Germanna honors Dean Gilkey with scholarship fund

The Germanna Community College Educational Foundation has established a scholarship fund in Mary Blessing Gilkey’s honor.  She passed away in June at age 55 after a long battle with an autoimmune disorder.

Dean Mary Blessing Gilkey

 During Gilkey’s time as dean of nursing and health technologies at Germanna, she oversaw the doubling of the program’s size.

  Dr. Patti Lisk was named to the post in July.

  Germanna celebrated Gilkey’s life during an event Thursday at the college’s Daniel Technology Center in Culpeper.

 During the event, Lee Kirk, President and CEO of Culpeper Regional Health System, said that when Gilkey succeeded Jane Ingalls as dean,  the college already had “an excellent nursing program. She raised it higher.”

 Germanna President David A. Sam called her “a force of nature” who made good things happen. He noted that even during her final days, she was texting friends and colleagues from her hospital bed to ask how they were doing. “She couldn’t stop being a nurse,” Sam said.

Donations to the Mary Gilkey scholarship fund may be made online. They may also be made by mail. Checks should be made out to the Germanna Community College Educational Foundation with “Mary Gilkey” in the memo and sent to GCCEF, Germanna Community College, 2130 Germanna Highway, Locust Grove, Va. 22508.

Please join us in a celebration of Dean Mary Blessing Gilkey's life Aug. 8

Please join us in a Celebration of Life in remembrance of Mary Blessing Gilkey, M.S.N., PMHCNS-BC, Germanna's Dean of Nursing & Health Technologies, to be held at 7 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 8, at the Daniel Technology Center, 18121 Technology Drive in Culpeper. The event is open to the public.
For more information, please email pshifflett@germanna.edu.

When she was a first grader, Haleigh Funk helped her dad beat cancer, and he helped her learn about compassion and courage . That set her on a path to a nursing career that continues with a walk in Germanna's Spring Commencement

Haleigh Funk

Her father’s battle with cancer started Haleigh Funk on her way to becoming a nurse.
“My dad had cancer when I was in the first grade,” Funk said. “And he let me inject shots into his stomach. Since then, everybody has said I ought to be a nurse.”
Funk’s father, 47-year-old  Brian Funk, recovered and is doing well. But Haleigh Funk didn’t forget the experience.
At 18, she completed  Germanna Community College’s  Practical Nursing program at Eastern View High School in Culpeper and became an LPN.
At 19, she graduated from Germanna’s Registered Nursing program on Thursday, May 8 at the Fredericksburg Expo Center.  A total of 562 students were to receive 981 associate’s degrees and certificates.
 “The sky  is the limit for this talented young woman,” Germanna  Dean of Nursing and Health Technologies Mary Gilkey said.
 “It’s definitely been a journey, and there’s been a lot of hard work,” Haleigh Funk said. But it’s been rewarding.”
 She hopes to work at Culpeper Regional Hospital, plans to eventually get her bachelor’s degree and would like to specialize in geriatric nurse.