FOND FAREWELL Connie Callahan, LPN, says goodbye to Lima (Ohio) Memorial Hospital.

CELEBRATED CAREER Ohio Nurse Retires After 50 Years in the OR

Connie Callahan, LPN, worked her first case on Sept. 21, 1964, at the age of 19. She retired in October, 50 years after her career began and ended at Lima Memorial Hospital in northwest Ohio. Love of medicine didn't draw her to the operating room a half-century ago, but a love of surgery made it tough to leave.

"I originally wanted to be a teacher," says Ms. Callahan, now 69. "But I was dating the gentleman who would become my husband and didn't want to wait 4 years, until after college, to get married."

Her high school guidance counselor told her she could become a licensed practical nurse in a year, so off she went to the Lima School of Practical Nursing. After she earned her degree, she learned of an opening in the surgical department at Lima Memorial. The problem was, she had never set foot in an OR during her schooling. "Some things in training made me feel a little faint, so I was a bit leery and never figured I'd be able to do surgery," says Ms. Callahan.

She could do it. For 50 years. "It seems like younger people are constantly looking for some type of advancement or something new," says Ms. Callahan. "But I loved my job, so I stuck with it."

She remembers when you didn't have to wear gloves for every patient interaction, when anesthesiologists owned their own anesthesia machines and surgeons brought their own instruments to the OR.

She won't miss being on call every third week and won't look back with fondness at missing holidays and time with her 2 sons. Those boys are grown, and now she's got 5 grandkids to spoil.

But she's having trouble letting go of the procedures she helped bring to Lima Memorial more than 17 years ago. She worked 1,325 of the 5,589 open heart procedures at the hospital, a work ethic that earned her the nickname "Heart Hog." One of the heart surgeons called her Mom, because she took good care of him and made sure everything was in place before surgeries began. Those cases, her heart team, that's what she'll miss the most.

"I don't know what it is — the camaraderie of the team, setting up the equipment," says Ms. Callahan. "When I talk to the girls, I ask 'Do you have any hearts on tomorrow?' And if they do, I think Oh gee, if I could just go in and set them up "

Nearly 70, her eyesight isn't as sharp. "I wanted to go out with some dignity," says Ms. Callahan. "I feel like I left at a good time."

She didn't cry during her final procedure, or when she cleaned out her locker or when she walked through the human tunnel of adoring colleagues to clock out for the last time. But when a nurse gave her a goodbye hug and lost it, so did Ms. Callahan. "That was hard, but I knew I could come back, see everyone and have lunch," she says.

— Daniel Cook