In Memory:
Sister Yvonne Jenn, RRT

 from AARC.ORG

October 7, 2002
Sister Yvonne Jenn, Fransciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration, 91, charter member of the board of trustees of the American Association of Inhalation Therapists, now the American Association for Respiratory Care (AARC), and the first to pass the American Registry of Inhalation Therapists, now the National Board for Respiratory Care (NBRC), written and oral examinations, died on Oct. 5, 2002, at Villa St. Joseph, La Crosse, WI. Sister Yvonne was registered respiratory therapist number 1.

"The last time I went to see her," says H. Fred Helmholz, Jr., MD, Emeritus Trustee of the NBRC, "she said that she still worried about one of her students who didn't pass the registry exam on the first go around.

"Those of us who have been in the profession for a long time will miss her no end because of the warmth she added."

Sister Yvonne was born to Aloysius and Louise (Winninger) Jenn on Oct. 18, 1910, in Hills, Iowa. She entered St. Rose Convent on Aug. 12, 1930, and made profession of vows in 1933. Entering the field of health care, she began her career as a registered nurse in hospitals in Idaho, Iowa, and La Crosse. In 1936, she began Gerard Hill, a home for unwed mothers. Doctors at St. Francis Hospital asked her to start a nurse anesthesia education program, which she directed from 1942 to 1982.

In addition to her many contributions to the profession of respiratory care, she also wrote the code of ethics that have been adopted by the AARC and NBRC.

She received the Agatha Hodgins Award and the Helen Lamb Outstanding Education Award from the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists, the Robert H. Miller, Registered Respiratory Technician Award, and the Spheres of Influence Award from St. Francis Medical Center in 1983. After 1982 she worked as a volunteer nurse until her retirement to St. Rose Convent in 1998 and to the Villa in 2000.

Sister Yvonne is survived by her Franciscan Community and a brother, Harold Jenn, of Dunlap, IL, and nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents, two brothers and three sisters.

Friends may call after 3 p.m., Wednesday, October 9, when the body will be met at St. Rose Convent. A prayer service will be held at 7 p.m. in Mary of the Angels Chapel. The Reb. Bill Brock, pastor of St. James Parish, Denver, CO, and former student, will preside at the Mass of Christia Burial in Mary of the Angels Chapel, Thursday, Oct. 10, at 1:30 p.m. Burial will be in Gate of Heaven Cemetery, La Crosse.

Memorials may be sent to Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, 912 Market, La Crosse, WI 54601-8800.