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Like many a nontraditional student, James "Jim" A. Dobbs Sr. juggled school, work and family during his collegiate days at Wichita State. He enrolled in WSU’s College of Health-Related Professions in the early 1970s, after 18 years working as a nurses’ assistant at the Veteran Administration Hospital in Wichita.
According to a student profile in the 1976 Parnassus, he had been encouraged to attend college by a VA nurse who was “pushing education, and she felt I had what it took.” As a senior, in addition to a full course load, he worked 24 hours a week in clinical training in medical institutions across Wichita and maintained his job at the hospital.
He also felt pressure as a returning student, competing with “students who have spent all their lives going to school,” and the mixed reactions of friends and neighbors, some of whom were “amused” by his decision to further his education.
Despite these challenges, Dobbs enjoyed his studies. “Nurses are doing things that doctors used to do, and still do,” he told the Parnassus. “We learn to palpitate the liver, to listen to bowel sounds — to be more independent.” After graduation, he became a staff nurse at the Bob Dole Veterans Center, from which he retired.
Jim Dobbs died May 17 in Wichita.
