On behalf of her late husband, Alfred H. LaParche, Gladys C. LaParche (Hap) established the Evette LaParche Freeman Nursing Scholarship in memory of their daughter, Evette.

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Captain Evette Freeman (a graduate of the University of Oklahoma College of Nursing) served in the U.S. Air Force as a member of the Pacific Air Force (PACAF) Aeromedical Evacuation System.  As a Flight Nurse on the C-9A “Nightingale” plane, she assisted in moving patients from a Southeast Asia station to adequate medical facilities near their home base or to the regional hospital at Clark Air Base in the Philippines where she was stationed during the Vietnam War.  She also participated with the airlift of Vietnamese orphans from Saigon (Operation Baby Lift).

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It was during a routine training exercise the Evette was seriously injured in a fall.  Despite 46 surgeries, being in constant pain and experiencing physical limitations, Evette always wore a smile and never complained.  Ultimately, the injuries took her life on January 15, 1998 – she was 46 years old.

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Her mother, Hap, said Evette had always wanted to be a nurse. Her favorite gift every Christmas was a nursing kit.  “There is no better way to remember Evette than to provide a way for others to reach their dream of becoming a nurse – a dream that Evette herself achieved.”

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