Anna Crogan, of Baldwin Borough, had a passion for nursing and was often personally requested for duty during surgery by doctors at Magee-Womens Hospital during her 40-year career there.

Her son, Jim, of Los Angeles, recalled she once volunteered to tutor a friend's daughter who failed to pass the nursing exam for her license. She spent the next eight weeks working with the young woman until she passed the test. She was pleased when the woman later got a master's degree.

In addition to working as a nurse anesthetist, she taught nursing anesthesiology at Magee. The hardest thing for her to do was to decide to retire when she realized she wasn't as good at her job as she used to be, her son said.

Mrs. Crogan, 81, died of cancer Feb. 16 at Oakleaf Personal Care Center, a block from her home in Baldwin Borough.

She grew up in Hazelwood, as did her husband, James W. Jr., who died in 1990.

Mrs. Crogan served as first lieutenant and nurse in India during World War II. She told her children about seeing the Taj Mahal. She said she'd never eat hot dogs and baked beans again because she had to eat them every day for six months.

She had graduated from St. Francis Nursing School in 1943. She went back to college in later years to obtain a bachelor of science degree in education from California State College, now California University of Pennsylvania. She graduated in 1979.

Pamela Hazelwood, of Valley Head, W.Va., a friend, recalled that Mrs. Crogan visited her at Magee and held both of her sons after their births before she did. "She was a sweet woman," she said.

Besides her son, Mrs. Crogan is survived by daughter, Joann Boland, of Baldwin Borough, and sister, Louise Crogan, of Castle Shannon, who married her husband's brother, and two grandchildren.

A Mass was celebrated Saturday at St. Albert the Great in Baldwin.