By By SPIROS GALLOS / Niles Daily Star
NILES - The Berrien County Cancer Service celebrated a milestone birthday of one of its original members Thursday.
Olove Colcord celebrated her 90th birthday among friends and family at a surprise luncheon held at the Millennium Steakhouse.
Olove was the Berrien County Cancer Service's first and only visiting nurse when the service was founded in 1948. Olove was the only visiting nurse on staff for four years until the service added another nurse.
When Olove retired from the service in 1982, she became a member on the service's board of directors and continues to volunteer for the service even today.
In addition to serving on the board of directors for the Berrien County Cancer Service, Olove is also active with the Business and Professional Women of Niles.
Olove also volunteers at Love Inc., an organization which helps disadvantaged people throughout the area, which is located at the First Presbyterian Church, 13 S. Fourth St.
Olove Colcord was born in Niles on Sept. 30, 1914. After graduating from Niles High School in 1932, she went to work for Simplicity Pattern Company to earn money to put herself through nursing school.
Olove vividly recalled that time in 1920, when she was six and had a ruptured appendix.
She was rushed to the hospital in St. Joseph, where she met the woman who would have an influence on her entire life, a woman simply known to Olove as Nurse Koontz.
In 1934, Olove attended Eppworth Nursing School in South Bend, Ind., which is now part of Memorial Hospital of South Bend. She graduated in 1937 and began her career in nursing.
Olove was a registered nurse in California and Michigan City, Ind., before moving back to Niles in 1948, to take the nursing position with the Berrien County Cancer Service.
Olove responded to the ad and became the Berrien County Cancer Service's first traveling nurse.
In her first year as a nurse, Olove saw eight patients on a regular basis and ran 179 programs throughout the year.
The service, a first of its kind in the area, offered public educational programs, cancer awareness, and home visits for cancer patients.
Olove was married to Chalmer Colcord for 53 years, when he died in November of 2003.
In 1954, the service separated itself from the American Cancer Society, which the service had been affiliated with since it's inception, due to a difference in policies.
Surrounded by friends and family, Olove reflected on what the Berrien County Cancer Service means to her.