Adult student passes away, leaves legacy

By Frank Visco
Collegian Editor
February 13, 2008

Sharon Davis, an adult student midway through her junior year in the nursing program, died Feb. 5 at the age of 55 after a three-year battle with an unspecified type of cancer.  

Although Davis had limited contact with the university at large since coming to La Salle in 2004, those she did come in contact with remembered her as a determined woman whose desire to help people led her to continue pursuing her education, despite several cancer related setbacks.

“She was a very determined individual,” Barbara Hoerst, Director of the Undergraduate Nursing Program, said. “I know she had some health issues and had to withdraw a few times but she never gave up and kept coming back.

“Everybody would say, ‘Gee, Sharon, you’re going through so much, maybe you should take a rest,’ but she was determined. She very much wanted to become a nurse so she could help people. It’s truly a shame she won’t get to experience that.” 

According to Mary Dorr, the assistant dean of the nursing department, Davis was already certified as Licensed Practical Nurse when she came to La Salle to get a bachelor of science and nursing and a minor in health studies. A year after starting at La Salle she was diagnosed with cancer, which forced her to withdraw from the program on two separate occasions, Dorr said.

Dorr also said Davis, a Northeast Philadelphia resident, kept coming back as a full-time student because of “a long range desire to work with children.”

“I think Sharon had such a wonderful outlook on life that I don’t think people really would’ve known she was dealing with cancer when they meet with her,” Dorr said. “She had even talked about going for her Master’s degree. She just really wanted to help people and give back.”  

Considering her adult student status and the fact that she had to withdraw several times due to illness, Davis was not well known to many students at La Salle.   

However, according to fellow adult student Eileen Baughan, a junior nursing major, who had a mental health clinical with Davis, everyone who knew her was shaken by the news.   

“She was very warm, had a great smile and she would’ve made a most fantastic nurse,” Baughan said. “She had compassion, cared about what she was doing and always expressed interest.   

“She was also helpful to any one of us who needed help. We were all really upset. None of us knew she was ill. We couldn’t have been more shocked.”   

Hoerst, who taught Davis in her childbearing, family and women’s health class, reiterated the idea that Davis would’ve been an excellent nurse.   

“She was a very good student,” Hoerst said. “She always wanted to understand the material. She wasn’t one to just sit there and take notes; she interacted and asked questions.”    

Davis’s passing also resonated with others at La Salle outside of the nursing program. DSA Information Technologies Coordinator Mike Nielsen, who knew Davis through shared membership in the same congregation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also expressed admiration for Davis’s outlook.   

“She was always somebody who was very happy, outgoing and smiley,” he said, “Even when she was frustrated about something she went about dealing with it in a positive way.     

“She very much lived her religion and I know her major was very important to her. I think both her religion and her major really got at the core of who she was—a kind, considerate person who very much enjoyed helping people.   

Davis is survived by a daughter, four siblings, three nieces and two nephews, as well as several aunts and uncles.   

viscof1@lasalle.edu