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Lynne Lipsher
 Lynne
Lipsher (1945-2000) who received both her Bachelors
and Masters degrees from Sonoma State University's Department
of Nursing, died one year ago from pancreatic cancer. Lynne's
passing was a tremendous loss for the nursing community. She
received her nurse practitioner training at Sonoma State and
went on to guest lecture here in the nursing program.She leaves
behind three children, Jonathan, a dot-comer in Silicon Valley,
Tanya, a manager with a telecommunications corporation, and
Rebecca, also a family nurse practitioner. As a ground breaker
and a passionate advocate for nursing, Lynne contributed to
Sonoma State in many ways. She was the founding member of
the Nurses Honor Society at Sonoma State (Lambda Gamma Chapter
of Sigma Theta Tau). The small group that she and faculty
members MaryLou McAthie and Wendy Smith began now has over
600 members. Lynne served as the first honor society President
and remained on the board for 10 years. While a master's student,
Lynne conducted original research at Petaluma Valley Hospital
on preoperative education and the hospital initiated a patient
education program based on her results. After graduation,
Lynne met a lifelong dream when she purchased 50% of a family
practice clinic (this is the most allowed by law for a nurse
practitioner--the other 50% must be held by physicians). Lynne
adored her practice and had a loyal following of patients,
some who even followed her to her next position in Napa.
In Petaluma and later in Napa,
Lynne served as a preceptor to generations of Sonoma State
University nurse practitioner students who are in practice
today. Lynne worked in many capacities at Petaluma Valley
Hospital and one of the nursing community's proudest moments
was her election to the PVH Hospital board. Lynne was the
first nurse ever to win such a public election and she took
this mandate from the public very seriously. In her office
at the Redwood Family Practice, Lynne began the a free clinic
for the uninsured, poor or homeless and provided free sports
physicals for the schools in Petaluma. She had a massage therapist
come in to help young mothers with relaxation. She carried
her beeper everywhere and took call 7 days a week. Then, during
the early days of hospital mergers, takeovers, expansions,
and realignment, Lynne's popular practice was purchased by
the hospital. She sadly had to move out of Petaluma as she
was asked to sign a non competition clause as part of the
sale. Once again Lynne found a setting that allowed her to
care for patients who flocked to her care. She worked in practice
with Dr. John Dermody in Napa. The two of them became close
friends and colleagues and Lynne enjoyed the last years of
her life immensely. Lynne described these years as her happiest
, and the practice as a true partnership between nurse and
physician, Always a trend setter, at the time of her death,
she was trying to obtain practice privileges at the local
Napa hospital. Lynne was also an active synagogue member and
a member of the California Coalition of Nurse Practitioners.
She enjoyed cooking, baking, and her children. She was thrilled
to plan and attend the wedding of her oldest daughter last
year. Before her death, which came very quickly after her
diagnosis, Lynne established a perpetual scholarship at Sonoma
State University. She wanted to encourage nurse practitioners
to reach the limits, start their own practices, and always
serve the poor. This year will be the first awarding of the
Lynne Lipsher Memorial Scholarship. She died at home in the
care of her children, her sister and brother and their families,
her many friends, including nurse practitioner graduates and
faculty members of Sonoma State who visited with her until
the end. She continues to be missed.
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