Known as “Miss EMS” to many, Margaret Elaine Wedding of Indian Head died June 5 at home. She was 83.
A charter and founding member of Charles County Mobile Intensive Care Unit Station 60 in 1978, Wedding was honored in November when the mobile unit’s station was dedicated in her honor.
Wedding was born in Spartanburg, S.C., and grew up in the South. A member of the Brownies and Girl Scouts, Wedding was a member of the original Mickey Mouse Club, according to her obituary.
When she was 12, Wedding and her brother lost their parents, as reported previously in the Independent. She graduated from high school at 16 before enrolling in the Rutherford School of Nursing. She joined Casualty Hospital as an emergency room nurse in 1949, and spent 11 years working and studying to earn a bachelor of science in nursing.
An active member of the Maryland Emergency Medical Services with her husband, William Wedding, Elaine served for more than 45 years.
“I have loved the opportunity to be in a position to try and help others,” she said in a November article in the paper. “I have been extremely blessed by every encounter I’ve had over the many years serving my community.”
She earned the first associate applied science degree in emergency medical services at the age of 66 in 1997 from Charles County Community College. In 1999, Wedding was awarded the Josiah A. Hunt M.D. or EMS Person of the Year Award, the highest award for an individual in the Maryland Emergency Medical Services Community.
The medical intensive care unit established the Elaine Wedding Rookie of the Year Award in 2009. According to her obituary, Wedding obtained her paramedic certification in spring 2015, and was the oldest paramedic in the state of Maryland.
Bill Smith, public information officer for the Charles County Volunteer Firemen’s Association and the Charles County Association of Emergency Medical Services, said Wedding was “everybody’s grandmother,” and everything she requested for her funeral was done.
“It was a very beautiful and moving service,” Smith said. Doves were released at Nanjemoy Baptist Church cemetery while a poem was read, and, as is done for all EMS, police and fire personnel when they die, a last call was announced for Wedding over the radio.
Wedding was the longest living paramedic in the county, Smith said. Until a year ago, Wedding remained active as a paramedic.
In a story about the dedication of the Charles County Mobile Intensive Care Unit Station 60, Wedding said she was happy to be an integral part of the CCMICU.
“I thank God that he put me with the CCMICU for the remaining years of my journey. I fought the good fight. I finished the race,” she said.
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