Stella Van Lingen, 84, nurse

Sinise Gould, a nurse's aide, had been taking care of Stella Luba Van Lingen for the last four years.

But Mrs. Van Lingen helped Gould during those years, too.

"She pushed me a lot, to do better for myself," Gould said from the Mechanicsburg, Pa., home of a Van Lingen daughter, Mia Oberosler.

Mrs. Van Lingen and Gould moved there this year from Mount Laurel, where Mrs. Van Lingen had lived since the late 1990s.

"She wanted me to further my education," Gould said of Mrs. Van Lingen.

And so, "I'm enrolled in school," Gould said, starting on the path toward earning a bachelor's degree in business.

"She was a very giving person," Gould said.

On Sunday, Aug. 23, Mrs. Van Lingen, 84, a former registered nurse at Cooper University Hospital who became a medical case manager for what is now the PMA Insurance Group of Blue Bell, died of respiratory failure at her daughter's home.

Born in New York City, Mrs. Van Lingen graduated from St. Michael Academy in Manhattan and became a registered nurse after graduating from St. Catherine's Hospital School of Nursing in Brooklyn in 1952.

She pursued further studies at the School of Nursing at St. John's University in Queens until marrying her husband, Leo, in 1957.

"She returned to nursing in 1974 at Cooper Hospital," daughter Jeannine Hart said.

Mrs. Van Lingen "worked on the medical-surgical floor" at Cooper, Hart said, until leaving in the late 1970s to become "a rehab nurse specialist in the insurance industry."

After working for a Philadelphia firm, Hart said, her mother in the 1980s joined the predecessor of PMA.

"She was on the road all the time," Hart said.

"If someone was injured - the catastrophic cases - they would send my mom to gather all the information" and, consulting with physicians, "come up with the best treatment plan for the clients' needs."

She retired in 1994.

Besides her daughters, Mrs. Van Lingen is survived by sons Robert and Michael, and eight grandchildren.

A viewing was set from 9 to 11 a.m. Friday, Aug. 28, at the Mount Laurel Home for Funerals, 212 Ark Rd., before an 11:30 a.m. Funeral Mass at St. John Neumann Church, 560 Walton Ave., Mount Laurel, with interment at Sacred Heart Cemetery, Hainesport.

Donations may be sent to www.globaldownsyndrome.org.

Condolences may be offered to the family at www.mountlaurelfuneralhome.com.

610-313-8134@WNaedele