GENNIE MASON (June 1954)

Genevieve knew from the time she was a little girl that she wanted to be a nurse. The teachers at Roosevelt gave her helpful advice as to what courses she should take to enter nursing school. At age seventeen she entered Washington University School of Nursing.

Gennie started working at Barnes Hospital where she stayed for thirty-three years. She left Barnes and went to St. Louis University Hospital to open their new Eye Hospital. She stayed there as a Nurse Manager until November of 2003 and then worked part-time at St. Joseph Hospital in outpatient surgery.

In January of 2006 she received a call from one of her nursing friends asking “How would you like to go to Uganda. Genevieve immediately replied that she would love to go. After arriving in Uganda, she was given a tour of the hospital plane which was equipped with state of the art medical equipment as well as an examining room and an operating room. She joined other nurses, anesthesiologists, and ophthalmologists from the United States and Great Britain to diagnose eye problems and, in many instances, to assist at corneal transplant surgeries, removal of cataracts, and treatment of other eye diseases. The medical group also trained ophthalmologists and nurses in Uganda to manage eye problems and teach public awareness of eye care prevention.

After leaving Uganda, she went to China where she performed the same duties. In addition to her volunteer work in third world countries, Gennie, and her husband, served as foster parents to abandoned kittens. Since Hurricane Katrina, they saw the need for volunteers to take care of abandoned animals.