DOROTHY’S N U R S E S Benefactor Remembers Wife through Gifts to Nursing Program
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very year, like clockwork, Richard Miller, a farmer from Denton, Kansas, makes a trip to the Benedictine College campus to hand deliver a check to invest in the Dorothy (Joyce) Miller Nursing Scholarship. He times his visit with the annual campus Discovery Day, so he can witness first-hand the impact his scholarship is making in the lives of future nurses. At the 2016 Discovery Day Symposium, Miller made his way around the student poster exhibits in the Ferrell Academic Center and listened to senior Melissa Ott explain her research on the “Effects of Perinatal Hospice on Mothers” and senior Molly Minnis describe her “Assessment of Women’s Health Knowledge.” “Every student I meet makes me remember my wife when she was starting out as a nurse,” said Miller. “I get a lot of satisfaction out of dedicating a scholarship to my wife.” As a licensed registered nurse, Miller’s wife, Dorothy Lucile (Joyce) Miller was extremely devoted to her patients. She practiced orthopedic nursing for several years in several different states including Missouri, California, Texas, Illinois, and Kansas. She retired in 1996 after 41 years of nursing. Dorothy passed away in 2005, after a long illness due to unknowingly contracting Hepatitis C during the early stages of her career. “The death of my wife was several years before the nursing program started at Benedictine College,” said Miller. “My daughter suggested we take the memorial gifts and add to them to start a new scholarship at the college.” The Dorothy (Joyce) Miller Nursing Scholarship was the first nursing scholarship established for the Benedictine College Department of Nursing. Last year it provided an award of close to $2,000 for a nursing student. “As small as my contribution is to the student’s tuition, they are always so appreciative,” said Miller. “I feed it every year to get the principal high enough to provide a larger scholarship.”
Miller’s four children, Barbara “Barb” Holder ’79, Richard “Rick” ’80, Patrick “Pat”, and Deborah “Deb” Van Laar ’83, attended Benedictine College. Despite the fact that his children graduated more than 30 years ago, Miller still feels at home on the Benedictine campus. In addition to attending the Discovery Day Symposium in April, Miller returned twice more to meet the incoming student nurses during the department’s open house, and again during commencement weekend to celebrate with the graduating nursing class at their pinning ceremony. “It is so good to see young faces entering the nursing field,” said Miller. “They are so cheerful when you come around for a visit that it just draws you back to the campus.”
Nursing Program benefactor Richard Miller had the chance to meet some of the incoming nursing students who will begin the program in their junior year during Fall 2016. Pictured from left to right are Katherine Rich, Miller, Sydney Wolf, Brittany Bosarge, and Ann Marie Guernsey. Editor’s Note: As this story went to press, Richard Miller passed away. He will be greatly missed, but his legacy will live on in his Raven family of nurses.
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