Audrey Nelle ZIRKLE

Daily News Record, Harrisonburg, VA, July 20, 2004: Mrs. Audrey Zirkle Wine Gayhart, 80, died suddenly on Sunday, July 18, 2004, at her home at Park Place in the Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community in Harrisonburg. She was born on Dec. 27, 1923, in Shenandoah County and was the 11th child of Luther S. and Bessie Will Zirkle. She was twice married. In December 1966, she married Dr. J. E. Wine, who died in March 1967, and in March 1975, she married Merlyn D. Gayhart, who died on Aug. 10, 2001. Audrey graduated from New Market High School in 1940. She enrolled in the Rockingham Memorial School of Nursing's Cadet Nurse Corps and graduated in the Class of 1947. She attended Madison College (now JMU), George Washington University Hospital, Columbia University and Catholic University. In 1949, Ms. E. Virginia Reilly, Director of Nursing at RMH, told her of an opening for the position of Medical/Surgical Clinical Instructor. She came back to RMH to fill this position and in 1959, she took the position of teaching Fundaments of Nursing to students. To graduate as an RN was the highlight of her life. She felt so fortunate to have been accepted into the Army Cadet Corps in 1943. She tried with all of her heart, mind, and soul to do all she could for each and every person put into her care. She had many compliments on the care she had given through the years, even though her own assessment of her job performance was just average. She always dressed very meticulously and professionally, and patients thought she was very special. She would often hear from former patients and she felt that this was the reward for merely doing her job. On Aug. 24, 1953, she was offered a position as office nurse for Dr. J. E. Wine. Through the years up to 1966, she gained a wealth of nursing knowledge in being able to see patients in a different light and to see over the months and years a change in their lives and their family's lives. After Dr. Wine's death, she returned to RMH as Medical/Surgical Instructor from 1967 to 1973. In 1970, she was given the distinct honor of being chosen Nurse of the Year by the RMH Alumnae Association. As was written of her in the press release, ''her smile flashes often. It's an automatic greeting, with a special warmth, when she approaches a patient. Her walk through the hospital corridors is the typical nurse's pace---brisk, business-like, neither rushed nor leisurely." Through the years, she remained involved and interested in the Alumnae Association, serving as President three times, Chairman of the Program Committee, Corresponding Secretary, and Chairman of the committee to furnish the new Nurses Lounge. She initiated the first Annual Alumnae banquet in 1958, the first edition of the Alumnae News Letter in 1959, the sponsorship of the Girl Scout Troop by the Alumnae Association, and participated as president in the dedication of the new Nurses Home in 1959. At the time of her death she was a member of RMH Nursing Heritage Program. In 1973 and 1974 she was hired as a Medical/Surgical Clinical Instructor for the School of Nursing at the Community Hospital of Roanoke Valley, teaching nursing students who accepted her as she learned to know and love each one. In the Spring of 1974, she learned about a new nursing home to be built in Harrisonburg. She applied and in September became the Director of Nursing Service for Camelot Hall Nursing Home on Reservoir Street. Her first office was on the construction site in a mobile unit. There she began drafting her policies and procedures for nursing service. She interviewed and hired applicants for the opening date of February 20, 1975. She was very proud of the nursing personnel she employed. As she wrote, "the years while I was at Camelot Hall Nursing Home were tough, loving, surprising, beautiful, lonely, depressing, uplifting, and the best years of my life!" She retired from full time nursing at Camelot Hall on Sept. 3, 1986. Another ambition of Audrey's was to own a nurses uniform shop. After her marriage to Merlyn, an avid horseman, together in December 1975, they opened the Circle G Western and Uniform Boutique, first in Hinton, then eventually expanding to North Main Street, Harrisonburg, where they operated the business until 1985. After selling their home in Belmont Estates in 1991, they moved to Park Place at VMRC. She immediately found employment as a Resident Assistant, which enabled her to help the residents in any way she could while living there. She loved living at Park Place, loved and cared for many of the residents, and volunteering in many facets there. An anonymous resident of Park Place wrote, "From the moment she arrived, she was doing something special every day for someone else. She established, maintains and supervises needed medical services for the residents. She volunteers as our emergency nurse 24 hours a day, seven days a week. She still finds time to do other mundane jobs to help make Park Place function smoothly, and on our birthdays provides us with a cheerful birthday greeting and a banana, because, 'a banana a day helps keep the doctor away.' We give our special praise and thanks to our own Florence Nightingale, who selflessly ministers to those in need." Audrey also served as Secretary of Park Place Resident Council, committee member of the Tuesday Evening Bible Study, Secretary for VMRC Crafters, Coordinator for Park Place Crafters, Member of VMRC Foundation Board Resident Committee, Hostess in Park Place Dining Room, held a Blood Pressure clinic each Tuesday, and was security assistant for Park Place, Park Gables, and Heritage Haven.Last fall, with the help of her nieces, Judy Hartman and Jean Wall, she wrote an autobiography of her life, "A Farm Girl from Quicksburg, Virginia." And for her 80th birthday, Dec. 27, 2003, she completely planned and presented her book at a signing reception at VMRC, selling over 300 books. This is another example of her determination and drive to accomplish a worthwhile goal. Audrey is survived by two sisters, Evelyn Bailey of Kensington, Md., and Charlotte Emery of Oak Lea Nursing Home, Harrisonburg. She was preceded in death by four sisters and four brothers. Even though she had no children of her own, she was so very special and loved by her 25 nieces and nephews and each considered her more than just an aunt. Each one cherishes the words of encouragement that she gave through the years and each holds very special memories of her.Audrey was a member of First Presbyterian Church in Harrisonburg, but Quicksburg Methodist and Asbury United Methodist were also very special churches in her life. Here she was taught and grew in her faith of God, using this faith to fulfill her lifelong dream of being a nurse. Participation in church and community projects and affairs, her care and support of her family and friends and her continual drive to improve the standards of nursing wherever she was involved, were what made Audrey the special person she was.Graveside services will be held Thursday at 10 a.m. at Grace Church Cemetery in Mount Jackson with the Rev. Joseph Sefcik officiating. Memorial services will follow at 4 p.m. Thursday at First Presbyterian Church with Dr. John F. Sloop officiating. Members of the family will receive friends from 7 until 9 p.m. Wednesday at the Lindsey Harrisonburg Funeral Home. Memorial contributions may be made to The Audrey Zirkle Gayhart Nursing Scholarship at Rockingham Memorial Hospital, 235 Cantrell Ave., Harrisonburg, Va. 22801, in her memory.

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