May 12—CANTON — On the eve of Mother's Day, one Canton mother celebrated her daughter becoming part of a long-standing family tradition.

Mary Elizabeth Lobdell became a nurse Thursday afternoon at SUNY Canton's Registered Nursing Pinning Ceremony.

She is one of many in her family to choose the profession. Her mom is a nurse — Amy Jo Throbahn works for the Veterans Administration. Her great-grandmother Anna Marie Lobdell was a nurse who retired from E.J. Noble Hospital in Canton when she was 85.

She has two great aunts, Martha Mallette (Lobdell) and Barbara Barnett (Lobdell), who were nurses. Of course, she has some aunts who are nurses; on the Lobdell side are Barbara Kirby, Patricia Jacobi, Carol Stevens, Karen Bulsiewicz, and Frances Ann McCarthy. On her mother's side, there is Margaret Reamser and Roxanne Houle.

Oh, and her cousin, Sara Young, is also a nurse.

"Most of them graduated from Canton," her mother said shortly after the pinning ceremony. Ms. Throbahn is one of the Canton grads in the family. She was at the top of her class in 1997.

Miss Lobdell went to St. Mary's in Canton and graduated from Hugh C. Williams in 2020.

"I am really excited for her," Ms. Throbahn said. "She is such a sweet girl."

Miss Lobdell said all the nurses around her inspired her to enter the profession.

"I used to love sitting at the dinner table and listening to their wild adventures," she said.

She said she was in the eighth grade when she decided to follow the family tradition.

"I didn't have a doubt in my mind," she said.

She took to nursing fast, her mother said.

"Her first semester, she started talking like a nurse," Ms.Throbahn said.

Miss Lobdell noticed a change too.

"It is so nice to know what she (her mother) is talking about," she said.

Miss Lobdell has been working as a nurses aide at Canton Potsdam Hospital. She will begin working as a nurse this summer while working online to earn her bachelor's degree from Chamberlain University.

Miss Lobdell said the nursing program at Canton was a lot of work but worth it, if only for the friends she made.

She said she made six study friends who have become extremely close in two years.

"I didn't know any of them coming in," she said.

In the Pinning Ceremony Program, each graduate had an opportunity to send a message.

Miss Lobdell's was: "A huge thanks to my family and friends for the endless hours of helping me study and all the support and love along the way. I absolutely could not have done it without you. Love you all."