A point of personal privilege, please. Last week, the Georgia Board of Regents officially approved the Jane J. Yarbrough Nursing Fellowship at the Wellstar School of Nursing at Kennesaw State University: Jane J. Yarbrough, the beloved woman who shared my name.
This is no small thing.
When fully operational, the fellowship, along with a nursing scholarship in her name, will fund tuition, books, and fees for non-traditional students — meaning those seeking a second career — to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and provide the resources for faculty to advance nursing education and research at KSU.
Longtime readers of this space know her story because I’ve shared it several times, but I will share it with you all one more time. She grew up in the dark ages when young women were encouraged to become secretaries, get married, have babies, and leave the business world to the guys. This, despite being a straight-A student in high school, a member of the National Honor Society, and possessed with a great love for medicine, particularly nursing.
She dutifully stayed home and raised two kids while her husband began climbing the corporate ladder at Southern Bell, eventually landing him a stint in Washington, D.C.
I cannot point to an “Aha!” moment at which this occurred, but upon our return home, it was decided that with our two children away at college, it was time for Momma to scratch that itch and head off to college herself; to Kennesaw State, to nursing school – in her 40s.
To say it wasn’t easy is an understatement. First, there was algebra. (If any of you nurses are reading this and using algebra in your daily duties, would you let me know how? And why?) Fortunately, her friend and neighbor, Jane Hoover, was a former math teacher who successfully tutored her through the course.
Also, one particular instructor was convinced she was too old to undertake the pressures of the nursing profession, and she was discouraged at every turn.
(I hope she is reading this.) It didn’t work. She persevered, thanks to her intelligence, tenacity, and family support, and her dream came true.
The former stay-at-home mom became a nurse. A registered nurse.
After earning her degree at KSU, she worked briefly as a registered nurse in the hospital before embarking on a rewarding career as an occupational nurse for Delta Air Lines.
In addition to her nursing duties, she was the family bookkeeper, banker, shopper, chef, organizer, wife, mother, and grandmother. And she excelled at all of them.
She was exceedingly modest, kept a low profile, and was more than willing to boost mine. At the risk of sounding trite, she was the wind beneath my wings. It was painful to see her slowly slip away, unable to remember names and places. I had always assumed that with my pedal-to-the-metal lifestyle, I would go first.
Of course, things don’t always work out the way we plan.
One plan that did work was her family’s decision to honor her journey from a young wife who put her dreams aside for her family to someone who dared to go to college, get her degree, and then go on to a career at a time when many of her contemporaries were winding theirs down.
So, what better to do that than to go back to the place that changed her life, Kennesaw State University and the Wellstar School of Nursing? And what better way to honor her than by helping those who seek a career change with the desire to join the nursing profession? Where there is such a critical need?
The Jane J. Yarbrough Nursing Scholarships will allow deserving students to do just that.
More than that, the Jane J. Yarbrough Fellowship will allow a chosen faculty member to examine issues ranging from improving teaching skills to enhancing relationships with local hospitals to researching how to attract more people to enter the profession and remain a part of it.
The Beloved Woman Who Shared My Name would be slightly nonplussed at all the attention she is getting.
But it is deserved. She will make a positive difference for generations to come, just as she did while we had her with us. Rest in peace, Jane Yarbrough, RN.
You have earned it.
You can reach Dick Yarbrough at dick@dickyarbrough.com or at P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta, Georgia 31139.