Obituary: Jemima L P Robertson, director of nursing services

Jemima L P Robertson, nurse. Born: 19 January, 1920, in Edinburgh. Died: 9 March, 2010, in Edinburgh, aged 90.

JEM, or Mima, Robertson spent the first five years of her life in Edinburgh then went with her parents to the United States until she was 12. On the family's return to Edinburgh, she was educated at the then James Gillespie's High School for Girls.

On leaving school, Jem had wanted to go into nursing, but her father thought it wasn't a good idea at all – not a good job and poorly paid(!) – and so she began working in an insurance firm, the North British and Mercantile, in Edinburgh, where she stayed for a few years.

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However, she still wanted to nurse and managed to persuade her parents to agree. She started as a student nurse, undertaking her general nurse education and training, at the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh (RIE) in 1947. She gained her hospital badge – the world-renowned "Pelican" – in 1951 and went on to do her midwifery education and training at the Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

After that, together with two friends from her student nurse days, she set off to nurse in the United States and, during the next two years, worked in hospitals in Baltimore, Cleveland, Texas and Oregon, returning to the RIE to gain experience as a staff nurse, then as a night sister, following which she took up her first ward sister appointment. This was in Ward 36, a gynaecology ward, where she led a high standard of patient care, and gained a reputation as an excellent and caring ward sister, teacher and mentor for her staff and students. After a few years, Miss Robertson took another break in her RIE career to travel and work abroad again, this time with three of her former staff nurses. They worked in surgical wards in hospitals from East to West and North to South in America, then in Dunedin, New Zealand, before returning home.

On Miss Robertson's return to Edinburgh, she undertook the clinical teachers' course, before heading back to the Royal Infirmary as a member of the team of clinical teachers there. In 1966, she was appointed as sister in charge of Ward 13, where she worked until her secondment to the first middle management course organised by the Royal College of Nursing. On successfully completing that, she became the first unit nursing officer in the RIE, in charge of Wards 7/8 and 13/14.

Having established the unit, she was then seconded to the University of Edinburgh, where she obtained the Certificate of Nursing Studies (Administration). Thereafter, she held the post of nursing officer for Wards 28-33 in RIE, following which she became senior nursing officer at the Eastern General Hospital, and then principal nursing officer in charge of the Western General Hospital. She was also a member of the Lothian Area Nursing and Midwifery Advisory Committee from its inception.

On 1 June, 1976, Miss Robertson returned to the RIE to take up the post of principal nursing officer there, a post which, just four months later, became that of divisional nursing officer (by assimilation) in charge of general division "A", of the South Lothian District. The division comprised the Royal Infirmary, the Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion, Chalmers Hospital, Bruntsfield Hospital and the Dental Hospital. This post, the title of which changed during her tenure to director of nursing services, she held until her retirement in January 1985, aged 65.

Following her retirement, Miss Robertson – Jem or Mima or JLP to her many friends and colleagues – undertook an Open University BA degree, having the time to pursue her long-time interest in the history of art and also enjoying sewing beautiful tapestries.

Jem, a highly respected professional, was also very much a family figure – unusual for someone who herself had very few relatives. She enjoyed a rich and happy family life as a much loved member of two families; in Edinburgh, that of her friend from nursing days, Margaret, and in Canada, of her Scottish/Canadian friends, also from nursing days. Retiral enabled her to spend much more time with her godson Daniel, and his brother and sisters, in Edinburgh, which all enjoyed. In Canada, she was in close touch with Irene and Colin and their children, Kirsty, Andrew and her god-daughter Heather. She made many visits to Canada, as they did here with her, keeping in touch with them as they grew up, and, even up until last year, able to go over and enjoy them all, including her god-daughter's children – "her" three boys, as Jem often said, with her mischievous sense of humour, causing some puzzled glances at times! In fact, as Kirsty said: "Jem was a vibrant and important part of our family and in our lives and those of our children. Her love of young people was evident in all she did."

In her memory, her Canadian family have raised funds to build a new school room for their friends at Hope for Youth Uganda, where, as the school expands to Primary 4, they need a new classroom. We know she would have loved the thought of having a classroom full of smiling young faces, in "Jem's Room", as it will be called.

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In Jem's early years in Edinburgh, she was very much a part of the Canongate Church, which she still thought of fondly and visited from time to time. She was a Sunday School teacher there, and it was from her connections there that she developed her love of Iona where, in the days of George MacLeod, she had such fun and found such spirituality, as a part of groups that visited and worked there, within the Community. She has been to Iona countless times over the years, with Margaret, and with her Canadian family, and always with such pleasure and so many happy memories. She loved the island, the peace and beauty of it, and she loved Iona Abbey.

Another huge pleasure, after Jem's retirement, was that she could have her own dog – a golden cocker spaniel. She loved walking with her dog – not just here in Edinburgh but on Iona and up north in Cawdor. Cawdor was a very special place for Jem and her friend Margaret, who spent time in their home there whenever they could. They had so many very good friends there and would worship in Cawdor Church, where Jem was a much loved part of that community of faith, adding to its fellowship in the village church or in the ancient Kirk of Barevan, where she enjoyed the annual picnics after the summer service.

Jem enjoyed her 25 years of retirement to the full. She loved nature, loved listening to the birds singing, enjoyed company and going to concerts, and celebrated her 90th birthday in January, sipping champagne and thoroughly enjoying a meal with friends and family.

Jem Robertson was a lovely, caring person, and so well liked and respected by all who knew her; friends, neighbours, carers and colleagues, from her most senior in the RIE to John, one of the then porters at the infirmary, who insisted she park her car in the prime parking place at the front door of the hospital – traditionally for the sole use of the consultants – and to the new nurse at her GP practice who met her in recent times and stopped short, stared and said: "Oh, Miss Robertson, you were the matron when we started as students at the Royal, and we just loved you."

Many of her former colleagues, when they heard of her passing, spontaneously used such words as "kind", "gentle" "delightful" "lovely" and "first-class".

Although such a senior person in her profession, Jem was so very modest. She was a very special lady, who just loved nursing, and was a nurse to the end, caring for those who were caring for her.

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