A Constant Through the Seasons - Celebrating Becky Campbell

In the lives of many fam­i­lies, there’s been one famil­iar, com­fort­ing pres­ence through count­less snif­fles, check-ups, first fevers, and grow­ing pains — Becky Campbell.

After more than 40 years ded­i­cat­ed to pedi­atrics, includ­ing 27 years with Quin­cy Med­ical Group (QMG), Becky, a nurse prac­ti­tion­er, is retir­ing. To the fam­i­lies she cared for, she has been more than just a health­care provider; she has become a cher­ished part of their extend­ed family. 

Her inter­est in nurs­ing began in 7^th grade with a school project on nurs­ing caps and pins. That sim­ple assign­ment, com­bined with the influ­ence of her cousin, a recov­ery room nurse, sparked a pas­sion that would define her life’s work.

That curios­i­ty quick­ly became cer­tain­ty — she knew she want­ed to be a nurse. ​“My deci­sion to be an RN nev­er wavered,” Becky said. After grad­u­at­ing from Bless­ing Hos­pi­tal School of Nurs­ing in 1978, she began her career work­ing evenings on the pedi­atric floor, the same place her moth­er-in-law, anoth­er key influ­ence, had started.

Even­tu­al­ly, with a grow­ing fam­i­ly of her own, Becky moved to day shifts. Yet even then, she kept her sights set higher.

“While my ​‘secret’ dream was to be a pedi­atric nurse prac­ti­tion­er, that was unheard of in 1978 in Quin­cy. So, I set­tled in as a staff RN,” she said.

Still, she couldn’t let go of that dream. Becky went on to earn her Bachelor’s of Sci­ence in Nurs­ing in 1990. ​“Declar­ing I was ​‘done,’ which turned out to be a lie,” she said. 

She went on to earn her Master’s of Sci­ence in Nurs­ing and Pedi­atric Nurse Prac­ti­tion­er (PNP) degree from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Iowa. To make this hap­pen, she drove 240 miles round-trip once a week for five years. ​“Yes, this was before online class­es,” she said.

In 1998, Becky joined QMG — though it hard­ly felt like a new begin­ning. ​“I had worked with the clin­ic pedi­a­tri­cians for years as a hos­pi­tal RN,” she said. ​“They just assumed I would come to QMG.” 

With Dr. John Weagly as her first col­lab­o­rat­ing physi­cian, she stepped con­fi­dent­ly into her new role with the same heart she’d always brought to her work.

“Shar­ing in joys, pro­vid­ing guid­ance and being there for tough times,” she said. ​“I have been here long enough that I now pro­vide care to a 2^nd gen­er­a­tion. That makes you feel old. When you take care of the kids of adults who used to be your patient.” 

Those moments — when a child tells their par­ent they want to see Becky, or a teen says they want to be a nurse because of her — are what she cher­ish­es most. ​“This is my ulti­mate feel­ing of giv­ing back and mak­ing a dif­fer­ence,” she said. ​“It feels like I’ve done what God designed for my life and I have hon­ored Him with the tal­ents He has giv­en to me.”

As she retires, Becky says she’ll miss the kids and fam­i­lies the most. ​“You become an ​‘adopt­ed grand­moth­er’ and become so con­nect­ed with the fam­i­lies. I love run­ning into fam­i­lies in the com­mu­ni­ty or read­ing about their accomplishments.”

But there’s joy ahead, too. She’s look­ing for­ward to spend­ing more time with her grand­chil­dren, explor­ing vol­un­teer oppor­tu­ni­ties, pick­ing up her cro­chet hooks again, and enjoy­ing some well-earned rest — with­out any late-night charting.

Thank you, Becky. For every moment, every hug, and every ounce of care — you’ve tru­ly made a difference.