view . summer 2008
15
advancing the university
DONORS, SCHOLARSHIPS, SUPPORT
To Greater
Heights
THE CAMPAIGN FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF WINDSOR
The University of Windsor greatly appreciates the generous
support of its alumni, faculty, staff, students and friends.
The Marilyn Wilson Nursing Scholarships
at the University of Windsor celebrate the
life of Marilyn by saluting the importance
of the nursing profession and the nurse-
patient relationship.
Behind the scholarships is a story of
romance and friendship and the hope that
they will inspire and help people entering
the nursing profession.
“When the scholarship idea was
proposed to family, friends and business
associates, they all agreed to it instantly,”
says brother-in-law and professor emeritus
Dave Wilson BComm ’61. “We have been
thrilled with the response to it and are
looking forward to the first two scholarships
being awarded later this year.”
Marilyn (nee Pyne) was born in Nova
Scotia and received most of her education
there before moving with her family to Sri
Lanka (then Ceylon) where her father taught
fishery management. As she completed her
studies at the American School in Kodai
Kanal, India, Marilyn searched for a nurses
training program that would match her
interest in direct patient care nursing.
She found it at the (then) Metropolitan
Hospital in Windsor.
During her nurses’ training program,
a mutual attraction developed between
Marilyn and a patient’s son, Sandy Wilson.
Their marriage lasted almost 50 years.
During her illness Marilyn required a
diversity of medical and hospital care. That
care was greatly appreciated by her and
her family, though it was the quality of care
she and others received on the oncology
floor during her final hospitalization – in
the institution where she had trained – that
convinced the family of the importance of
direct patient-care nursing.
The Marilyn Wilson Nursing
Scholarships will help to bring care
and comfort to other people and their
families by supporting the education of
those who seek careers in direct patient-
care nursing.
Contributions to the Scholarship Fund
were made by friends, neighbours and
nursing and business associates, as well
as by members of her family, and were
matched by the Government of Ontario.
Future contributions to the Fund, which
also will be matched by the Government of
Ontario, will be used to increase the value
of the scholarships to offset inflation.
To award the scholarships as quickly as
possible, the earnings from the University’s
investment of the fund’s initial endowment
of $20,000 will provide for two annual $500
Marilyn Wilson Nursing Scholarships, one
to a student entering third year of the BScN
Program and one to a student entering
fourth year.
Nursing scholarships
MARILYN WILSON PERSONIFIED CARING NURSE-PATIENT RELATIONSHIP
Marilyn Wilson
