Will Anne Ricer

Will Anne Ricer, 74, of Mountain Shadow Drive, Carlsbad, New Mexico, passed away October 11, 2011 at her home. A Memorial Service is scheduled for Wednesday, October 19, 2011, 11:00 AM, at Grace Episcopal Church with Father Rodney Hurst officiating. Following the service, interment will be held in Grace Episcopal Columbarium, Carlsbad, New Mexico. Denton-Wood Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements. Will Anne Ricer was born January 11, 1937 in Carlsbad, New Mexico to Werner William and Marianne (Fincher) Moeller. Will Anne married Dean Ricer on October 18, 1957 in Denver, Colorado. She began her nursing career in 1958, after graduating from St. Luke's Hospital School of Nursing and moved through a wide array of hospital-based nursing practice, including obstetrics, labor and delivery, surgery and emergency care. She also worked in a physician's office as a corporate nurse, in public health and as a nursing instructor. Throughout her career, Ricer found time to further her education, earning a bachelor of science with honors degree, a master of science degree in nursing and a master of public health degree. Will Anne is credited with being a "monumental force" in bringing the RN-BSN degree program to the NMSU campus at Carlsbad, emphasizing her lifelong philosophy that "education is the key to good patient care." She served on the Nursing Education Advisory Committee of the New Mexico Board of Nursing and was a presenter at National Nursing Conferences in Chicago, Denver and Pittsburg. Will Anne was a dominant force on the faculty at New Mexico State University-Carlsbad when the campus received its initial accreditation. "Each certification, each task, each student, each patient were afforded the best of Will Anne . . . the lives she has touched will be forever transformed and the impact of the scope of nursing is without boundary as each student she molded continues to carry on the practice of excellence in nursing." Will Anne liked to read and visit with friends. She enjoyed her travels to the Holy Land, Western Caribbean, Alaska, Germany, a Baltic cruise, Russia, Sweden and the Eastern Mediterranean. She was preceded in death by her parents, Werner and Marianne Moeller and brother, Ernest Moeller. She is survived by her husband, Dean Ricer of the family home; two daughters: Karen Ricer Pike of Big Spring, Texas, Wendy Ricer-Stanley of Carlsbad, NM; five grandchildren: Joshua Pike, Daniel Pike, Lindsey Stanley, Ashley Pike and Zachary Stanley and many others that knew and loved her. Honorary pallbearers will be "all the good friends she leaves behind". Memorial contributions may be made to Donna Markle Nursing Scholorship Fund c/o Carlsbad Foundation 114 South Canyon Street, Carlsbad, NM 88220, AAUW Scholorship Fund, attention: Roxanne Lara, 310 South Canyon Street, Carlsbad, NM 88220 or Grace Episcopal Church Memorial Fund, 508 West Fox Street, Carlsbad, NM 88220. Condolences may be expressed at dentonwood.com.