John Day resident Wilma Boyer shows the 40-year anniversary certificate she received recognizing her career as a certified surgical technologist.

JOHN DAY – Wilma Boyer says she was honored, and slightly shocked, to receive a letter of recognition for her achievements as a certified surgical technologist over the past 40 years.

The National Board of Surgical Technology & Surgical Assisting sent a certificate and lapel pin to mark Boyer’s milestone.

She began working for Blue Mountain Hospital as a nurse’s aide in May 1959, when the hospital was in Prairie City, and continued that work when BMH relocated to John Day in 1964.

In 1967, she asked for a transfer to the surgery department as a nurse’s aide, and in 1974 she received on-the-job training, then certification, as a surgical technologist.

She worked in that position until 1994, when she transferred to the purchasing department. She retired in 2003.

“It was interesting, and all my years there were a learning experience for me,” she said. “I enjoyed working with the doctors and all the nurses and surgery crew.”

She now lives in John Day, but at one time she commuted to the hospital in John Day from her home in Prairie City.

Boyer recalled the nights when she’d travel the 13 miles home, only to be called back to work, adding she raised four children.

She noted that when she became a surgical tech, the motto was “once certified, always certified.”

“I was totally surprised to receive such an honor,” she said.

She still works at the hospital, managing the auxiliary gift shop since 2007.

“It’s kind of home,” she said.