An Impression to Last for Generations
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One of Don Colley’s earliest memories is watching his mother accept her diploma from UVA School of Nursing with his baby brother Scott. It was 1944, the year the United States and allied troops invaded Normandy, while back home in Charlottesville, Lottie Pugh Colley took her place among the remarkable women joining the ranks of professional nursing.
“She was an impressive person, and a trailblazer,” said Don. “At that time, women generally were not working outside of the home. But she had drive, and she persisted.”
That personal drive led Don and Scott, and later their brother Rob, to become independent as well. Don learned to cook as the brothers pitched in on domestic tasks, and the boys came to see their mother's nursing and medical colleagues as a second family.
“She was a role model for all three of us,” said Rob.
“She was focused and cared deeply about what she was doing,” added Don.
Today, Lottie Colley’s focus and drive persist in UVA’s School of Nursing, thanks to the Colley Class of ’44 Scholarship created by Don, Scott, and Rob.
“The scholarship is a wonderful way to remember her, and to have her remembered, by providing funds for new nursing students and by strengthening the profession through education,” said Don. “Mother was a teacher, as well as a nurse. In her day, a nurse always worked with a doctor, helping them, but guiding them too.”
“The nurses had everyday experience,” Rob added. “And the really good ones were instructors, teaching the new doctors.”
Going forward, Lottie Pugh Colley’s dedication to nursing will be renewed year after year by the generations of students who will follow in her path with support from the scholarship bearing her name.
In addition to the nursing scholarship, Don has made provisions in his estate to support UVA Health programs in cardiac research, hearing loss, and Alzheimer’s disease research.
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Left to right: Don, Scott, and Rob Colley.
“These are all areas that have been important to me at various times in my life in relationship to health issues that have impacted members of my family,” said Don. “My way of remembering them is to help others in the future.”
“All three of us—Don, Rob, and I—have similar motivations,” added Scott. “What we have, we don’t own. We pass it on.”
With that passing on comes more opportunities for future generations of nursing students and the possibility of life-changing breakthroughs in cardiac, hearing, and Alzheimer’s research. No doubt the woman who held her sons close through her nursing career would be touched by the commitment she inspired in them—and by the ways her dedication to service still resonates across UVA Health.