The Commander Lura Jane Emery Lecture

During her academic career at the School of Nursing in the late 1970’s, CMDR Lura Jane Emery, MS ’79, recognized a need for nurses with advanced education. This eventually led her to create the Lura Jane Emery Nursing seminars endowed fund.

Prior to attending the School, Emery had a long and successful career in the U.S. Navy Nurse Corps, where she served for 27 years. Upon retirement from the Naval Hospital in Annapolis, Md., she received credit for 30 years of service. Emery’s military career began in November 1947 when she started working as an Ensign at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Newport, R.I. After two years, she was transferred to the U.S. Naval Hospital, San Diego, Calif. She was subsequently ordered to duty on the U.S.S. Repose AH16 at Hunters Point, in San Francisco, Calif.  In 1950, Emery was called to Pusan, Korea; she spent the next 19 months caring for those injured in the Korean War. “As soon as I arrived there, I treated patients with smallpox, brain injuries, and missile wounds close to 20 hours a day,” she recalls. “It was a tremendous experience. The most memorable moment was when our ships were traveling up the river near Incheon with armed Chinese troops lining the banks.” Fortunately, she says, “When they saw the red crosses on the side of our ships, they dropped their guns—not one shot was fired. That was indeed a miracle.”   

When her military career ended, Emery wasn’t sure what her future would hold. “After I retired from the Navy in 1974, I felt lost, but becoming involved in nursing again helped ease the transition,” she says. She returned to Maryland and received her master’s degree from the School of Nursing in 1979. Each year, Emery’s fund supports a scholarly lecture presented. “When nurses have a good education,” she says, “they can easily advance in their field.”