BCC Receives Largest Ever Donation, Honors Former Teacher
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| The plaque honoring Barbara A. Nichols will hang in the newly renamed nursing laboratories. |
PITTSFIELD — When beloved Berkshire Community College nursing professor Barbara A. Nichols died last October, the college community mourned the loss of one of its true gifts.
Now, Nichols' legacy of unwavering kindness and her commitment to nursing will live on at BCC with the announcement of a $500,000 donation to the college from her estate, the largest gift ever received by the school by a single donor. Used to both fund an annual scholarship to a nursing student and maintain a level of excellence for the BCC nursing program, the gift will be a lasting testament to a woman who loved nursing — and the Berkshires — passionately.
"The benefits that this half-million dollar gift will provide to both students and the community are enormous and will continue into perpetuity. The magnitude of the gift will ensure that BCC nursing students are always educated using the latest equipment available," said BCC President Paul Raverta during a news conference on Wednesday morning in the college's Susan B. Anthony Center.
"Current and future generations of BCC nursing who might otherwise have been forced to leave the program due to financial considerations will see their concerns reduced or eliminated."
Raverta also announced that the nursing laboratories at BCC will be named the Barbara A. Nichols Center for Nursing Arts, in memory of the professor's dedication and generosity. A plaque bearing a picture of the nurse and an inscription honoring her will be on proud display in the center.
<L2>A professor in the nursing program at BCC from 1967 to 1984 and awarded the Professor Emeritus status in 1989, Nichols was an educator known for her enthusiasm and fair strictness. Described as "patient, kind, encouraging, exuberant, happy-go-lucky and humble" by former student and a registered nurse Judy Bard, Nichols was not only a colleague but a friend to many at BCC.
"I envied her for being able to be content with the simple things in life," said friend and former faculty member Pat Fasce during a tearful and heartfelt reflection on Nichols' life and career. "Barbara had a wonderful, curious nature and she was able to get out of nursing and get into other areas. She loved BCC, loved the students."
"I really loved Barbara," Fasce said, choking up with emotion.
An artist and active community leader, Nichols was a Berkshire transplant who left her post as an assistant professor for Boston University's maternity and pediatric nursing program to come to what she later called "the greatest nursing program in the commonwealth," according to Patricia Brien, the department's former chairman.
"Barbara had a true interest in nursing and I'm so happy to see that her memory will live on," said Brien.
Nichols was born in 1919 in Boston, where she was raised by her foster mother, and attended Quincy schools. She graduated from Faulkner Hospital of Nursing in Jamaica Plain in 1939 and graduated cum laude from Boston University's School of Nursing in 1954.
Nichols' attorney and close friend Ralph Cianflone Jr. told the crowd gathered at the announcement that Nichols was "a grand woman, a stately woman, a first-class act" who would have loved nothing more than to see a scholarship help future nursing students.
"She would want to make sure that if there are students who need money and who want to be nurses that they have it," said Cianflone.
At the morning ceremony, Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs for Nursing, Health and Social Science Anna Gallo Foss presented the first scholarship to current student Emily O'Rourke, 36, of New Haven County, Conn.
"This award is an honor but it's also a little daunting to think about the shoes I have to fill. There's no room for slacking off. I have to give 100 percent," said O'Rourke, who relocated to Pittsfield specifically to attend the nursing program at BCC last year.
<R3>A former employee of Bristol-Meyers Squibb, a pharmaceutical company, O'Rourke made the dramatic career change after she had a mid-life epiphany.
"I had always been on the outskirts of nursing and one day, it just occurred to me. 'What am I doing? This is not what I'm supposed to be doing,'" she said.
O'Rourke has one more year of study at BCC and she said she plans to continue her education and earn a master's degree, although she isn't sure if she'd prefer to pursue a career as a nurse practitioner or a nurse anesthetist.
Though the college lost a close friend and colleague, Nichols' legacy can live on in anyone who learns to enjoy life as she did, said those who knew her.
"She always knew how to live in the moment," said Bard. "We all have to live in the moment as she did."
The inscription on the plaque reads as follows:
"A career nurse and nursing teacher, Barbara became the second member of the nursing faculty at Berkshire Community College in 1967 and retired in 1984. She received the BCC Distinguished Service Award and was granted the status of professor emeritus. Barbara lived a rich and full life, had many interests, possessed a curious intellect and displayed a playful sense of humor. She had a special place in her heart for her students and the BCC Nursing Program. Barbara's gift to the college is devoted to maintaining the integrity of the nursing program and establishing scholarships for future nurses."
