The honor guard nurses in the photo are, left to right, Jeanne English, Mary Ranck, Kathy Kilburg, Pam Strohfus, and Kelli Reed. (Photo provided by Kelli Reed)
By Gaye Bunderson
When nurse Kelli Reed traveled to Montana for a friend’s funeral, she was impressed by an honor guard. Not a military honor guard, but one comprised of nurses who were giving their fellow health care worker a fitting goodbye with a nurses honor guard. Reed was so touched by the ceremony that she wanted to return to the Gem State and participate in a nurses honor guard herself.
But there wasn’t one. So four women – most of them participants in the Faith Community Nursing program – got motivated to launch the Treasure Valley Nurses Honor Guard. They succeeded, and their first ceremony was for a longtime St. Luke’s nurse practitioner in May of 2024. During the intervening years, they performed honor guard duties for many more funerals.
Others they’ve honored included:
The other members of the original four are Cari Moodie, FCN coordinator; Denise Sullivan, FCN; and Tammie Sherner, a professor of nursing at Boise State University. They got together, planned and organized the group, and now have approximately 50 members.
They drew heavily from military and law enforcement honor guards, Reed said, when planning how to organize and present their own ceremonies. The ceremonies are brief but very personal and include information about the nurse’s career, highlighting the areas she cared about most; the information is read out loud from a scroll. “We tell their story and honor them for what they’ve done,” Reed said.
Generally, about five fellow nurses are involved in the ceremony. Stated Reed: “We wear our white nurse’s uniform, blue velvet capes, and a white nurse’s cap. We have eight teams and we perform the ceremonies on a rotation basis.”
One of the nurses holds a lamp, known as the Nightingale lamp after famed nurse and social reformer Florence Nightingale. Another holds a token of the nursing profession, such as a “nursing service pin,” while yet another carries a flower or flowers.
Similar to other honor guard ceremonies, a “final call to service” is offered, closing out the nurse’s career. “We call their name three times,” Reed said. “Then we extinguish the lamp and give the family the tokens of the nursing profession.”
Families receive the scroll, pin, lamp and flowers as mementos of their loved ones.
Families are notified of the availability of an honor guard through funeral homes, and if they are interested, they contact a member of the Treasure Valley Nurses Honor Guard. The
Guard is non-denominational, and nursing designations include an IPN (Intervention Project for Nurses), PN (Licensed Practical Nurse or Licensed Vocational Nurse), NP (Nurse Practitioner), or anyone with a nursing degree. “Time served in the profession is not a requirement,” Reed said.
One honor guard member is a male nurse who was a long-standing nurse in the military. In instances where someone has both served in the military and as a nurse, military honor guards go first during a funeral service followed by, if requested, the nurses honor guard.
The Treasure Valley Nurses Honor Guard has performed both virtual ceremonies as well as a living ceremony for those on hospice. They seek to help other nursing communities throughout the state form their own honor guard programs. Reed stated that Idaho was the last state in the nation to have a nurses honor guard.
Why is the honor guard important to people in the profession?
“We give back this way,” Reed said, continuing, “I’ve worked a variety of roles as a nurse for 28 years. I say it’s the profession that keeps on giving. There are so many opportunities to keep giving, learning, and growing. I’ve never spoken to a nurse who said, ‘I’m sorry I got into this’, and nurses are the backbone of health care.”
For more information, contact Kelli Reed at tvnurseshonorguard@gmail.com or (208) 571-4851.
