Meet Mrs. Celeste Brady.

A couple of times a year, my husband flies to Rochester, New York to visit Celeste, who happens to be his first cousin, twice removed.

What I never knew, until now, is that Celeste is a nurse.

A retired nurse, but once a nurse, always a nurse.

Celeste is 103 years old.

All this time I’ve had a fantastic source of nursing history right in my own family and did not even know it!

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When he came back from his visit to New York, my husband brought back some memorabilia that Celeste had given him.

One of the items was a copy of the program from the 1927 graduation of Park Avenue Hospital School of Nursing in Rochester, New York.

Class of 1927!

Eighty years ago!

There were nine women in her graduating class.

Here is a photo of Celeste taken in 1925, when she was still a student. Black shoes and hose. Fifteen years later, girls would be reading about how Cherry Ames hated her black hose!

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Ah, check out this cap!

By the time of this undated photo, Celeste was a full fledged RN who spent three years working as a private nurse.

She married and later worked at the Tuberculosis Nursing Home. That was in the 1930s and I believe she may have retired after that.

I will be making some phone calls to talk to Celeste about her life as a student nurse, what she did, where she lived and what it was like to do private duty nursing. She is still as sharp as ever and I’m sure she has some stories to tell.

I’d like to hear those stories.

In October of this year, Celeste will turn 104 years old.

Hubby is going back for her birthday.

This time, I’m going with him!