In Memoriam/Tributes

Remembering Former FNS Employee Mary E. LaMotte Slusher

December 15, 1923 - December 21, 2019

Mary E. LaMotte Slusher was born on December 15, 1923, in Red Lion, Pennsylvania. Her mother passed soon after birth. Mary was raised by her father Fred K. LaMotte and his wonderful wife, Lida. During those years she learned to bicycle, ice skate, roller skate, ballroom dance, speak French and play the piano and basketball, lettering three years at Red Lion High School. She loved the water and spent a lot of time on the sailboat and was part of an aquacade. She loved to travel, taking many trips including New York, Atlantic City, Florida, Bermuda, Canada, and the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail.

Mary grew up in Pennsylvania giving “her pennies” to Red Bird Mission in Beverly, Kentucky. As a young woman, she came to Red Bird as a volunteer and met Ernest Calvin Slusher, who she later married. Mary worked at Frontier Nursing Service while waiting on Ernest to return from Korea. At the time of Ernest’s death in 2015, they had been married for 60 years. They lived in Bell County, except for Ernest’s schooling after their marriage, until moving to Wesley Village Retirement Community in 2013.

They had three children. Major Ernest Timothy “Tim” Slusher, USAF, Ret. and his wife Pilar are now in Pensacola, Florida. After the Air Force, Tim taught high school science and then went on to become an aircraft mechanic and aircraft maintenance inspector. Along with his wife, Tim is now working and ministering to their family there and helping his own family around the country. Pilar developed a special relationship with Mary, who she lovingly cared for after several of Mary’s hospitalizations and surgeries including during her final days. Dr. Tina Marye Slusher is now in Roseville, Minnesota, and a professor of pediatrics at the University of Minnesota where she is actively involved in global health both professionally and through missions. She is also a pediatric intensivist at Hennepin Healthcare. Dr. Ida L. Slusher is now in Nicholasville, Kentucky, and a professor of nursing at Eastern Kentucky University. She is also involved in missions locally and globally. For many years Ida cared lovingly for both Mary and Ernest, devoting most of her free time to meeting their needs and helping them live active and full lives to the end.

Mary was a faithful member of First Baptist Church in Pineville, Kentucky, for over 60 years and was under the watch care of Anchor Baptist Church at the time of her passing. She undergirded her husband throughout their marriage, providing much of the administrative support for the numerous organizations for which he was a leader, the working farm the family lived on and, working briefly, at Arjay Elementary School. However, the most important job was raising her family. She enriched the lives of her family through their many trips and expanding her children’s horizons and preparing each of them for the work to which God called them.

She passed on December 21, 2019, surrounded by family. Mary was preceded in death by her parents, Fred Knapp LaMotte, Louise Tyson LaMotte, and Lida R. LaMotte; her husband, Ernest C. Slusher; sisters, Esther Field and Linda Ruth LaMotte; and brother, James LaMotte. She is survived by her three children and grandsons, Adrian Michael Slusher and Andrew McLaurin Slusher; her sister, Dorcas LaMotte Townsley (husband Jesse); and numerous nieces and nephews.

MEMORIAL DONATIONS

The following people gave contributions to Frontier in memory of their friends or loved ones. The names in bold are the deceased. Jeanette Bartelt Ms. Jean Bartelt Jackie Chapman Ms. Karen Watt Sylvia Leatherwood Enriquez Ms. Harriet J Palmer Leonard Lynn Hood Ms. Edith E. Anderson Jane H. Hope Mr. and Mrs. Bruce and Barbara Haldeman Mary Elizabeth Yundt Kilbourn Rev. Mary K. Kilbourn-Huey Robert Lawrence Mrs. Fran Keene Molly Lee Ms. Harriet J. Palmer John Robert Longfellow Mr. and Mrs. Stephen and Linda Longstreth Gertrude and Ed Longstreth Mr. and Mrs. Stephen and Linda Longstreth George H. Mead, Jr. Mrs. Marianna Mead O’Brien Janet Mirtschin Mr. and Mrs. John Albert Priebe Patricia Nachowicz Dr. and Mrs. Gregory Gutgsell Mary Wilson Neel Mr. David B. Karrick Jr. Judy and Newt Stammer Ms. Suzie Lou Stammer Larry Stone Dr. Susan Stone Jane Cheever Talbot Mr. Peter H. Talbot Mary E. Weaver Ms. Sally Siebert Ruth and Ernie Wright Mr. and Mrs. Stephen and Linda Longstreth

New FNU Trustees Has Long, Unique History with FNU

When new FNU Trustee Bill Corley first was introduced to Frontier, FNU was still FNS -- the Frontier Nursing Service. That was in 1969. In 2015 he returned to Hyden and learned of Frontier’s growth and transition to becoming Frontier Nursing University. “I thought, wow, I had just a little bit to do with that,” Corley said.

What was his role in FNU’s history? Corley, who earned his bachelor’s degree from the College of William and Mary and then obtained his master’s degree in hospital administration from Duke University, was a consultant with the Chicago-based firm of Booz, Allen and Hamilton in 1969.

“One of my first jobs was to look at FNS,” he said. “They were giving the midwives a paper certificate with no academic connection. We were trying to see whether or not FNS could affiliate with a university. We got a green light from Case Western University, so the degree or training was from a nursing school and they could be ‘real’ nursemidwives, even though they already were real nurse-midwives, just without the degree.”

During that time, Corley was a frequent visitor to campus and also stayed at Wendover several times. He developed an appreciation and affection for the people and the area.

“I respected the nurses because they not only took care of the babies, but they took care of everybody,” he said.

