LPN was founder of regional chapter

6/27/2006

DEFIANCE - Mildred I. McBroom, 91, a licensed practical nurse and founder of a regional division of the Licensed Practical Nurses Association of Ohio, died Sunday in the Kingsbury House assisted-living facility here. Family members did not know the cause of death.

Mrs. McBroom learned her profession on the job. She worked more than 30 years at the former Defiance City Hospital, retiring in 1981.

She spent much of the next five years at home caring for her husband, John McBroom, who died in 1986. "She still was doing her nursing, even though she was retired," her daughter, Dolores Williamson, said.

An Ohio chapter of the National Association for Practical Nurse Education and Service was established in the early years of World War II. But the group had no presence in the Defiance area until Mrs. McBroom decided to establish one. She founded the regional division 26 in about the late 1940s, Mrs. Williamson said.

"At the time, the [association] was just beginning, and she felt the group needed to get together to discuss the trends of nursing and have some social time together," her daughter said.

Born in Defiance, she graduated from Defiance High School in 1933, and the following year married her husband, a tool and die maker at Otis Elevator Co. in Toledo.

Mrs. Williamson recalled how her mother kept herself busy with her nursing work, yet still found time for the school PTA.

In her later years, Mrs. McBroom was active in various groups, including the Defiance Senior Citizen Center and the Senior Citizen Club. She also was a member of First Baptist Church of Defiance.

Surviving are her daughters, Dolores Williamson and Geraldine McBroom; son, Robert; sister, Dorothy Russell; seven grandchildren, and five great-grandsons.

Visitation will be after 2 p.m. tomorrow in the Mast-Mock-Hoffman Funeral Home, Defiance, where services will be at 1 p.m. Thursday. The family suggests tributes to Hospice - the Caring Way of Defiance, First Baptist Church of Defiance, or a charity of the donor's choice.