1950s
Verna Nelson (BS ’58) cares for elderly friends in her neighborhood in Provo, Utah, where she has lived since 1994.
1970s
Leanne Bedell (BS ’71) worked in various hospital units after graduating from BYU, but she eventually specialized in OB. In 1993, she became a nurse-midwife. Other than two years teaching nursing students, she spent the rest of her career in midwifery. She lived in Vermont for many years, then moved to Utah in 2011. She has been retired for nine years.
Susan Shumway Connell (BS ’73) lives with her husband R. Walter Connell in Bozeman, Montana. She worked at the family birth center at Bozeman Deaconess Hospital for 30 years and was the manager for 20 of those years. After she retired, she wrote the soon-to-be published nursing memoir Behind the Double Doors—Diary of a Montana Nurse.
Robyn Budge (AS ’74) currently lives in Winchester, Virginia. She has not practiced nursing since the mid-90s due to injuries from an auto accident. She had a sewing business for 14 years and continues writing and creating.
Doris Kenison Jackman (AS ’74, BS ’76) is now retired! She worked at Mercy Hospital in Bakersfield, California, as an oncology certified nurse and in the education department for most of her career.
Susan Denney (AS ’74, BS ’75) is retired and living in Sandy, Utah. She volunteers as a medical reviewer of missionary applications for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Gay Orr Noteware (AS ’75, BS ’76) lives in Lubbock, Texas. She retired after 41 years as a hospital nurse, most of those years spent in the NICU.
Janie Ford (BS ’78) is starting her 41st year as a flight nurse and working per diem as a hospitalist NP.
Janeal Kolts Hatch (AS ’79) presently lives in Sandy, Utah. She retired after working for Intermountain Health for 45 years, mostly in labor and delivery and surgical services.
Sue Larson (BS ’72) has served humanitarian missions in Cayenta, Arizona; to the Navajo Nation; in Bolivia; and in Cape Verde. She has been working in hospice care in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Centerville, Utah, for the past 30 years.
1980s
Deanne Welch (AS ’80) retired from nursing in 2021 after working at Stanford Medical Center in Palo Alto, California, for 41 years. She and her husband moved to Provo in 2021 and have since served two missions: Jerusalem and Brazil.
1990s
Beth Vanderwalker (BS ’95) is currently the chief operating officer at Conexus MedStaff and is working on a doctorate degree in global leadership at Indiana Tech.
2000s
Nicole Lorenzen (BS ’01) earned a master’s degree from California State University, Fullerton in January 2025. Prior to that, she earned a School Nurse Services Credential in 2024. She has been working as a school nurse for the past nine years. She says, “Thank you, BYU College of Nursing, for starting me down on a great career path. I’m so grateful!”
↑ Robyn Carlsen (BS ’02) has worked at the infusion center of the Tucson Medical Center for four years. Prior to that, she spent 15 years in the cardiac medical unit. She still loves nursing! Pictured with her mother, Doris Kenison Jackman.
Janel Hillstrom (BS ’05) completed a DNP degree from Weber State University in 2024. The subject of her final project was screening for bipolar disorder in primary care.
Ethel Tovar Christensen (BS ’06) has been a pediatric heart transplant coordinator at Primary Children’s Hospital for the past three years and recently became a certified clinical transplant coordinator.
Jenie Clark Bennett (BS ’08) recently became a board-certified holistic nurse coach. She has a private practice as a health and wellness coach. Supporting women in discovering their healthiest selves has been a fun and fulfilling aspect of her nursing journey.
2010s
Kelsey Sax (BS ’14) has been working as a flight nurse at Airlift Northwest in Spokane, Washington. She is currently pursuing an MBA and hopes to utilize her experiences as a nurse to create policy changes to improve safety in the Air Medical Industry.
↑ Sophie Wilson Woodbury (BS ’15) is a charge nurse on a surgical floor at a hospital in Vancouver, Washington. She says, “I am so grateful for my career and the person it helps me become.”
Sage E. Williams (BS ’17) co-authored the book Healing After Sexual Abuse: A Latter-day Saint Perspective, which was published by Deseret Book. While she has not had a typical nursing career, she feels that her training as an RN absolutely made a difference in her professional career as she advocates for better understanding of, prevention of, and response to sexual violence.
↑ Nicki Broby (MS ’17) and Barrett Raymond (MS ’17) helped provide medical coverage during Inauguration Day in January 2025. Nicki was also the keynote speaker at BYU College of Nursing’s Scholarship and Professionalism Symposium in November 2024. She shared the importance of being anchored in Jesus Christ, especially as nurses.
↑ Lydia Jorgensen (BS ’16), Lisa Smith (BS ’17), Kiley Bearden (BS ’18), Alyssa Fallon (BS ’20), Rian Frederick (BS ’20), and Derick Sosa (BS ’22) graduated from BYU College of Nursing’s Family Nurse Practitioner program in April 2025.
2020s
Annelyse Caffrey (BS ’20) graduated with her doctorate in May 2024 as a Family Nurse Practitioner from the University of Tennessee. While in school, she researched in Belize on type 2 diabetes screening and diagnosis in rural communities. She now works in the education sector and is the director of the nursing school product at Archer Review—an education company.
Megan Drake Dishman (BS ’20) is an IBCLC working at Holy Cross Hospital–Jordan Valley and at The Lactation Collection doing outpatient and in-home lactation visits. She directs the mentee program at The Lactation Collection and is the grant director for the Utah Doula Association. She has two children and runs @thecolicnurse on Instagram. She loves helping postpartum and breastfeeding moms.
McKenna Morgan (BS ’22) is currently working on her DNP at Liberty University. She says, “I am grateful for all that the BYU Nursing program did to prepare me for furthering my education.” She looks forward to learning so much more as she studies to become an advanced practice nurse.