The Upper Peninsula Nurses Honor Guard began operating in 2019, though its founder — Barb Van Rooy, who also was responsible for launching Upper Peninsula Honor Flight — began organizing it years earlier. The foundations of both organizations were being laid around the same time, but U.P. Honor Flight, which flies veterans to memorials in Washington, D.C., took off first.

However, Nightingale Tributes have been taking place across the Unites States for 20 years.

Van Rooy had reportedly witnessed a Nightingale Tribute elsewhere and thought that nurses in the U.P. could form a group to provide similar ceremonies locally.

In June 2005, a meeting of the American Nurses Association House of Delegates adopted the Nightingale Tribute “as a way of honoring nurses at the end of their life’s journey.”

Carrying the iconic lanterns for a Nightingale tribute, from left are Sue Fornetti, Patti Fournier, Michelle LaBonte, Anne Truitt and Connie Houle as they prepare to honor the life and service of a nurse at the end of life. (Courtesy photo)

Those who perform the ceremony — all on a volunteer basis — are always active nurses or those who presently hold nursing licenses in good standing. The people they honor with tributes may have been registered nurses, or RNs; licensed practical nurses, or LPNs; or nurse practitioners, or NPs.

“We give a nurse’s eulogy based on their career,” said Upper Peninsula Nurses Honor Guard Executive Director Anne Truitt, explaining that the tribute process may contain “any memorable moments that a coworker or friend might share … We honor the nurse with a white rose to symbolize the purity of nursing.”

A key feature of each ceremony is, of course, the lamp.

Inspired by the heroism of Florence Nightingale — the famous “lady with the lamp” who cared for soldiers during the Crimean War — each ceremony performed by a Nurses Honor Guard involves the traditional nursing graduation lamp. Also called the “lamp of knowledge,” it is a white ceramic lamp that holds a single candle.

“In the ceremony, we blow the candle out, (to signify) ‘this is the end of your watch,'” Truitt said.

Along with an assurance that they and other colleagues and nurses will continue the work left behind, the Nurses Honor Guard then presents a lantern to the family.

Most commonly performed at funerals and celebrations of life, the Nightingale Tributes conducted by the Upper Peninsula Nurses Honor Guard usually include about six to eight members, all clad in white dresses, white stockings, blue capes and caps.

Earlier this year, the Upper Peninsula Nurses Honor Guard performed a living tribute at the birthday party for 100-year-old Lois Cady of Gladstone, who has since passed away. Truitt referred to the old lady as a “spitfire” and said that it was truly an honor to recognize Cady for her career.

More recently, a group performed a ceremony in Ontonagon for a woman who retired after 30 years of working as a nurse in Minnesota, moved back to her hometown of Ontonagon, and came out of retirement to work another 21 years as a home hospice nurse.

The Upper Peninsula Nurses Honor Guard continues to grow and has a few chapters for the different regions of the U.P., plus a faction at Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie. However, they are always looking for more members, Truitt said. Members are all volunteers.

Donations support the purchase of materials — particularly the lamps. The Community Foundation for Delta County collects funds for the Upper Peninsula Nurses Honor Guard; checks may also be mailed directly to the organization at P.O. Box 54, Gladstone, MI 49837.

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R. R. Branstrom can be reached at 906-786-2021, ext. 140, or rbranstrom@dailypress.net.