Elizabeth Sager Sharp

Elizabeth Sager Elizabeth Sager Sharp, a retired professor in the Schools of Medicine and Nursing at Emory University, died in Atlanta, Georgia, on February 7. She was a pioneer in the field of nurse midwifery and a former national water skiing champion. She was 82 years old. Dr. Sharp was a leader in establishing the Emory University Nurse-Midwifery Program and the Grady Memorial Nurse-Midwifery Service. She held faculty appointments in the Schools of Medicine, Nursing, and Public Health at Emory University. Dr. Sharp was Director, Nurse-Midwifery Service at Grady Memorial Hospital from 1070 to 1990. She devoted her life to women's health services and to nurturing and mentoring future generations of nurse-midwives. Dr. Sharp graduated from the Low Heywood School, Stamford, Connecticut; the University of Michigan 1958;the Yale School of Nursing 1959;and the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, where she received her doctorate in 1969. From 1973-75 she was the president of the American College of Nurse-Midwives and chaired a national ad hoc Committee to Revise the Code of Ethics for the practice of nurse-midwifery. She founded the Yale Young Mothers' Program, which provided special services to adolescent mothers, starting a long relationship between midwifery and the needs of teen mothers. She was an early supporter of expanding the role of nurse-midwifery to the provision of family planning. She received the Hattie Hemschemeyer Award from the American College of Nurse-Midwives in 1999. Elizabeth Sharp was born in Columbus, Indiana. She spent her childhood years in Indianapolis, and Stamford, Connecticut. The daughter and granddaughter of Presbyterian ministers, she told nursing students that being of service to others gave her life purpose. She recalled knowing as a little girl that she wanted to be a nurse, but only after a stint as a hospital nurse in Holland, Michigan, did she discover her vocation in midwifery. As a student and faculty member at the Yale School of Nursing, she also did field work in public health in New York City. Elizabeth's lifelong love of the beaches of Western Michigan grew from childhood summers spent in a family cottage in Macatawa, Michigan, where she joined a group developing the sport of water skiing in the United States. In 1948, Liz swept the National Junior Girls' category, taking first place in overall, tricks, and jump. In later years, Liz was an avid boater in her classic mahogany Chris Craft, the Queen Mary, with her beloved Jack Russell Terrier Scipio beside her. Elizabeth was also a lover of classical music and an enthusiastic supporter of the Atlanta Symphony. She was a member of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Atlanta. She is survived by her brother Alexander Sharp and sister-in-law Margaret O'Dell; two nieces, Lydia Sharp Schinsky and Joanna Sharp Brown; two nephews-in-law, Mark Schinsky and Brendan Brown; and three great-nieces, Julia and Nora Schinsky and Grace Brown. A memorial service will be held at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Atlanta on March 14 at 2 p.m. Her family requests that donations in her name be made to the A.C.N.M. Foundation, Inc. and/or to the Elizabeth Sharp Scholarship in the School of Nursing at Emory University.