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Gift to MSU College of Nursing honors alumna, helps students
April 28, 2005
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Yvonne Jurkovich Wilson
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MSU University News April 06, 2005
More scholarships and fellowships will be available to nursing
students at Montana State University thanks to a $500,000 gift
honoring a Red Lodge native who graduated from MSU with a nursing
degree in 1946.
Robert A. Wilson gave the gift in memory of his wife of 46 years,
Yvonne Jurkovich Wilson, who died in 2002. The gift will
establish an endowment known as the Jurkovich-Wilson Family
Memorial.
The endowment is the largest gift the college has received.
Income from the endowment will provide undergraduate student
scholarships and graduate student fellowships to students
pursuing a degree from the College of Nursing.
"She was a wonderful nurse and person," says Wilson of his wife.
"All her professional life she was a teacher and mentor to the
younger nurses. After I lost her I thought, 'What can I do?' I
wanted to do something to honor her and at the same time help as
she had helped in her lifetime. There's such a shortage of
nurses, I hope this will help encourage some young people to go
into the profession. It's my privilege to do this. "
Jurkovich was the daughter of Yugoslavian immigrants. Her father
was a coal miner at Washoe near Red Lodge. After graduating, she
spent many years working in hospitals in Burlingame and San
Mateo, Calif. near San Francisco.
"This wonderful gift from Mr. Wilson is one that will give over
and over," says College of Nursing Dean Elizabeth Nichols. "The
income from this endowment will support graduate and
undergraduate students for many years to come. His generosity is
greatly appreciated, and will ensure the memory of his wife, one
of our graduates, lives on. "
Contact: Elizabeth Nichols (406) 994-3784, Rick Jackson (406)
994-4882
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