Honorees

← Back to directory

Year Honored
1999
Honoree
Melissa Wittry
Agency
Sioux Valley Hospital Intensive Air
Agency City
Sioux Falls
Agency State
SD
Last Call
8/20/98
Cause of Death
Medical Aviation Accident
Biography
Melissa "Missy" Wittry was happy whether she was caring for people in emergency situations or for animals on the Kenneth, Minnesota farm. "She had a lot of energy. She was always ready to go to work," said Brett Wittry, her husband of 11 years. "She had such wonderful nursing skills and people skills. She could make people feel so much at ease. We were really pleased to have her as part of our team," said Chief Flight Nurse, Kay Boik.<br /> <br /> "Missy" Wittry, 36, joined Sioux Valley Hospital in September, 1984 as a part-time nurse in the critical intensive care unit where she worked nine years before leaving to help her husband on their farm. She had also worked at Luverne Community Hospital and Luverne Community Hospice Center. Mrs. Wittry had returned to Sioux Valley Hospital in 1996 where she worked in the emergency department. She became a flight nurse and made her first air transport in May of 1996. One of her first flights was to help victims of the Spencer tornadoes of the same year.<br /> <br /> Melissa Wittry lost her life in a helicopter crash, while in the line of duty, on August 20, 1998. She is survived by her husband, Brett Wittry, her parents, Peter and Marcella Reuter, five brothers, Ken, Jerry, Bob, Chuck and Steve Reuter, three sisters, Karen Guntzel, Paulette Posch, and Mary Lou Ericson.<br /> <br /> Honored 1999