Sally Jean Milroy's compassion nourished a long career in nursing. Her curiosity inspired her to start a cattle ranch and vineyard. As a mentor and elder in the Dakota Indian Community, she was a natural.
"It was a part of her being, she did it unconsciously," said granddaughter Jessamyn Kerchner.
Milroy, who died Oct. 4 at age 87, was born in Ellsworth, Wis. She spent most of her youth in that state and on the Lower Sioux Indian Community land near Morton, Minn. Kerchner said a missionary at the Bishop Whipple Mission near Morton saw Milroy's potential and helped enroll her in a three-year nursing program at Hamline University in St. Paul.
"He was very impressed with her intelligence and thirst for learning and wanted to give her an opportunity," Kerchner said.
Milroy's daughter, Lori Watso, said her mother grew up without many modern conveniences, including running water, so when she got to Hamline and moved into a dorm reserved for nursing students, she used a telephone and rode a streetcar for the first time.
"She was intimidated and called her father to come get her because it was a whole different world," said Watso, who also became a nurse. "But in no time she absolutely loved it."
Milroy graduated in 1952. For decades she worked in roles from nursing administrator to instructor and public health worker at Redwood Falls Hospital, Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park and Indian Health Service in Lame Deer, Mont. She spent the bulk of her career at Pilot City Health Center, a groundbreaking facility that specialized in underserved communities in Minneapolis.
In 1980, Milroy was selected to participate in a new nurse practitioner program and specialized in maternal child health. Kerchner said she was a skilled practitioner, but as a Native American caregiver she was able to connect with her patients in a special way.
