Dr. Donald and Mrs. Marjorie Meredith of Mankato, who in 2005 gave Minnesota State Mankato its largest single scholarship gift, have donated an additional $375,000 to endow nursing scholarships in the School of Nursing.
The Dr. Donald and Marjorie Meredith Nursing Scholarship Endowment was announced recently by President Richard Davenport.
Their latest gift brings the total amount donated by the Merediths to Minnesota State Mankato to well over $1 million. In 2005 they gave more than $700,000 to fully endow the Meredith Scholars program for promising science and mathematics students.
The renewable, $3,125 Meredith Nursing Scholarships will be awarded to nursing students in the fall and spring semester of each year. Recipients will continue to receive the scholarship until they complete the five-semester nursing program. Three students will receive the scholarships each semester.
High-achieving undergraduate students enrolled in the School of Nursing are eligible for the awards. Recipients must have a 3.5 grade-point average and must demonstrate a well-balanced lifestyle, leadership abilities and commitment to the nursing profession. Recipients will have opportunities to participate in undergraduate research, peer mentoring, tutoring and other School of Nursing activities.
The first recipient will be selected this fall, and will receive the Meredith Nursing Scholarship for spring semester 2008.
“Dr. and Mrs. Meredith continue to set the standard for scholarship giving at Minnesota State Mankato,” Davenport said. “Their Meredith Nursing Scholars endowment will help to correct a critical shortage of baccalaureate trained nurses, and will allow dedicated nursing students to pursue their studies without the distractions of outside jobs.”
“The Merediths’ 2005 gift to the College of Science, Engineering & Technology is benefiting students for generations to come, and their School of Nursing endowment will do the same,” he added.
Both Meredith endowments are intended to allow scholarship recipients to focus on their studies without working at part- or full-time jobs.
Dr. Meredith co-founded Mankato’s Orthopaedic & Fracture Clinic, PA, with Dr. Paul Gislason in 1957. He and Dr. Gislason served as Minnesota State Mankato’s first athletic team physicians, and helped the university create what is now the nation’s oldest, continually accredited athletic training education program in the nation.
Dr. Meredith was raised in Valley City, N.D. After serving as an infantryman in the U.S. Army’s Second Division from 1945-’47, he attended college at Valley City State University, the University of North Dakota, and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO. He completed his surgical residency in the University of Minnesota Orthopaedic Surgery program.
His wife, the former Marjorie Rabe, was raised in Dickinson, N.D., and attended Stephens College in Columbia, MO. She graduated with a degree in dietetics from the University of North Dakota, where the couple met.
They have been married for 55 years and have five children – Janet, Nancy, Don II, Bruce and Barbara – and 13 grandchildren.
At Valley City State Dr. Meredith was a member of the state championship golf team, and in 1995 was inducted into the university’s Viking Hall of Fame. At UND he was named to the All-Decade basketball team from the 1940s, and received the Sioux Award from the UND Alumni Foundation.
Though retired, Dr. Meredith continues to provide health-care services by volunteering during the winter as a physician at the Gila Indian Reservation in Arizona.
In addition to golfing, he is an avid fisherman and hunter. Mrs. Meredith is a master gardener, and both have volunteered with numerous Mankato area civic groups.
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