While the nation paid tribute last week to Jackie Robinson, Margaret McMurray remembered one of her former nursing students -- Rachel Isum Robinson.

The wife of the late baseball great -- and perhaps the second most important person in shattering the game's racial barriers -- graduated from the UCSF School of Nursing in 1945.

McMurray, who taught psychiatric nursing courses at UCSF in the World War II era, listened to President Clinton praise Rachel during last Tuesday's ceremonies commemorating the 50th anniversary of Jackie Robinson's entry into major league baseball, and she watched Rachel's interviews on network television. The poise, intelligence and compassion of this distinguished woman were reminiscent of the young honor student whose special qualities impressed McMurray in the 1940s. "She was superb student -- very, very bright," says McMurray. "And she was the most beautiful nurse in that school."

Rachel, who met Jackie Robinson in 1940 and married him one year before he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, was breaking down some barriers of her own in those days. There were few, if any, African-American students in the baccaluareate nursing program then, says McMurray. "Rachel Isum was soft-spoken," she says. "She chose her times to speak up in class carefully, and she was clearly conscious (of the pressure) to respond with intelligence and knowledge."

In addition to teacher and a psychiatric nurse, McMurray served as "house mother" to nursing students, including Rachel, at a temporary dormitory annex in the new Langley Porter Institute on Parnassus Avenue. McMurray remembers a handsome young man in military uniform -- surely Jackie Robinson, she says -- who would come to the dorm entrance calling for Rachel.

The period was a turbulent one worldwide, and it was also an era of change for academic nursing. Nursing schools, operating often under the direction of medical programs, were charged with turning out nursing corps in the war years. At UCSF, the School of Nursing led by its dean Margaret Tracy became an independent school in 1939, and it fought to institute academic programs that differed from some of the traditional, hospital-based programs. Community, public health and psychiatric nursing programs, for example, were also emphasized, says McMurray. Rachel Isum entered UCSF during that period of change in academic nursing, she says.

McMurray lost track of Rachel after she graduated in 1945, although she did know that Rachel did move to New York and marry Jackie Robinson one year later. More a fan of Rachel Robinson than of baseball, she did follow Jackie's baseball career and triumphs.

A few years ago, while watching Ken Burns' acclaimed series on the history of baseball she heard the narrator describe Jackie's bouts with depression as he was the target of racial hatred and that he credited "his wife" for surviving that period. McMurray believes it was more than a strong and determined woman supporting her mate during a difficult time, but also Rachel's intellect and training that enabled the couple to conquer the psychological issues.

In an interview Friday, McMurray did not know whether Rachel was ever able to pursue a nursing career. A check of the Robinsons' biographies shows that after Jackie retired from baseball and with their children grown, Rachel returned to school and earned a masters degree from New York University. She was a psychiatric nurse at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, the director of nursing at Connecticut Mental Health Center, and a faculty member in clinical psychiatry at the Yale School of Nursing. Today, she chairs the Jack Robinson Development Corporation, which provides housing for more than 1,300 low and moderate income families in New York, and she participates in numerous charitable and human and civil rights efforts.

Margaret McMurray was proud of Rachel Isum 52 years ago. She is prouder today.

-- Andy Evangelista

1st appeared 4/21/97