Elinor Delight Gregg, R.N., the first Supervisor of Nurses for the Indian Service, holds the microphone and begins to speak. Her memories--vivid with details of 80 years of an independent woman's life of adventure, frustration, triumphs, and personal commitment to caring--begin to fill the first tape. She wonders how the two University of New Mexico nursing students, Melody Johnson and Alice Fryer, can possibly benefit from what she has to say. Her stories tell of times far before they were born--of miles she traveled through World War I, on Indian Reservations, in Washington, D.C., and all the journeys between and since. But as always, since she's agreed to help, she will.Melody and Alice want to learn from Elinor's experiences, but conflicts and questions about marriage, the Vietnam War, commitment, women's roles, adventure, and about the type of nurses they'll become threaten to distract them. Can Elinor Gregg help them find answers? And, once when they visit her in Santa Fe, another question arises--what is the purpose of the basket full of stones "Aunt El" keeps near her chair?This thoroughly researched true biography set within a fictional relationship between Elinor Gregg and two University of New Mexico nursing students in the summer of 1966 will instruct readers interested in nursing, gerontology, history, and the Women's Movement, and will fascinate the general reader who enjoys a good story.
