The Greater Cleveland Nurses Association (GCNA) has continuously promoted the profession of nursing in Cleveland under various names since its founding on May 28, 1900 (incorporated in 1909). A group of nurses, wanting to raise the profession’s standards, to improve conditions for practicing nurses, to help furnish nurses to persons unable to pay, “to stimulate an interest in nursing affairs and to conduct a central registry” created a nursing association. The group soon became known as the Graduate Nurses’ Association. Of initial importance was the central registry, which provided both hospitals and private patients with trained nurses until it closed in 1974. Fifty-five nurses were on the registry after the first year. The early association received financial aid from the Isabel Hampton Robb Memorial Committee. I. H. Robb was a national leader in the nursing profession and a member of the Graduate Nurses’ Association until her death in 1910.
In June 1918 the association merged with the newly formed (November 1917) District Association #4 of the Ohio State Association of Graduate Nurses, which included the Cleveland area. Another group, the Visiting Nurse Club, also joined District #4 at this time. In 1921 the district filed new articles of incorporation as a non-profit organization, emphasizing education and increased efficiency in nursing care.
During the 1930s the association called for the establishment of a nursing division in the Ohio Department of Health and worked for proper salary and position recognition of nurses in public health and for an eight-hour day for private nurses working in hospitals. During World War II, GCNA worked with agencies such as the American Red Cross and the Ohio Council of Defense. After the war, and into the 1970s, the association established committees for nurses working in specialized areas – industrial nursing, nurse practitioners, cardiovascular nursing, and public health, and created a Psychiatric-Mental Health Practice Division (1971). In the 1970s and 1980s, the association increased its public-health awareness programs and advocated the rights of nurses in the workplace. As an example, in 1969 the GCNA passed a resolution supporting collective bargaining by nurses at St. Vincent Charity Hospital. The association has also supported legal action against employers who discriminate against nurses as women.
GCNA Presidents
before 1922 Mrs. Askue
1922 – 1924 Miss Hanna Buchanan
1924 – 1926 Miss Estelle Koch
1926 – 1928 Miss Edith Tunstead
1928 – 1930 Miss Marion Howell
1930 – 1932 Cora M. Templeton
1932 – 1934 Anna Gillis
1934 – 1936 Jeannie Jamison
1936 – 1938 Sue McCracken
1938 – 1940 Leona Fretter
1940 – 1942 Emma Seckel
1942 – 1943 Esta McNett
1943 – 9/1943 Margaret King (WWII armed services)
6/1943 – 1946 Carrie Lewis
1946 – 1949 Lydia Mueller
1950 – 1951 Marjorie A. Patten
1951 – 1953 Dorothy Malafa
1953 – 1955 Dorothea Burens
1956 – 1958 Clara Travers
1958 – 1960 Evelyn Barnes
1960 – 1963 Jean Haas
1963 – 1965 Olga Benderoff
1965 – 1967 Marian Bittman
1967 – 1969 Elizabeth K. Porter
1969 – 1971 Nancy Voelker
1971 – 1973 Donna Ballantyne
1973 – 1977 Judith Wood
1977 – 1979 Sandra Shumway
1979 – 1983 Sally Lambert
1983 – 1987 Judith Beeler
1987 – 9/1988 Patrice McCarthy
9/1988 – 1989 Catherine Mohney
1989 – 1993 Helen Foley
1993 – 1995 Sandra Groudle
1995 – 1997 Bette Idemoto
1997 – 1999 Kathleen Montgomery
1999 – 2001 Maureen Mitchell
2001 – 2003 Lynn Ahlers
2003 – 2005 Roberta Kordish
2005 – 2007 Diane Winfrey
2007 – 2009 Dorothy Hamilton
2009 – 2011 Carol Sams
2011 – 2013 Betty Freund
2013 – 2015 Mary Joyce
2015 – 2017 Khaliah Fisher-Grace
2017 – 2018 Gerry Pangrac
2018 – 2019 Judith Beeler
2019 – 2021 Meghan Ramic
2021 – present Penni Lynn Rolen
Executive Directors of GCNA
Paid Private Duty officers & staff ran the office until 1967
5/1967 – 1978 Donna Hughes
1978 – 1992 Gale Bromelmeier
1993 – 1996 Judith Moliterno
1996 – 2003 Patricia Divoky
2003—2018 Jeff Groth, Executive Assistant
2018 – present Carol Sams
