With little fanfare, Marie Adeline Herron humbly stepped into history.

She was the first black American to graduate from the St. Francis School of Nursing at St. Francis Hospital on March 2, 1950.

Her achievement was quietly noted in newspaper graduation announcements and in church bulletins.

A greater legacy, say those who knew her, was that she lived life with dignity and compassion for others.

Mrs. Herron of East Liberty died of lung cancer Tuesday in West Penn Hospital, Bloomfield. She was 71.

She was a fine, dedicated person, said Mary Frances Jackson, a friend for 30 years.

At Magee-Womens Hospital, where Mrs. Herron worked as a nurse anesthetist, she was often requested by doctors and patients for the skill and caring bedside manner she brought to the craft of preparing patients for operations.

Mrs. Herron was born July 3, 1928, the younger daughter of Vassar and Adeline Johns. She grew up in the Homewood-Wilkinsburg area with her sister, Mary Elizabeth. She overcame a near-fatal illness as a child and went on to graduate from Westinghouse High School in June 1946.

After graduating from the St. Francis nursing school, she turned her interest to anesthesiology and, in 1954, became a certified nurse anesthetist through a program at Montefiore Hospital, now UPMC Montefiore. She carried those skills to Magee-Womens Hospital, where she worked for nearly 25 years.

In 1957, she married Clarence Benjamin Herron of Berea, Ky., and they had a son in 1958. She and her husband separated in 1963 and he died in 1995.

In the early ' 70s, Mrs. Herron joined the Brother's Brother Foundation, a local charity that assists international relief efforts. With the organization, she traveled to Central and South America and Haiti, inoculating citizens and educating residents on health care. During many of her international volunteer stints, she worked without the aid of an interpreter and had to pantomime instructions.

Midway through her nursing career, Mrs. Herron returned to school and earned a bachelor's degree in education from California State College, now California University of Pennsylvania. With it, she immersed herself in teaching, working part-time with the Community College of Allegheny County. She served as an anesthesia program director at the college, was appointed assistant professor of nursing in 1976 and was a full professor when she retired from the Homewood-Brushton campus in 1995.

Mrs. Herron also worked for the North Side campus, where she taught medical terminology and health.

Pam Moore, a secretary at the Homewood-Brushton campus, worked with Mrs. Herron for more than 15 years.

"She was like a mom to me," said Moore. "When I was having [relationship] problems, she held my hand and guided me through it."

Mrs. Herron's guiding spirit was also extended to her students. She offered them counseling, advice and individual attention.

"Students were very fond of her," said Moore, including her own daughter, who was tutored by Mrs. Herron to become a medical insurance specialist.

In addition to her son, Dr. Michael Keith Herron of New Orleans, Mrs. Herron is survived by a brother-in-law, William Berkley of Washington, D.C., and sister-in-laws Cecile Herron of Berea, Ky., and Imagard Herron of Aliquippa.