Rita Kroska

Rita Caroline Kroska, age 90, of Tucson, AZ, died on Saturday, January, 28, 2012, at The Villas at LaCanada in Tucson.    Memorial Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Friday, February 17, 2012 at 4:00 p.m. at the Divine Mercy Catholic Church (139 Mercy Drive) in Faribault. Interment will be held at the St. Lawrence Cemetery in Faribault.    Memorial visitation will be held for one half hour prior to services at the church on Friday.     Memorials are preferred to Bethlehem Academy in Memory of Rita.    Funeral arrangements are being completed by the Parker Kohl Funeral Home & Crematory of Faribault.    Rita Caroline Kroska, the daughter of Anthony "Tony" and Alma (Herbert) Kroska, was born on July 6, 1921 in Duelm, Minnesota. She attended St. Cloud Hospital School of Nursing where she earned her registered nursing diploma. Following this, she achieved a B.S. degree in Public Health Nursing from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. In 1945 she entered the convent joining the Medical Mission Sisters in Fox Chase, Philadelphia where she chose the name Sr. Judith. She was then sent to New Mexico to study and become a nurse midwife. She became a certified Nurse-Midwife and later became a founding member of the American College of Nurse-Midwives in 1955. She taught midwifery from 1949-1954 at Catholic Maternity Institute of Santa Fe, New Mexico. From 1954-56 she pursued a Master's degree in Nursing Education again at Catholic University. In 1956 she returned to the lay life where she taught maternity nursing at the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, Minnesota. She received a fellowship in 1959 from the National League for Nursing to study Anthropology, from the University of Minnesota. Following her dream of applying anthropological concepts to the profession of nursing, she taught courses at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, the University of New Mexico, Marquette University, the College of St. Teresa and the University of Texas, El Paso. From 1982-83 she held the Anise J. Sorrell Chair in Nursing, distinguished Visiting Professor. Troy State University in Troy, Alabama. She returned to the University of Texas, El Paso in 1983 for one more year, before retiring in 1984. She is listed in the Who's Who in American Women and was a pioneer and innovator in the development of nurse-midwifery education and practice as well as maternity nursing. She was one of four who signed the Incorporation of the American College of Nurse-Midwives in 1955 whose emblem on their logo was designed by her. The last few years of her life she dedicated to documenting her experiences as a midwife, authoring a book on the history of nurse-midwifery.   She was proud to be a lifelong member of the Daughters of Isabella, a charitable organization of Catholic women.     Dr. Kroska is survived by her oldest brother, Kenneth of Tucson; her nieces and nephews Luanne Koshire of Rochester, Shelly Kuhlmann of Oronoco, MN, Amy Kroska of Norman, OK, Gloria Noffsinger of Farmington Hills, MI, Linda Kroska of North St. Paul, Cindy Kosman of Scandia, MN, Mary Reinike of Chippewa Falls, WI, Tony Kroska of Duluth, Tim Kroska of Grand Marais; her great niece Emily Fugalli of Faribault; her sister in law, Angie Kroska of Rochester and by other relatives and friends.      She was preceded in death by her parents and by her brothers, Lucian (Dick), Robert and Ralph.