Hester I. Thurston endowed scholarship

Kansas Nurse, Nov/Dec 2001

New Endowment Initiated in October

After a long battle with pancreatic cancer, Hester Thurston died on Friday, September 7, 2001.

Hester was born in Alexander, Kansas, spent most of her life in the Kansas City area. She earned her BSN degree from the University of Kansas, MPS from the University of Colorado and an Educational Specialist degree from the University of Missouri.

She served in the United States Navy obtaining the rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade prior to her carer as an administrator and nurse educator.

She taught at the Dominican School of Nursing at Great Bend, Kansas and Marymount College in Salina, Kansas, before joining the faculty of the University of Kansas Medical Center. While at KUMC, she established a nursing exchange program with University of the Philippines, taught in the graduate program, was Director of the Continuing Education program, and was appointed as the first Dean of the School of Nursing.

Hester served on the Kansas Board of Nursing, and was an active member of the Kansas State Nurses Association, American Nurses Association, and Sigma Theta Tau International. She also served as a consultant and site visitor for the National League for Nursing.

Among her many honors are: The Kansas State Nurses Association's Honorary Recognition and the University of Kansas Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching. She was the first nurse in Kansas to receive a Fulbright scholarship. She helped write the nursing curriculum for the University of Athens, Greece.

After three decades at KU, she retired as a Professor Emeritus in 1989. Following her retirement, Hester was an active volunteer at Turner House Clinic in Kansas City, Kansas.

In 1997 she received the Leadership in Aging Award from the Johnson County Commission on Aging. She continued to be actively working for the American Cancer society, The American Heart Association.

She leaves a legacy of excellence, leadership, integrity and Christian caring in the areas of nursing education and health care delivery. Countless lives are richer because of her genuine compassion, guidance and mentoring to others.