Michigan Nurses Foundation - Margaret Louise Miller Leipold RN Scholarship Fund
Established in memory of Margaret Louise Miller Leipold, RN, by her daughters, Nancy Leipold and Becky Sue Baldwin, to honor Margaret's life and contributions to the nursing profession.Margaret was the youngest of five children and raised during the Great Depression. After graduating from high school in Bradford, Pennsylvania, in 1943, she began seeking out jobs in her hometown in order to pay for nursing training.
Knowing how important becoming a nurse was to Margaret, her older sister, Eilen, decided she would pay for Margaret to receive the appropriate training. Margaret was accepted into the diploma program at Bradford General Hospital, graduated in 1946, and immediately began working at the hospital in order to pay Eilen back.
Margaret continued working after marrying but became a stay-at-home mother after the birth of her children.
After moving to Michigan in 1965, Margaret returned to nursing so her daughters could have their college educations without taking out student loans. She worked at Borgess Medical Center for 18 years, and had the privilege of working with both of her daughters (who also became registered nurses) for a short time.
After Margaret left the nursing profession to retire for good this time, Nancy approached her mother about setting up a scholarship in her memory. Margaret was honored.
“The reason for the scholarship is two-fold,” Nancy said. “The first is to thank her for being an exceptional person and honor the influence she had on the young nurses she mentored. Second, we all wanted to make sure we could help young people who want to become nurses but don't have the funds available. Our family has a long legacy of creating nurses through financial self-sacrifice, and this scholarship honors that commitment.”
Scholarship recipients will be chosen by the Michigan Nurses Foundation. Scholarships will be presented to one community college nursing student beginning their second year of education.