Kathleen McBean

 83, was a nursing student  during London Blitzkreig; later worked at Mayo Clinic, volunteer was named to Lake Regional Hospital Foundation board

Kathleen (Katie) Carter McBean, 83, of Silver Spring, Md., formerly Lake Ozark, Mo., died of complications related to cardiovascular disease on June 9, 2009 at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring. 
She was born July 16, 1925, in Whitehaven, Cumbria, England, to George G. and Ivy F. Carter.
Mrs. McBean graduated from St. Bartholomew’s School of Nursing in London, England in April 1948. 
During her four years of training (1944-1948), she endured German V1 and V2 rocket attacks on London and evacuation of some of the patients to safer outlying areas. 
Following graduation she also trained as a midwife before returning to St. Bartholomew’s to work as a surgical nurse. 
Being venturesome, she was sponsored and immigrated in 1950 to Rochester, Minn., where she worked as a surgical nurse at St. Mary’s Hospital, affiliated with the Mayo Clinic.
She married Dr. James B. McBean, a physician at the Mayo Clinic and a widower with three daughters, in 1950. While pregnant with her first child, Dr. and Mrs. McBean planned a trip to England so her English relatives could meet her husband and new family. 
The ticket reservation made for their unborn child became national news, as it was the first time an undelivered child was booked on a transatlantic flight.  The result was photo coverage of the family’s departure in the New York Times, Chicago Tribune and the Rochester Post Bulletin.
She was sworn in as a United States citizen in 1953.
Mrs. McBean was an active volunteer throughout her life.  In Rochester, she was proactive in establishing the Pre-school Vision and Hearing Screening, along with her husband, an ENT surgeon. 
During the ‘60s and ‘70s she served as the Area Representative for American Field Service student exchange for southeastern Minnesota.  Many AFS students were the beneficiaries of her hospitality and her counseling.
She was a committed member of the St. Mary’s Hospital Auxiliary, and was instrumental in establishing the first gift shop in the hospital.  As a result of her endeavor, she was asked to serve on the hospital’s Board of Trustees from 1975-1979.
When her husband retired from the Mayo Clinic in 1979, they moved to Four Seasons, Mo.  There, she continued her volunteer work serving on the Board of the Lake Regional Hospital Foundation, assisting with fund raising. 
She also pursued her two favorite hobbies as a member of the Arrowhead Garden Club and the Newtimers/Oldtimers book club. Along with other members of the Newtimers/Oldtimers group, she successfully lobbied members of the Missouri legislature to pass laws to improve boating safety on Lake of the Ozarks.
She moved to the Riderwood community in Silver Spring in 2005.
Her husband preceded her in death in 1991.  A daughter, Dorothy Jean Moore, died in 1981.
She is survived by her children Anne Rosseisen of Houston, Texas, Liz Lostumbo of Potomac, Md., Margaret Thompson of Oklahoma City, Okla., and James McBean of Cockeysville, Md.; 11 grandchildren,  20 great-grandchildren; and a sister, Shiena Polehn of Medford, Ore.
Memorial contributions can be made to Lake Regional Hospital Foundation or AFS-USA (American Field Service student exchange) Office of Development, One Whitehall St. 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10004.