Passing the torch to the nurses of tomorrow

Born in Kindersley, Sask. in 1925, Kathleen Ritchie (nee Newman) learned from an early age that pursuing an education was going to be a challenge. When she was just 11 years old, her family moved to Fort Vermilion, Alberta so that her father could help his recently widowed aunt manage her farm. The remote community of only a few hundred residents was one of the northernmost in Peace River Country, and there was no public high school in the hamlet. 

This hurdle, however, did not hold Kathleen back. When it came time for high school, she made the trek more than 600 kilometres south to attend the University of Alberta High School, boarding with Olive and Albert Ottewell, the U of A’s registrar at the time. Kathleen’s mother had met Olive at the University Hospital while undergoing treatment for breast cancer. Olive used to visit patients there, and when she learned Kathleen would need a place to stay while attending high school, she and her husband opened their home to her. 

“She was very lonely,” recalls her sister Gladys. “She couldn’t come home at Christmas; the only way to get home in winter would have been if the river was frozen enough to clear a landing strip for a small plane, and my parents couldn’t afford plane fare. And she couldn’t even stay in touch easily by phone, because the only phone in our town was in the government telegraph office. She only came home for the summers during that time.” And that wasn’t an easy trip, either — it involved a train ride to Peace River, followed by a boat trip up the river, the passengers sharing space with freight.

Nevertheless, she persevered, and upon graduation she embarked on nursing education at the U of A, completing a diploma in 1947 and beginning a varied and rewarding career as a registered nurse. It was during her time in nursing school that her loneliness was replaced by a tight-knit group of classmates, who would become lifelong friends.

Throughout her career, as Gladys recalls, Kathleen devoted herself to nursing in a number of hospitals. She later returned to her birthplace to serve as matron of the Kindersley Hospital. In that role, she carried the responsibility for both the clinical and managerial leadership of the hospital’s nursing departments. Her steady commitment to patient care, her skill as an administrator, and the respect she earned from those around her allowed her to flourish in that position for 15 years, leaving a lasting mark on the hospital and the community she served. While she was matron, Kathleen continued to deepen her expertise — travelling to Chicago and Montreal for maternity education, and later to Ponoka for mental‑health education. After leaving Kindersley, she further advanced her education at the University of Saskatchewan.

During her time at the Kindersley Hospital, Kathleen met her future husband Dr. Robert (Bob) Ritchie, and shortly after their marriage the couple moved to Osoyoos, B.C. where he established his own medical practice and she began a new phase of life, enjoying volunteering, gardening, canning and playing bridge with friends.

Kathleen stayed in close touch with the rest of her nursing class, flying to Edmonton to attend alumni gatherings well into her 80s. Sister Gladys remembers her saying out of the entire class of about 25, the group only lost touch with one person — the rest stayed close for decades.

Kathleen passed away on June 10, 2018. Honouring her lifelong dedication to nursing, her final wish was to support the students of today and tomorrow — students like Masuda Akter, who received the bursary in 2025-26 during her second year of a master’s degree. Says Akter, “I struggled financially because my family was not able to fully support my tuition fees. Also, I did not have a job at that time. Receiving this bursary helped reduce the financial pressure of my graduate studies, allowing me to focus on my academic goals. I am sincerely grateful to the donor for investing in students like me and supporting our journey.”

“She was the kind of nurse who kept raising her own performance standards, growing her abilities and strengthening her devotion to others,” niece Nancy Goebel recalls fondly. “That spirit lives on in the support she left for students working toward a nursing career.” Kathleen’s generous gift of more than $1 million to the Faculty of Nursing will provide financial assistance to students for decades to come.