Obituaries: Joan Mackay, 1947, Winn Parish, LA
Submitted by Greggory E. Davies, 120 Ted Price Lane, Winnfield, LA 71483
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From: January 16, 1947 Winn Parish Enterprise

Funeral Services Held On Monday For Joan Mackay

Funeral services were held Monday morning at Hixson Brothers Funeral Home for
Miss Joan Mackay, 64, who made her home with Mr. and Mrs. Jack Flournoy of
Winnfield since her retirement twenty months ago from a long career as nurse
with the Veterans Administration.  She died Saturday, January 11, at 4:15 p.m.

Final rites were in charge of Rev. Alwin Stokes, pastor of the Presbyterian
Church.  Burial was in the Winnfield Cemetery.

Miss Mackay was born in Scotland and came to the United States in 1918 as a
registered Red Cross nurse seeking a position in the Naval Nurse Corps.  This
was refused because she was not a citizen.  Obtaining her citizenship in 1924,
Miss Mackay began her duties with the Veterans Administration, eventually
coming to the Alexandria hospital.  She was a member of the Presbyterian
Church of Alexandria.

Surviving are a sister, Mrs. Diana Smith of Edinburgh, Scotland; two nieces,
Miss Andrewina Muro, Edinburg, and Miss Jessie F. McKay, Vancouver, B. C., and
a nephew.

Ex-servicemen served as pallbearers.  They were Teal Calhoun, Jim W. Taylor,
Jr., Charles L. Dark, George H. Larson, Eli Harrell, Louis C. Wood, Dennis
Shell, H. W. Bass, and Gordon Stewart, all of Winnfield.

Miss Joan Mackay

Because of the unusual character of Miss Mackay, the following obituary,
written by a friend, is published.

Miss Joan Mackay, born June 8, 1882, at Fairy, Foutherlandshire, Scotland,
came to this country in 1918, a registered Red Cross Nurse, and tried to
enlist in the Naval Nurse Corps in 1918.  Refused because she was a non-
citizen, she entered Public Health Service, transferred to the Administration
service.

She was a faithful, efficient nurse, always known among the veteran patients
as "Scottie".  When first stricken with coronary thrombosis two years ago, she
refused to take hospitalization or retirement, insisting she was able to work. 
Only on orders of Dr. Moore, in charge of the Veterans Hospital, Alexandria,
did she agree to accept hospitalization for three weeks at Baptist Hospital,
then medical retirement.

She did not make friends readily, wanting only the quiet of home and her books
and magazines.  She was a good Christian and said her prayers morning and
night.  Though not being able to take an active part in church life, she was a
loved member of the Flournoy family, where she had made her home for one year,
eight months, and eleven days.