Obituary of Hazel Ross

ROSS, Dr. Hazel Miriam - Wolfville, entered peacefully into the joy of her Lord on February 14, 2007, after a fruitful life of service to God and others. Born March 30, 1929, in Roxville, Digby Co., she was a daughter of the late Clarence and Christina (O'Brien) Ross, and is survived by beloved sister, Dr. Luella (Jim) Thomson; dear nieces, Coleen (Paul) McLachlan and Carolyn (Jeff) Cote, all of Toronto; cousins in both Nova Scotia and Massachusetts, and a wide circle of loving friends. Miriam received her Diploma in Nursing (R.N.) from the Victoria General Hospital, Halifax, in 1951. Intent upon serving the Lord as a medical missionary, she secured a B.A. (magna cum laude) from Gordon College in Boston in 1955. She subsequently studied at the Allan Memorial Institute of Psychiatry in Montreal, the Boston University School of Nursing (M.Sc.), and Bellshill Maternity Hospital in Lanarkshire, Scotland, where she was certified as a midwife. She served with the Canadian Baptist Overseas Mission Board in the Republic of Zaire as a staff nurse in rural hospitals, and as Director of the School of Nursing at the Institut Medical Evangelique in Kimpese, Zaire. In 1978 she earned her M.A. in Sociocultural Anthropology from the University of Washington in Seattle, followed in 1981 by her Ph.D. in the same discipline. For a number of years she was Assistant Professor in the School of Nursing at the University of Ottawa. Miriam received the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity from Acadia University in 1984, and in 1985 she made Wolfville her home and became the Hannah Maria Norris Associate Professor of Christian Missions and Social Issues at Acadia Divinity College, where she continued to lecture in Christian Missions until 2000. Miriam gave freely of her time and talents, serving on the boards of numerous worthy organizations including the Victorian Order of Nurses, Atlantic Baptist Senior Citizen's Homes Inc., the Institute of Pastoral Training, and the Acadia Centre for Baptist and Anabaptist Studies. Her faithfulness to her Lord was evident in the way she lived her life and in the way she exercised her gifts in her church, with longtime service on the boards of Deacons and Finance and as the president of the Women's Missionary Society. Miriam's family and friends hold a deep and abiding love for her and her strength, support and caring for them will be greatly missed. We who remain praise God for the gift of our Miriam who so steadfastly lived the love of the One in Whose presence she now dwells. Special thanks are extended to the members of the medical team of the CVICU at the New Halifax Infirmary for their compassionate care. Visitation will take place from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. today in Annapolis Valley Funeral Home, 34 Coldbrook Village Park Dr., Coldbrook. A celebration of Miriam's life will be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, February 17 in Wolfville United Baptist Church, 487 Main St., Wolfville, with Rev. Dr. Barry Morrison, Rev. Dr. Bob Berry, and Rev. Renee Clark officiating. Burial will take place in Mapleton Cemetery, Cumberland Co., at a later date. To further causes Miriam held dear, donations may be made to Wolfville United Baptist Church, Canadian Baptist Ministries, Acadia Divinity College, the Atlantic Division of Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship of Canada, or a charity of choice. On-line condolences maybe made through: www.annapolisvalleyfuneralhome.com "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain??_" John 15:16a