Nancy Fitzgerald

January 9, 1918 - November 16, 2012

Nancy Smith Phibbs was born on January 9, 1918, in Linwood, North Carolina. She was the youngest of three children and grew up in High Point, North Carolina. After she graduated from high school she held various jobs and in 1941 she entered a Seminary in Nyack, New York. A year later she began Cadet Nurse training at Memorial Hospital, Charlotte, North Carolina from 1942-1946. Upon graduation she was given the choice of the Army, Navy, or Indian Service. She chose Indian Service as a nurse and worked at both Fort Defiance and Tuba City, Arizona. Nancy considered her work on the reservation the highlight of her nursing career. In Tuba City, Arizona, she met and married George A. Sakiestewa in 1947. In 1948 her only child Ramona Sakiestewa was born. Nancy continued her nursing career in Albuquerque working at the Indian Sanitarium, St. Joseph's Hospital, Presbyterian Hospital, the Veteran's Administration Hospital, and the Kirtland Dispensary.

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