Corley, who served as the director of plans and operations for the 3rd Field Hospital for the U.S. Army in Saigon, Vietnam before his work with FNS, went on to a lengthy career in healthcare administration. He served as the Associate Hospital Director at the Albert B. Chandler Medical Center, University of Kentucky from 1971 to 1975. In 1975, he was named the hospital director of Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania. In 1978 he was hired as president and CEO of Akron General Medical Center in Ohio.

For 25 years he served as president and chief executive officer of the Community Health Network in Indianapolis. As a non-profit health system with more than 200 sites of care

24 Frontier Nursing University • Quarterly Bulletin and affiliates throughout Central Indiana, Community’s full continuum of care integrates hundreds of physicians, specialty and acute care hospitals, surgery centers, home care services, MedChecks, behavioral health, and employer health services.

In 1990, Corley received the highest honor bestowed on individuals by Indiana’s Governor — The Sagamore of the Wabash (Evan Bayh 1990), which is given to those who have rendered distinguished service to the state or to the governor. He retired from the Community Health Network in 2010.

In 2015, he was driving to visit some friends in Tennessee with his wife Angela. As they passed through Kentucky, he was reminded of Frontier and took a detour, spending a day in Hyden where he learned of the transformation from FNS to FNU and the subsequent growth and success of the university.

“It was the same as when I was there in 1969,” he said. His interest piqued, he came to visit the Versailles campus last fall.

“I came to Versailles and started seeing what you’re doing there and I said ‘This is a story that needs to be told’,” he said. “People need to know about Frontier Nursing University. There is a shortage of primary care physicians. I predict that nurse practitioners will be the replacement for family physicians in the future. I want to somehow help Frontier Nursing University to become known throughout the United States. No organization can do what they are doing now. FNU is in the right place at the right time.”

Corley remains active in retirement to the point that his wife Angela has said that he “has flunked retirement twice.” Currently, he is working with INSTEP, a non-profit organization in Indianapolis focused on coordinating the effort to overcome substance use disorder, with a focus on opioid dependency.

“We are trying to get substance abuse disorder organizations to collaborate and develop a system of care for addiction,” he said. “You have to keep helping other people because there are a lot of people who need to be helped.”

Mrs. Tia Andrew, Hamilton Parish, Bermuda Ms. Sarah Bacon, Brooklyn, NY Mrs. Andrea Begley, Hyden, KY Mrs. Heather Bernard, Hamilton, NY Gov. Steven Beshear, Lexington, KY Mrs. Betty Brown, Louisville, KY Mrs. Amy Pennington Brudnicki, Richmond, KY Dr. Timothy Bukowski, Chapel Hill, NC Dr. Wallace Campbell, Berea, KY Miss Anna Carey, Hyden, KY Mrs. Jean Chapin, Oldwick, NJ Dr. Holly Cheever, Voorheesville, NY Mrs. Lois Cheston, Topsfield, MA Bill Corley, Indianapolis, IN Mrs. Julia Breckinridge Davis, Winston-Salem, NC Mrs. John Dete, West Liberty, OH Mrs. Selby Ehrlich, Bedford, NY Mrs. Robert Estill, Raleigh, NC Mrs. Noel Smith Fernandez, Pomona, NY Ms. Mary Ann Gill, Versailles, KY Mr. John Grandin, Chestnut Hill, MA Dr. Joyce Fortney Hamberg, Southgate, KY Dr. Horace Henriques, Lyme, NH Mr. & Mrs. John Hodge, Berwyn, PA Mrs. Robin Frentz Isaacs, Lincoln, MA Mrs. Rosemary Johnson, Versailles, KY Mrs. Mary Carol Joseph, Hyden, KY Ms. Deborah M. King, Westport, MA Mrs. Patricia Lawrence, Westwood, MA Mrs. Henry Ledford, Big Creek, KY

TRUSTEES

Mrs. Marian Leibold, Cincinnati, OH Dr. Ruth Lubic, Washington, DC Mr. William Lubic, Washington DC Mr. Robert Montague, JD, Urbanna, VA Mr. Wade Mountz, Louisville, KY Dr. Judy Myers, Ph.D., RN, New Albany, IN Ms. Barbara Napier, Irvine, KY Ms. Sandra Napier, Stinnett, KY Dr. Spencer Noe, Lexington, KY Mr. Dean Osborne, Hyden, KY Mrs. Helen Rentch, Midway, KY Mrs. John Richardson, Washington, DC Mrs. Linda Roach, Lexington, KY Mrs. Georgia Rodes, Lexington, KY Mrs. Sandra Schreiber, Louisville, KY Mrs. Sherrie Rice Smith, Franklin, WI Mrs. Austin Smithers, Lyme, NH Mrs. Robert Steck, Arlington, MA Mrs. Mary Clay Stites, Louisville, KY Mr. Richard Sturgill, Paris, KY Ms. Mary Frazier Vaughan, Lexington, KY Mrs. LouAnne Roberts Verrier, Austin, TX Dr. Patience White, Bethesda, MD Mr. Harvie Wilkinson, Lexington, KY Ms. Vaughda Wooten, Hyden, KY

Do you have a new mailing or email address?

Please let us know. Simply email us at FNUnews@frontier.edu.

P.O. Box 528 • 195 School Street Hyden, KY 41749 FNU@frontier.edu • 606.672.2312 Frontier.edu

Our mission is to provide accessible nurse-midwifery and nurse practitioner education to prepare competent, entrepreneurial, ethical, and compassionate leaders in primary care to serve all individuals with an emphasis on women and families in diverse, rural, and underserved populations.