Women's Services

June

On June 27, 1933, pessimistic doctors instructed J. Victor and Mary Leifson to feed their infant daughter from an eyedropper and return in ten days if she survived. She did, but her severe cleft palate resulted in many childhood surgeries, a speech impediment, and a determination to succeed.

This determination saw her through three rejections to nursing school, followed by difficult speech therapy, before she was accepted into BYU's nursing program on provisional status. She succeeded at school, graduating with BYU's second-ever nursing class.

Her life then took her first to Hawaii, where she practiced nursing and started a branch Primary of 55 children; then to Japan, where she served a full-time mission in war-torn Hiroshima and Osaka; and finally back to Utah, where she taught at the University of Utah and earned a Ph.D. in family studies at BYU.

Professionally, June served 40 years in teaching, nursing, and administration. Of her remarkable teaching, one student said, "She made each of us aware of our potential. . . . She allowed no . . . limitations on herself, so how could any of us hide behind a personal limitation?" As dean of the College of Nursing, she implemented faculty research and increased scholarship funds. Past president of the Utah Nurses' Association, June now serves on the Board of Directors of the Utah Valley Regional Medical Center.
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WSR

June