Political Quotes

“the University of Vermont's College of Nursing has so much of which to be proud. My wife, Marcelle, who serves on the college's advisory board, recently showed me a touching article about Barbara Tennien Murphy. It speaks so much to the value of nurses and the education they received in Vermont, just as Marcelle did. I ask unanimous consent that this article, which was published on the university's website last year, be printed in the Record. There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows: UVM Nursing Through the Decades: 1940s Taking the Lead: Barbara Tennien Murphy '47 In June 1947, the first students to achieve a bachelor's degree in nursing from the University of Vermont crossed the lawn in front of the Waterman Building to accept their diplomas. Of the 267 students graduating UVM that day, only two were in the new five-year nursing program: Ruby Sanderson of Winsted, Connecticut and Barbara Tennien, of Pittsford, Vermont. At 92 years old, in the year of her 70th college reunion, Barbara Tennien Murphy '47 reflected on her time at UVM with fondness and gratitude for being part of something important. Few women attended college in the 1940s and most nurses lacked academic degrees. ``You didn't even need a high school diploma to become a nurse. A bachelor's degree for nursing was very new,'' Murphy said. ``Getting a degree wasn't a big deal to me, but there weren't a lot of choices (for women).…”