Local union president dies at 50
| Thursday, May 13 2010 06:06 PM
Last Updated Thursday, May 13 2010 06:08 PM
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Contributed photograph. Carmen Cruise, the president of SEIU 521, which includes 7,500 active members in Kern County, died Tuesday.
Carmen Cruise, president of Service Employees International Union, Local 521, died Tuesday at age 50.
Known for going out of her way to help anyone, even strangers, Cruise had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in early March, said friend Vicki Avila, who met Cruise through the union. Avila said Cruise remained strong to the very end.
"She knew the diagnosis and prognosis, and she faced it head on," Avila said.
Cruise was a registered nurse who spent 27 years caring for patients at Kern Medical Center, a union news release said. During the last few years, she worked in case management, assessing patients and managing every aspect of care of trauma patients at the hospital.
She also served for two decades in SEIU, and in February became the first elected president of Local 521, which stretches from Kern County to Yosemite and San Jose, the news release said. Cruise was active in the union, starting her own shop steward training and representing the workers at KMC by sitting on the steering committee of the Nurse Alliance of California..
"When Carmen spoke, she spoke the truth. You could tell there wasn't any deception," Avila said. "She was blunt, honest and a true leader."
Neighbor Jewel Hazelton said Cruise helped her husband after he suffered a heart attack more than a decade ago. Doctors said Hazelton's husband's time was up, but under Cruise's nursing he lived another two and a half years.
"She was a wonderful person and helped everybody," Hazelton said.
Born in Illinois on Dec. 29, 1959, Cruise received a degree in electrical engineering when 21 years old and worked for a short time in Alabama, the news release said. She dealt with sexism and racism and eventually left both the field and the state and pursued nursing.
Those experiences didn't break her spirit. Carmen Morales, a union board member, said in the news release that Cruise inspired others.
"I always felt so strong and empowered when we worked together on things," Morales said in the news release.
The union is planning a remembrance of Cruise at its annual party on May 21.
