An Extraordinary Life: Former Channahon resident saw nursing as a vocation, not a job

Dave Morman of Sandwich said he knew Elizabeth “Betty” Morman was special when he first met her in 2009.

“She never made me do anything or change anything. We just got along so good,” Dave said. “But I changed in ways I never thought I would just because I wanted to be with her.”

But Dave saw Betty’s nursing skills firsthand when she had an operation before they were married, and she took care of him. He recalled one patient whose insurance stopped paying for the medicine. Betty saved all the samples the company’s drug representative dropped off.

Another couple had to choose between their medicine and food, and Betty helped them, too, Dave said.

“She filled out all the paperwork so they could get their medicine for free,” Dave said.

Betty’s mother Pat Harvey of Joliet feels nursing was more vocation than career for Betty.

“You weren’t there to earn a paycheck. You were there to take care of the people,” Harvey said. “The paycheck was important but the health of the patient was most important to her.”

‘She was really interested in the whole aspect of healing and helping people’

Even as child, Betty had the heart of a nurse, Harvey said.

“She was always bandaging up her dolls,” Harvey said. “And as soon as the boys [Betty’s brothers] did roughhousing or something, she’d be right there with her Band-Aids. Of course, they liked it for a moment and then they shooed her away. But she was always right there.”

Harvey said Betty’s aunt Janice Latz was also a nurse (Larz died in June) and Betty wanted to emulate her.

Betty’s sister Pat Perrier of Joliet agreed.

“When we were kids, she had to have surgery on her knee, pretty severe surgery; she had really messed up her knee,” Perrier said. “After that, she was really interested in the whole aspect of healing and helping people.”

Betty worked at the former Madison Lab in Joliet, when her sons Joshua Pantol of Naperville and Steve Pantol of New Lenox were young. Betty was also staking general education classes, Harvey said.

“When she did go into nursing classes, she had those out of the way and could concentrate on the nursing,” Harvey said.

Betty was a member of the Psi Beta Honor Society while she attended nursing school at Joliet Junior College, Harvey said. Betty earned her applied science in nursing degree from JJC in 1995.

After graduation, Betty (known as “Liz” at work), worked as a charge nurse at the cardiac intensive care unit at St. Margaret Mercy Hospital in Hammond, Indiana. But after 20 years, she felt the “wear and tear” on her body and went to work for a cardiology practice, Steve said.

“She was still helping people even though she couldn’t so the super intensive stuff,” Steve said. “So she tried to stay involved the best she could.”

Betty worked at Heartland Cardiovascular Center in New Lenox and then for neurologists Dr. Bassel Kazkaz and Dr. Kathleen McCahill (deceased), according to Betty’s obituary. She died of cancer on Jan. 21, just seven weeks after her diagnosis, Harvey said and three days before her 63rd birthday, Perrier said. She had lived in Channahon with Dave until 18 months ago, when they had moved to Sandwich, according to her obituary.

About two years before her death, Betty went on disability, which devastated her, because Betty had always worked some type of job since she was 16, Harvey said.

“She just could not do it anymore,” Harvey said. “Her legs and feet would not allow her to do it. She’d had multiple surgeries over the years on her foot. She was injured on the job at the hospital, and she worked for quite a few years after the injury, but then it got so bad she could not be on her feet anymore. So she went to do office nurse at doctor’s office. She was content with it, but it wasn’t the pace she liked.”

Disability, however, gave Betty the opportunity to spend time with her grandchildren; she also liked arranging flowers, Harvey said. This past summer, Betty volunteered to give COVID-19 vaccines through the Kendall County Health Department, Harvey said.

‘They were still human’

As a nurse, Betty also served as a preceptor for new nurses. These new nurses often perceived Betty as a “hard taskmaster” because “ ‘good enough’ wasn’t in her vocabulary,” Harvey said.

“Some people made it through her training, and some didn’t,” Harvey said. “She wanted people to work as hard as she did.”

Perrier echoed that sentiment.

“She made sure her students understood that there were people in those beds,” Perrier said. “They were human beings that just happened to have something going on. But they were still human. She would sit with them and make sure they weren’t alone if they were dying and had no family.”

Harvey felt Betty’s skill as a nurse derived partly from the type of person she was.

“She got letters and notes and flowers and gifts from patients’ families whether the patient survived or not,” Harvey said. “She used to stay after her 12 or 14-hour shift if the patient was going to be passing shortly so that she could be with the families and then stay with them for a little bit after. They [the families] were always grateful.”

But Betty wasn’t necessarily outgoing or the type to randomly strike up a conversation with someone in a store, Harvey said.

“Unless they were in distress,” Harvey said. “Then she’d be right there.”

Joshua recalled the time he became ill, and Betty dropped everything to get him the help he needed. Although she worked long hours, Betty never missed holiday and the big occasions in her family’s life, he said.

He said his mother could appear “tough” but she was actually very laid-back, caring and non-judgmental.

“I just wish she would have made more time for herself,” Joshua said.

Nevertheless, Harvey sees Betty’s life as a testimony as someone who knew what she wanted, went after it and then continued perfecting her skills.

“The idea is that you’re done once you’ve got your degree or whatever you’re striving for,” Harvey said. “But you’ve got to practice your profession. And she did it well.”

• To feature someone in “An Extraordinary Life,” contact Denise M. Baran-Unland at 815-280-4122 or dunland@shawmedia.com.