Registered Nurse

Mary M. Boland, a retired registered nurse and former Towson resident, died Monday in her sleep at HeartHomes of Lutherville. She was 97. Mary McHale, one of 12 children, was born and raised in Donegal, Ireland. In 1928, she immigrated to Baltimore and, five years later, married Patrick Joseph Boland. He died in 1949. Mrs. Boland became a U.S. citizen in 1951. The next year, she graduated from South Baltimore General Hospital School of Nursing. She was a nurse briefly at Union Memorial Hospital before returning to South Baltimore General Hospital.

Mary E. Rackensperger, a retired registered nurse, died of Alzheimer's disease April 18 at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. The Hamilton resident was 89. Born Mary Elizabeth Ferri in Smethport, Pa., and raised in Kane, Pa., she was a graduate of the Bradford Hospital Nursing School and moved to Baltimore in 1947, where she worked as a nurse at Johns Hopkins Hospital and served briefly at George Washington University Medical Center. She retired in 1984 from Sinai Hospital, where she had been on the nursing staff for 30 years.

Aurora M. Denisch, a retired registered nurse and active churchwoman, died of respiratory failure Thursday at the Oak Crest Village retirement community in Parkville. She was 71 and formerly lived in Lutherville. She was born Aurora Marilou Copeland in Miami and was raised there and in West Palm Beach, Fla. She was a 1955 graduate of the Jacksonville Memorial Hospital School of Nursing and took psychiatric training at Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital in Towson. In 1956, she married Dr. David A. Denisch, a Baltimore dentist, and worked for several years as an obstetrical nurse at the old Hospital for Women of Maryland before joining her husband's dental practice.

Aleene M. Euler, a retired registered nurse and former longtime Glen Burnie resident, died of renal failure April 24 at Harmony Hall, a Columbia assisted-living facility. She was 94. The former Aleene Mercuri was born and raised in Keyser, W.Va., the daughter of Italian immigrant parents. She was a 1934 graduate of the old St. Joseph Hospital School of Nursing and began her nursing career in the hospital, then on Caroline Street. She was head nurse at Union Memorial Hospital at the time of her 1940 marriage to Harry Bartels Euler Jr., a warehouse manager.

Sallie M. Sigismondi, a retired registered nurse, died of undetermined causes May 26 at her longtime Catonsville home. She was 77. Sallie Marie Gravely was born and raised in East Fork, N.C., and attended Brevard College in Brevard, N.C. She was a 1956 graduate of the old Sinai Hospital School of Nursing in Baltimore. She began her career at Sinai and later worked at Catonsville-area nursing homes. Mrs. Sigismondi was on the staff of what is now the state's Spring Grove Hospital Center when she retired because of a work-related injury in 1979.

Hilda G. Belcher, a retired registered nurse and avid sports fan, died of heart failure Monday at Union Memorial Hospital. She was 99 and a longtime resident of the Roland Park Place retirement community. Born and raised in Chesterfield County, Va., the former Hilda Goode had a private school education and completed nurse's training in 1927 at Petersburg Hospital in Petersburg, Va. That year, she married Eugene Paul Belcher, an organist who was a choirmaster at churches in Annapolis and Washington.

Pauline "Bunny" Oshrine, a registered nurse who worked for nearly 30 years at Sinai Hospital, died Tuesday of chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder at Northwest Hospital Center. She was 69. The longtime Pikesville resident was born and raised Pauline Bunkin in Birmingham, Ala. After graduation from high school, she studied nursing at the old Sinai Hospital School of Nursing, then on East Monument Street. After earning her bachelor's degree in 1954, she joined the staff of the hospital.