Celebrating the life of Kay Buschle, SU nursing alumna and professor emerita
Kay A. (Brown) Buschle ‘57, G’62, professor emerita of nursing, earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Syracuse University School of Nursing, and much of her career was spent there as a professor of nursing.
Buschle was heavily involved in the SU Nursing Alumni Association and in alumni activities of neighboring SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. “Kay was a leader in the Omicron Chapter of the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing for decades,” says fellow nursing alumna and colleague Dr. Eileen Lantier ’74, G’76, Ph.D. ‘92, senior associate dean of faculty, curriculum, and alumni at Falk College. “As president of the SU Nurses Alumni Association, she led the creation of a legacy to Syracuse University, The Alumni/Omicron bench can be seen and appreciated in the Orange Grove on campus.”
“She was a very friendly person who was easy to know, and we were a small group of faculty,” says colleague Dr. Barbara “Bobbi” Harris ‘61, G’90, Ph.D.’90, professor emerita of nursing and fellow SU nursing alumna.
She and Buschle remained good friends over the years. “When I had a car accident on Route 3, hit a tree, and got taken to a hospital up there, I called her and her husband to come pick me up,” she recalls.
“We were close, and we talked for an hour on the phone, which I don’t do with many people,” she laughs.
Buschle’s kindness was extended to her students, as well. “She just endeared herself to the students. She was always aware of the needs of the students and did whatever she could to help them,” says nursing alumna and professor emerita of nursing, Beverly “Bev” Martin ’48, ’59, G’70. She and Buschle both worked with the undergraduate nursing students, and even shared an office for a period of time. “She loved her work.”
Buschle spent her life in Central Square, New York, where she enjoyed boating on Oneida Lake, spending time with family, friends, and colleagues, as well as supporting SU athletics as a devoted basketball and football fan.
“She loved the university. She loved the school. She loved the students and she loved sports,” Martin adds. “She just was a wonderful, exuberant person to get to know. And I knew her for a long, long time.”
Buschle passed away in January 2017. Her relationship to Syracuse University remains part of the joyful memory of her life.
Remembering Rosemary Lape, SU nursing alumna, professor emerita
Rosemary L. Lape ‘56, G‘68, professor emerita of nursing, was both a Syracuse University alumna and faculty member. Born 1931 in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Lape received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Syracuse University School of Nursing.
Lape served as an associate professor of nursing at Syracuse University for 32 years. “The most outstanding thing about [Lape] was that she was the most ethical person you would ever meet,” says fellow professor emerita of nursing Dr. Barbara “Bobbi” Harris ’61, G’90, Ph.D.’90.
Lape and her colleague, the late Julia Evelyn “Ev” Osborne ’47, ‘49, G‘67, professor emerita of nursing, each studied for one year as part of the Robert Wood Johnson Nurse Faculty Fellowship program in Rochester, New York in 1978 and 1977, respectively. With the experience gained at the fellowship, together she, Osborne, and Harris started a primary care nurse practitioner program at Syracuse University.
Lape is quoted in a 1978 article, “Nurse Practitioners Examine, Treat Patients,” saying, “I believe that primary care is the future of nursing and I want to be there.”
In the article, Dr. Ungenborg Mauksch, then-director of the Robert Wood Johnson Nurse Faculty Fellowship Program in Princeton, New Jersey said, “It is hoped that the program will increase the number of nursing schools offering primary care training to produce nurse practitioners. These specially trained nurses now represent only a small percentage of nurses, but they have shown that practicing jointly with physicians, they can assume responsibility for a major share of the patients seen in practices offering general medical services.”
In the same article, then-Syracuse University dean of nursing, Thetis Group said, “We are fortunate that Prof. Lape and Prof. Evelyn Starr Osborne will be able to work together as a team in this project.”
Lape passed away in September 2016. Her involvement at Syracuse University will be warmly remembered.
Honoring professor emerita Evelyn “Ev” Osborne, one of SU’s first nursing graduates
Born in 1926 in Syracuse, New York, Julia Evelyn “Ev” (Starr) Osborne ’47, ‘49, G’67, professor emerita of nursing, was one of the first students to enroll in the new Syracuse University School of Nursing, established in 1943 as a response to the rising demand for nurses during wartime. There, she earned her master’s degree and then served as an associate professor for 35 years.
Osborne and fellow SU professor emerita, the late Rosemary Lape ‘56, G’68, both received Robert Wood Johnson Nurse Faculty Fellowships, which took them to Rochester, New York in 1977 and 1978, respectively. The fellowship was intended to help more nursing schools offer training in clinical primary care. At this time, nurse practitioners represented just a small fraction of nurses, yet they were starting to take ownership of more and more patient responsibilities while working with physicians.
Osborne, Lape, and colleague Dr. Barbara “Bobbi” Harris ‘61, G’90, Ph.D.’90 together developed the primary care nurse practitioner program at Syracuse University.
“They did a lot for the School of Nursing,” says Harris, a professor emerita of nursing who explained they hosted health fairs at the university and other places, covering specialized topics as specialists in health assessments. “When [Osborne and Lape] came back,” she adds, “we hosted an alumni get-together in the spring, and those two were the program. They talked about their experience in learning how to do physicals and health assessments.”
For example, in 1981, Osborne and Lape presented “Physical Assessment for the Occupational Health Nurse,” an ongoing program that took place at monthly meetings of the Central New York Association of Occupational Health Nurses, focusing on neurological assessment in the fall and muscular-skeletal assessment in the spring.
During her retirement, Osborne shared her love of the arts with her grandchildren and volunteered at Sunshine Horses, a Syracuse horse rescue facility. Osborne passed away in November 2016. Her connection to Syracuse University as both student and faculty will be remembered fondly.