DELIA O'HARA

Delia I. O'Hara On July 15, 2012, Delia I. O'Hara died peacefully at age 70 at her home and that of her husband in Oakland. She had been employed for the past 14 years as a nurse practitioner in the peri-operative unit at Kaiser Permanente's Oakland Hospital. Delia lived an amazingly full and active life. She was a tower of strength and support within her immediate and extended families and for her colleagues at work. She touched the work of fellow nurse practitioners and other health care professionals throughout the nation and elsewhere in the world. She was a respected and beloved member and leader of her church and of the professional and service organizations to which she belonged. She selflessly reached out with love and compassion to many communities and countless individuals in need of her expertise and helping hands. She brought the full measure of her vast skills and leadership, and her buoyant and forceful personality, to all of the meaningful projects and tasks that she undertook, each time immersing herself totally and making a critically important contribution to the effort. She influenced and made better the lives of innumerable people both at home and abroad. She has left an enduring legacy of dedication, service and loving devotion that will live on forever in the hearts and minds of those who were fortunate enough to know her and who came to love her so deeply. Delia was born and grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, where in 1960 she graduated from Walnut Hills High School. In 1965, she received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing from Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts, and in 1975 she earned a Certificate as a Family Nurse Practitioner from George Washington University in Washington, DC. In 1987, she also received a Juris Doctor Degree from Howard University School of Law in Washington, DC. Residing in the District of Columbia, Delia was employed as an attorney by the Federal Trade Commission, specializing in health care issues, and later was engaged in the private practice of law. She also worked for several years as a nurse practitioner at the Washington Hospital Center. She was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, and was very active in that organization's affairs. While residing in the District of Columbia, Delia also drafted and advocated enactment of a Nurse Practice Act for the District, which granted independent practice authority to nurse practitioners. Subsequent to the Act's adoption, she served on the District of Columbia's Board of Nursing. In 1998, Delia and her husband moved to Oakland, California, where she became employed by Kaiser Permanente. She also became a very active member of St. John's Episcopal Church in the Montclair District of Oakland. Delia was invited to join the Board of Directors of the Friends of Ruwenzori (FOR), a charitable organization in the East Bay. FOR sponsors and supports a regional hospital and an AIDS Clinic in Kitojo, a village near the Ruwenzori Mountains in rural, far western Uganda, Africa. In addition to general medical care, FOR provides detection, treatment, counseling and vocational services. Besides fund-raising, Delia was deeply involved in all of the activities of the foundation. She twice visited the facility in Uganda on volunteer work missions. Delia is survived by her husband, Herbert G. Johnson, and her sister, Gail Thomson, both of whom reside in Oakland, and by her three sons. Robert resides in Lafayette with his wife Colleen and Delia's grandson Seth, and her granddaughter Mary resides in San Francisco. Matthew resides in San Francisco with his wife Sofia. William resides in Los Angeles. All will miss her immeasurably. A memorial service to which family and friends are warmly invited will be held at St. John's Episcopal Church, 1707 Gouldin Road (a right turn off Thornhill Drive) in the Montclair District of Oakland, on Saturday, July 28 at 2p. In lieu of flowers, charitable contributions may be sent to the Friends of Ruwenzori Foundation, 8 Altamount Drive, Orinda, CA 94563.