September 19, 1931- January 8, 2022
Priscilla Ruth (Pat) Paschal Sumearll was born in Osborne County, Kansas to Walter and Eva Paschal, joining older siblings Vincent, Jean and William.
Pat, as she was known since childhood, grew up on the family farm approximately 5 miles north and 3 miles east of Waldo, Kansas. Like so many families during that time, the Paschals struggled through the Depression and the Dust Bowl. Pat recalled the rope that was stretched between the farmhouse and the barn so Walter wouldn’t get lost in the dust storms when he went to care for the cattle.
The family was forced to leave their farm because of the harsh economic and environmental conditions and moved to Nebraska where Walter hired on to a farmer there for nearly 2 years. Pat always described those years as the happiest of her young life because she finally had enough to eat.
The family eventually reacquired their farm with the assistance of New Deal programs, and were able to return to the land they had worked so hard for.
As World War 2 began for the United States both of her brothers joined in the effort and sister Jean left the farm, leaving Pat to help her parents on the farm. While Pat was always rightfully proud of her brothers and sister, she had her own small contribution to the history of stateside patriotism. When news came over the radio that the war in Europe had ended, she and her father went to the Vincent church and rang the steeple bell to let the neighbors know that the crisis was nearly over. Pat was just one of so many who made a contribution to keeping this country unified in a shared belief that we all need to care for each other, no matter what the challenges are. Pat, with her tiny frame, always stood for caring, compassion and community against the forces of hate, ignorance and intolerance.
Even before her graduation from high school, Pat set her sights on a career in nursing. Inspired by a cut out picture of Florence Nightingale in her bedroom, she was driven by a need to care for others. Over the objections on her father, who valued education highly but worried that nursing would expose her to “bad situations”, Pat forged ahead towards what was her life’s mission.
Her innate stubbornness won out over Walter’s worry and she began her nursing studies. Confronting her lack of science courses in high school, she tackled her greatest nemesis, Chemistry, and wrestled it into submission by sheer will power, hard work and rote memorization. Because she wanted to be a nurse.
Nursing was Pat’s calling, her passion, and her life. She met her future husband, Ivan Sumearll, while she was doing a rotation at the hospital where Ivan was rehabilitating from the devastating effects of a virus, poliomyelitis.
After graduating from nursing school, Pat and Ivan married, first settling in Salina where Pat worked at the hospital and Ivan worked for a local jeweler. Striking out on their own, they chose Plainville, Kansas in 1955 as their home. Plainville had no jeweler and a new hospital had just been built.
Pat and Ivan immediately became deeply involved in the community as civic boosters and community health champions, always believing that citizens had an obligation to their friends and neighbors to promote local business development and community wide health.
Pat’s contributions to the Rooks County community were enormous. Conducting birthing classes in her home and encouraging community wide vaccinations to control the raging viruses of the day such as polio and smallpox were just two of her many efforts for community health.
Pat enjoyed all aspects of nursing and was proud of being one of the first nurses at what would become Rooks County Health Center. She was always proud to assist or scrub for the incredible group of young doctors that were working in Rooks County at the time, heroes of healthcare in this region such as Pederson, Page, Mauck and Votopka as well as the specialists who came in.
But Pat’s true love, true calling to nursing was labor and delivery. She took great pride in seeing new mothers through the labor and delivery process. From teaching and coaching to actual delivery, Pat helped hundreds of Rooks County babies into the world while supporting and comforting their mothers.
Pat also had an incredibly accurate memory even in her aging decline about each birth that she assisted in, perhaps a little too accurate, when she would recount some interesting if not outright hilarious moments that happened during delivery. Ladies, you know who you are.
In her later years, even as dementia was taking its toll, she could recall specific moments of a mother’s delivery. She might not recognize the mother’s name but she could remember in exact and sometimes embarrassing detail, specifics about the delivery.
She was a hard working nurse committed to the health of this community. We could all benefit by following her example.
Pat was preceded in death by her parents, Walter and Eva Paschal, and her siblings Vincent, Jeanne and William.
She is survived by her children Brian, Eric, Mark, Joel and Craig, grandchildren Danica, Brant, Jake and Kasey, and great-grandchildren Adelyn, Brantley, Emily and Kent.
The family would like to thank so many in the Rooks County community who watched over and looked after Pat.
A small family burial service will be held shortly, with a celebration of life later when it is safe to hold one.
Pat walked thousands of miles through hospital halls, comforted thousands of your neighbors, and welcomed hundreds of precious babies into the region. Her tiny, determined frame stood tall for comfort and health and community, and against pain, selfishness and ignorance.
Rest in peace, Nurse Pat.
Services are pending.
If you wish to honor Pat with a memorial, contributions are suggested to Rooks County Health Center for the nursing department in care of Rooks County Healthcare Foundation.
Pat loved flowers and was a proud Kansan. If you want to buy flowers for yourself or one of your loved ones, she loved lavender……and sunflowers.
Plumer-Overlease Funeral Home is handling arrangements.