Virginia R. Damos

Obituary's Biography:

Virginia Ruth Damos (nee Whitson) died on January 8, 2013.. She was born on April 14, 1924 in Waukegan to Vera and Clair Whitson. She was preceded in death by her husband Thomas, her brothers Clair and Frank Whitson, and her sister Lois Downer. She is survived by her daughter Diane, her son-in-law Bryan Coolican, six nieces, and eight nephews, and 29 great nieces and nephews.
Virginia graduated from Waukegan Township High School in 1942 where she was the class president for her junior and senior years. She then attended the Jan McAlister School of Nursing at Victory Memorial Hospital and trained at the University of Chicago and Cook County Hospital. She graduated in 1945 as a registered nurse. She held various nursing positions before returned to Victory Memorial Hospital where she worked for 32 years. She was Director of Surgery for the last 23 years of her career.
She was active at both the local and national level of the Association of Operating Room Nurses (AORN). Virginia served for 6 years on the local AORN board and was president of the local chapter from 1973 to 1974. At the national level she served on the board for 2 years and was the general chairman of the 1973 Congress. She was the AORN liason to the American College of Surgeons Committee on Operating Room Environments for 4 years. She traveled extensively in Europe examining operating room procedure. In 1990 she was selected as the National Operating Room Manager of the Year by the advisory board of the National Operating Room Manager.
She was a life-long member of the First United Methodist Church of Waukegan.
Services will be held at the Strang Funeral Chapel at 410 E. Belvidere Road, Grayslake, Il.at 11 AM on Saturday, January 12th, 2013. Visitation will begin at 9:30 AM.