Standing on Their Shoulders
The life-changing legacy of great nurses
Edith Fowler Kuhn
Everyone’s lives have been touched by nurses. They are helpful, generous, and kind, much like our community of supporters at Washburn University.
This year, the Washburn University School of Nursing celebrates 50 years of equipping nurses to change the lives of others.
We also celebrate 50 years of compassionate support from alumni, faculty, students and friends who have helped generations of nurses gain the knowledge, experience, and insight needed to serve others, often in their time of greatest need.
“The idea of legacy is so ingrained in nursing,” Dean Jane Carpenter explained. “It’s a profession that has always been directly handed down from one generation to the next. And I would venture to say that every nurse is in this field because some other nurse inspired, mentored or supported them. It’s impossible not to be humbled and grateful to stand on the shoulders of so many great nurses that came before us.”
Edith Fowler Kuhn was one of those great nurses who inspired others. Kuhn’s lifetime of nursing inspired her daughter, Karen Zeller, ba ’70, to give back. In honor of Kuhn’s 95th birthday, Zeller established the Edith Fowler Kuhn School of Nursing Scholarship at Washburn through an outright gift paired with a planned gift commitment and an added boost from the “I Will for Washburn.” campaign.
“Patients just loved her,” Zeller says of her late mother. “She was compassionate and encouraging, and she always put the patient first, no matter what.”
A 1941 graduate of Topeka High School, Kuhn was moved by Pearl Harbor to want to help people, so applied to the St. Francis Hospital School of Nursing.
“She had never been in a hospital before, didn’t have money for tuition, and wasn’t Catholic,” recalled Zeller. “But the nuns accepted her anyway. She was told she could pay back whatever tuition there was after she graduated. So she joined the rest of the class at Saint Mary College in Leavenworth.”
Kuhn did graduate in 1944 and, for the next 40 years, worked as a nurse in and around Topeka while raising her family. She started in obstetrics but, over the years, branched out to a variety of specialties. At one time or another, practiced in every hospital in Topeka, from the psychiatric unit at the VA to helping orthopedic patients at Stormont Vail. Nursing, to Kuhn, was a true calling.
Zeller thought she might go on to be a nurse herself, but after arriving at Washburn, fell in love with English and secondary education instead. Still, Zeller knew her mother’s career was special and wanted to honor it. With her estate gift, Zeller has immortalized her mother’s caring for others.
Kuhn passed away just shy of her 100th birthday in 2023. In her final years, Kuhn treasured the thank you notes she received from students; it meant a lot to her that somebody was being helped on their way in her name.
Lanie Madison
For Lanie Madison, the Edith Fowler Kuhn School of Nursing Scholarship meant not only getting the best nursing education available but also starting her career of helping others for free.
“Receiving the Kuhn scholarship didn’t just help financially, it also felt like an encouragement,” said Madison, who transferred to Washburn after deciding nursing was the career for her.
One thing Madison loved about the nursing program here is the exposure to different specialties she received from great faculty role models.
“Each nursing professor has their own thing, their own passion and specialty to get you excited about,” Madison said. “You really wind up looking up to them so much.”
She also noted that Washburn gave her the opportunity to shadow or work at basically every hospital in Topeka, just like Kuhn had. That really helped clarify what she liked and didn’t like, and she gravitated toward psychiatry.
Madison graduated debt-free this December and recently started a new job she’s thrilled about as a psychiatric nurse at Cottonwood Springs, a mental health services and addiction treatment center in Olathe, Kansas.
She is enormously grateful to have had the support of the Kuhn scholarship and the nurses who came before her.
“Nursing school is hard, and it sometimes feels like the odds are stacked against you,” she said. “Knowing there are people out there who had my back gave me confidence and helped me find my place in the field. I am so grateful.”
“My mother was always very aware of the difference the generosity of individuals can make in the lives of people,” Zeller said. “It’s how she began her own career, going to nursing school without being able to necessarily pay. So it felt like a fitting way to honor her, to help other nurses get their start.”
Because, after all, helping people is what nurses do.
We would be honored to discuss how your love for Washburn can become your legacy. Please contact Erin Aldridge at 785.670.4483 or PlannedGiving@wualumni.org today to get the conversation started.
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