Bernita "B" Margaret Steffl, 95, passed away on May 28, 2016. B completed her R.N. degree at Ancker Hospital School of Nursing in St. Cloud, MN in 1942. After her Army Nurse Corps training in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, she joined the war effort and was stationed in Iran and Italy, where she nursed German POW soldiers; she returned to the states in 1946. In 1959 B joined the faculty at ASU, where she became a pioneer in gerontological nursing. She authored the first-of-its-kind "Handbook on Gerontological Nursing," which was widely used by universities across the nation. She spent a sabbatical working with a World Health Organization conducting health assessments in post-war Vietnam. B later received the Governor's Certificate of Merit for Service from the Governor's Advisory Council on Aging for her life's work. In 2007 ASU honored her legacy by founding the Bernita Steffl Professorship in Geriatric Nursing. Bernita is preceded in death by two of her siblings. She is survived by one sister, seven nephews and nieces and other relatives.