Former Kaitaia nurse plans reunion with trainees

WHERE ARE THEY TODAY? Marion Palmer has this photograph of some of her nursing friends at Kaitaia Hospital in the late 1960s, pictured with then surgeon the late Dr Denis Tree.

Marion Palmer wants to catch up with women with whom she went through nursing training at Kaitaia Hospital in the 1960s.

She's organised a "get together" for them at the Whangarei RSA on October 17, starting with registration at 10am, after which, she said, any men the nurses had in tow could "bugger off"while the women shared old times over a few drinks.

"I've booked a band for the evening so things will wind up with a dance," Ms Palmer said.

She emphasised the occasion was not a reunion.

"We had a big reunion about 15 years ago which, of course, included many younger nurses I had not trained or worked with."

"This is a get-together for women I trained and started nursing with between 1960-70. We have been friends for most of our lives."

However, social media interest in the get-together led Ms Palmer to later say nurses who had trained at Kaitaia Hospital after 1970 would also be welcome to attend: "It's going to be a Kaitaia Hospital occasion and if younger nurses are keen to be there we won't stop them."

Ms Palmer was born at Rawene Hospital and lived at Broadwood as a youngster. She graduated from her nursing training in 1966 and worked at Kaitaia Hospital until 1969, when she moved, first to National Women's Hospital in Auckland, then to Wellington.

OLD TIMES: Former nurse Marion Palmer, now a taxi driver, want a nurses she worked with at Kaitaia Hospital in the 1960s to attend a "get together" and share old times. PICTURE/JOHN STONE

"My fiance at that time was a cop," Ms Palmer said.

"I got pregnant, we got married and lived at Porirua. When I returned to Whangarei in 1974 I had two kids."

When her youngest daughter turned five, Ms Palmer resumed nursing at Whangarei Hospital, leaving 17 years later because her back and knees were playing up through all the legwork and lifting her job required.

"I needed light work so I started as a cab driver," she said.

A couple a decades later and Ms Palmer is still an owner-operator behind the wheel of an A1 taxi.

She is hoping the knees-up she has planned at the RSA will give her and all her old friends a big lift.

-To contact Ms Palmer, call 027 579 2164 or email marionka@clearnet.nz.

WHERE ARE THEY TODAY? Marion Palmer has this photograph of some of her nursing friends at Kaitaia Hospital in the late 1960s, pictured with then surgeon the late Dr Denis Tree.