HOME        SEARCH

1929 Irma Dorothy Livingston

Born: Apr. 11, 1929 at Vallonia Springs (Afton), NY.

Died: Oct. 31, 2014 in Kennewick, Benton County, WA.

She is buried at Pleasant View Cemetery in Ford, WA.


Her father was 1898 Austin Thomas Livingston

Her mother was 1900 Norma Rose Pulis


One family story sent to me by my cousin Charles B. Woodruff has it
that his grandmother and my grandmother (Lulu Pulis and Norma Pulis,
sisters) were pregnant at the same time in 1928 and that both planned
to name their child "Shirley" if it was a girl...Charlie's mother was
born first and was named Shirley; and so my mother was named "Irma".

The photo at right above was probably taken in 1947 for her entrance
into nursing school in Binghamton, NY.  She graduated there in 1949.

Here is a newspaper item which talks about
the new class of nurses in 1947 at Binghamton City Hospital.

She was married Mar.  4, 1950 to 1929 Manville (John) Sherman, 
in Hancock, Delaware County, NY.

They had eight children together:

  1950 James Alan Sherman
  1952 Joan Arlene Sherman
  1953 Joyce Aileen Sherman
  1955 Joe Allen Sherman
  1958 John August Sherman
  1959 June Alice Sherman
  1960 Jerry Austin Sherman
  1962 Jesse Arden Sherman
  
They were divorced about 1970 in Missoula, Montana.

When she was growing up, Irma's family had owned a dairy farm in
Vallonia Springs, just outside Afton, NY.  One of their neighbors 
was the Merritt family, whose farm was located just across state
highway 41 from the Livingstons.  This is the Livingston family
farm which her father Austin bought from his father-in-law, Oscar
Mortimer Pulis.

Irma was a Registered Nurse and worked as such for most of her life.  
In 1950, she got her first job at Bergen Pines Hospital in Paramus,
New Jersey.  After that she worked at Binghamton General Hospital 
in Binghamton, NY. Later she worked at Community Medical Center in
Missoula, Montana.  In the 1980's she worked for two years as a 
nurse in Saudi Arabia.  After than she worked at Madigan Army 
Hospital at Fort Lewis in Washington state. 

Irma worked full-time or nearly so for almost her entire life, 
even while raising eight children.  I recall my Uncle Paul 
telling the story of how she once was driving home from work 
about 7:00 am (she nearly always worked the night shift), from 
Missoula to Lolo in Montana, fell asleep at the wheel and ran 
our 1949 Hudson Hornet off the road and rolled it over in the 
ditch.  Fortunately, she was not seriously injured.

In her later years, Irma was living in an assisted living home in
Nine Mile Falls, WA, near Spokane, WA.

The photo above was taken in between 1947 and 1949; she entered
nursing school in 1947 and graduated in 1949.

The photo below left was taken about 1939; the photo at right
was taken about 1942 or 1943.

The photo below center was taken in 1971 in Missoula, Montana.

The photo below right was taken about 1948 or 1949 in New York State.
I believe the man in this photo is a fellow student at the state
hospital, Cliff Isabella, but this has not been confirmed.

Here is a transcription of Irma's obituary.

Here is Irma's eulogy.


The photo at bottom shows Irma with her beloved soulmate and dear
friend of many years, 1936 Paul Emil Schaffner, in 2005 near Spokane, WA.
They were buried side-by-side at Pleasant View Cemetery in Ford, WA.