Bonnie Jones Friedman, a School of Nursing associate clinical professor remembered by her colleagues as a fun-spirited and profoundly thoughtful friend, died Aug. 2, after a calm and courageous battle with breast cancer. She was 60.
Friedman educated family nurse practitioners, and was instrumental in establishing and leading Duke's rural nurse practitioner master's program in Fayetteville. In 1997, she was presented with an Award for Excellence from the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners.
Because of Friedman, "we now have students across North Carolina that work in medically underserved communities with a commitment to stay in communities," said Mary Champagne, dean of the nursing school. "She has probably educated more nurse practitioners than anybody else in the state of North Carolina."
Colleagues remembered Friedman as a spiritual and straight-talking woman who was always willing to listen to anybody's problems and give appreciated, thoughtful advice.
"I would suggest that her epitaph read, Oa good, decent person that we will all miss,'" said Jim Temo, a nurse anesthetist professor.
"That's how I remember her," he said. "No frills."
Ever popular for fostering a close relationship between students and faculty and her ability to make everybody feel comfortable and respected, Friedman was voted by her students as the nursing school's most outstanding faculty member in 2000.
"She wanted everybody to know that we were her equals, maybe not in experience, but she wanted us to know that someday we would be her colleagues, not just her students," said Tobin Hill, Nursing '01, who is also a clinical nurse in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit.
Just this May, Hill received the first Bonnie Jones Friedman Humanitarian Award for excellent nurse practitioner students.
To encourage faculty and student interaction--and to celebrate life itself--Friedman was renowned for throwing ice cream parties.
"They started after she was diagnosed with cancer. If, when she went back for evaluation and the news was good, she would give an ice cream party," said Assistant Professor of Nursing Susan Denman. "And later, when the news was not always good, she continued to do the ice cream events as a celebration of what was good about life on that day."
She was grateful for each day and she told herself all is well because "today she was with us, with her colleagues and friends," said Ruth Ouimette, assistant clinical professor of nursing.
Friedman is survived by her husband Stephen, daughter Jocelyn, son Morgan, her father, brother and sister. Contributions in Friedman's honor may be sent to the endowment for the Bonnie Jones Friedman Humanitarian Award at Duke University, Durham, N.C. 27710 or to House Cancer Support Center, 111 Cloister Ct., Suite 220 Chapel Hill, N.C. 27514.
The School of Nursing will hold a memorial service on the Hanes Lawn in the Sarah P. Duke Gardens at 4 p.m. Sept. 12.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.