Jane P. Stewart, nurse in WWII

Jane Pickell Stewart, 87, a World War II veteran of the Army Nurse Corps, died of congestive heart failure Tuesday, June 15, at Atria Woodbridge Place, a retirement community in Kimberton, Chester County.

Commissioned into the Nurse Corps in November 1944, she served at Army hospitals in LeHavre and Metz, France, before being transferred to hospitals in the Philippines and in Japan.

Born in Kinston, N.C., Mrs. Stewart graduated from Flemington (N.J.) High School in 1940 and from the nursing school at Philadelphia General Hospital three months before becoming a Nurse Corps officer.

After returning to Philadelphia, she married, raised seven children, and was a member of the Germantown Hospital Women's Auxiliary and the Young Republicans of Pennsylvania.

The Stewarts moved to Limerick, Montgomery County, and Mrs. Stewart became a nurse at Phoenixville Hospital, retiring after 25 years in 1995. A hospital publication reported that she helped establish the telemetry section of the coronary-care unit.

Her husband, John Stewart Jr., was a state representative from Philadelphia in 1959-60 and an assistant state attorney general from 1967 to 1971.

In 1971, Mr. Stewart bought the Collegeville weekly newspaper, the Independent and Montgomery Transcript, and was its editor and publisher while continuing as a lawyer.

Mrs. Stewart is survived by sons John III, Michael, James, and Robert; daughters Suzanne Stewart-Lamb, Jane DelRossi, and Kathleen Gorski; a brother; 11 grandchildren; and a great-granddaughter. Her husband died in 1997.

An informal gathering for family and friends was set for 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday, June 27, at Atria Woodbridge Place, 1101 Rapps Dam Rd., Phoenixville.