Tom Shirk

During my freshman year at K State I met my wife Kathleen while she was a freshman at St. Mary’s College. Unfortunately, for my college aspirations, I lacked funds and began working full time while taking night college classes. Kathleen and I married in the spring of 1970 following her graduation from Washburn University with at a B.E.d in Elem Ed. Though Kathleen was a teacher I found myself married into a family of nurses and became interested in pursuing that profession. Shortly after graduating from Stormont-Vail School of Nursing in 1974 I was commissioned an Ensign in the US Navy Nurse Corps. My first duty station was Naval Regional Medical Center Long Beach. Next assignment was Naval Hospital Lemoore where I was selected for the Navy’s return to college program. In 1983 I completed a BSN degree at the KU Med Center campus. Other assignments took me to Portsmouth Naval Hospital, Millington Naval Hospital, USS Nimitz CVN 68, and Bremerton Naval Hospital. I deployed with the Marines on the USS Guadalcanal, LPH-7, for the MARG-1-86 Med Cruise and made a West Pac cruise in 1991 while serving on the USS Nimitz from 89 to 91. I retired from the US Navy in 1995 with the rank of Commander and later worked as a civilian at Naval Hospital Bremerton. I retired summer of 2015 after 13 years Federal service.