No one ever heard Laree Umphrey curse, but the junior in nursing loved to yell, “Oh, Mama” when things went awry.
Classmate Emily Dettenmaier said that during role-playing exercises, Umphrey would always pretend to be a 98-year-old woman. She would moan every time Dettenmaier touched her trying to guess what might be wrong.
“Sometimes, just for fun, she would throw in dementia,” Dettenmaier said.
These were some of the memories nursing students shared at a memorial service for Umphrey held Feb. 22 at the College of Nursing.
Earlier this month, Umphrey was in a car crash at the intersection of 700 East and 2700 South; she died two days later.
Classmate Jessica Miller said she prepared a page-length speech to give but was only able to get through a poem in honor of her friend.
Half a dozen classmates in steady succession stood before the group of students, faculty, family and friends to share the little things they remembered from their day-to-day interactions with Umphrey that they now miss.
“She was cute and bubbly,” said Jennifer Nixon, clinical instructor at the Veteran Affairs Medical Center, where Umphrey had been on rotation. “She not only took great care for patients, she even took it upon herself to care for the plants at the VA.”
Classmate Danielle Sherman remembered how irritated she got when people couldn’t say her name correctly. Sherman also remembered how Umphrey would always say, “I’m from Weiser, Idaho-but not like the band.”
Maureen Keefe, dean of the College of Nursing, said Umphrey excelled in her prerequisites and was on two scholarships.
“She was motivated and goal-directed,” Keefe said. “She was a caring person with a strong desire to care for others.”
Umphrey volunteered for the YMCA after-school program and was active in the Boys and Girls Clubs. She had planned to travel to Peru this summer with other health-science students to volunteer their services to the local population.
At the end of the memorial, Keefe presented Umphrey’s parents with a certificate of academic achievement from the U administration.
“We hope you leave with the treasures of the memories shared today,” U Hospital Chaplain Mark Allison told the family.
Anyone else who would like to share their memories of Umphrey can submit them to the college and a DVD will be compiled for the family.
