Betty Rose, longtime Stanford nurse, dies at 83

Rose was known for her leadership, mentorship of other nurses and strong collaborations across the organization.

Betty Rose

Betty Rose, a nurse who worked at Stanford Hospital for more than 30 years in a variety of leadership roles, died Jan. 22 at her home in Palo Alto. She was 83.

Known to her colleagues as Ms. Rose, she was hired in in the 1960s as an orthopedic nurse at what was then known as the Palo Alto-Stanford Hospital Center. Highlights of her career included designing the floor plan for Stanford Hospital’s north intensive care unit when the hospital expanded in the early 1970s; hiring and mentoring more than 400 nurses; helping neonatologist Philip Sunshine, MD, develop research protocols for early studies of neonatal disease; and working with cardiologist Norman Shumway, MD, to develop nursing protocols for taking care of patients who had received open-heart surgery. She retired in 2000.

She is survived by her husband, Hilbert Morales of Palo Alto; sister Pattie Rose Cregut of Sarasota, Florida; brothers Frederick Rose of Rumson, New Jersey, and John Rose Jr. of Lancaster, Pennsylvania; stepdaughters Linda Morales Russinsky of Bakersfield, California, and Mary Morales Rustica of San Francisco; and stepson Anthony Morales of Aptos, California.

The Stanford community is invited to attend a memorial service at 5 p.m. Jan. 31 at All Saints’ Episcopal Church at 555 Waverley St. in Palo Alto.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the El Observador Foundation at 1042 West Hedding St., Suite 250, San Jose, CA 95126 or online. Rose and Morales developed the foundation starting in 1983 to support the Bay Area’s Hispanic community, with a focus on improving access to college education.

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