, who grew up at the oldest of nine children. “As a child I was gifted with a ‘nurse kit’ and proceeded to put bandages on the cats and dogs and made them lay down like they were sick. My younger brothers wouldn’t tolerate my ministering to them. I really don’t know how I knew I wanted to be a nurse. I guess it was because I wanted to take care of people and animals. I grew up on a farm and my dad would always give me the weaker pigs and calves to take care of until they got stronger. Maybe that had something to do with it.”  

Also, as a young girl, Sister Trudy became familiar with the Hospital Sisters because she began to visit her aunt, Sister Joyce Gerardi, OSF, at the Franciscan Motherhouse. Sister Joyce was hospitalized with tuberculosis, so strict visiting restrictions limited her niece’s visits to simply waving at her aunt from the lawn. However, young Gertrude still became familiar with the sisters along with the camaraderie and prayerful spirit of the girls who attended St. Francis High School.

Eventually, Gertrude convinced her parents to allow her to leave their O’Fallon area home and attend school in Springfield. “At the time we had a high school here at the convent,” she said. “I attended as an aspirant for three years, then entered the community and finished the last year as a postulant in formation.”

Sister Trudy began her formal nursing education at St. John’s School of Nursing, graduating in 1963. She later earned her bachelor’s degree in nursing from Marillac College in St. Louis; her master of education from University of Illinois Urbana-Champagne; and her master of nursing from Rush University in Chicago. 

Over the years, Sister Trudy was involved in a variety of nursing situations, which included being a medical-surgical charge nurse, an operating room nurse, a faculty member at St. John’s School of Nursing, a clinical nurse specialist and educator, a nurse manager for surgery, and a manager for geriatric nursing. 

For the last 17 years of nursing, Sister Trudy says she felt like she had her “dream job” — and during that time she received the AORN (Association of periOperative Registered Nurses) Outstanding Achievement in Perioperative Clinical Nurse Education Award. “In reality, my dream job lasted for 17 years, from 1988 to 2005,” she said. “There were four primary ‘hats’ I wore during that time: clinical expertise, education, research, and management. In short, I was kind of the ‘go to person.’ The role is one of the advanced nursing roles and requires a special nursing license and a master’s degree in nursing. Other such roles are more common — nurse practitioner, nurse anesthetist, etc.

“I would assist in patient care a lot,” she said. “I also did all the on-going in-service education for the staff, some teaching of medical students and residents, and students in other health disciplines; would research information related to new equipment,  designed and wrote the policies and procedures needed to use it safely, taught the staff how to use it safely; and updated policies to remain compliant with current legislation and regulations.” 

Of course, as a religious sister, prayer was always part of Sister Trudy’s life as a nurse. Many times, she prayed with patients, particularly in the operating room. “I have often said that I never met an atheist in the operating room,” she said. Being in the operating room is a busy but short time with many preparations going on. “Patients feel very helpless at a time like that. They are totally giving up control of themselves and their environment. When I prayed with the patients, everyone was quiet and respectful,” she said.

Prayer was needed at other times as well, Sister Trudy said. “Sometimes when the doctors were working and finding difficult problems or they discovered bad pathology, they would ask me to pray for them and the patient. I did not do that aloud because I did not want to break the concentration of the team, but they knew I was praying. 

“I often did pray, even when not asked, for the team and God’s providence for the patient and the team and a successful outcome for the patient,” she said. “As an active religious, we tend to pray many times as we take care of patients or work in our ministry. We do not have the time to pray in chapel as much as religious in contemplative communities.” 

Even now that she is no longer actively working in nursing, Sister Trudy says she is still able to aid the sick. “I am still often asked about health issues and can answer most of the questions,” she said. “The most wonderful part of my life at this point is that I have the luxury of spending more time in the chapel, praying for people who still need health care, advocating for good health care, justice for all, and I still help take care of our aging sisters.” 

Sister Trudy says there is really no end to the fulfillment she felt from being a nurse. “Where do I begin?” she asked. “I am sure that I was happier with being a nurse than I would have been doing anything else. I have never had a minute of regret that the Community educated me and assigned me to serve in nursing. Of course, there have been many moments of sadness that I would have rather not had, but I don’t regret them. God has a unique way of making good from almost everything we do with Him at our side. I am so grateful to the Community and to all those who let me serve as a nurse.” 

Note:  This is the first of several Catholic Times articles that will highlight religious sisters who work in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.