Dona Haney was a 70-year-old woman at the time of interview, which took place at Plantation Estates in Matthews, North Carolina. She was born in Phoenix, Arizona in 1946. She was educated at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where she earned her B.S. and M.S. in Nursing; the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she earned a Certificate in Nursing Education; and the University of Indiana, where she earned a Postgraduate Certificate in Online Education. She was employed as a nurse and director of quality management at Charlotte Memorial Hospital, Infection Control nurse at the Carolinas Medical Center Mercy Hospital, and faculty member at the Mercy School of Nursing. Lynn Dobson was a 71-year-old woman at the time of interview. She was born in Mooresville, North Carolina in 1946. She was educated at UNC Charlotte where she earned her B.S. in Nursing in 1970 and a M.Ed. in 1975 and was employed as a Staff Nurse at the Carolina Medical Center in Charlotte, faculty member in Pediatric Nursing at UNC Charlotte, Coordinator of Family Support Services at Presbyterian Hospital Cancer Center in Charlotte, Clinical Coordinator of Hospice of the Foothills in Seneca South Carolina, and Health Consultant in the Oconee County School System in South Carolina. Margaret “Peggy” Patton was a 71-year-old woman at the time of interview. She was born in Ithaca, New York in 1946. She was educated at Niagara University where she earned a B.S. in Nursing, State University of New York at Brockport where she earned an Ms.Ed, and Russell Sage College where she earned an M.S. in Nursing and was employed as a nurse and faculty member at UNC Charlotte School of Nursing. Elinor Caddell was a 94-year-old woman at the time of interview. She was born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1922. She was educated at Charlotte Memorial School of Nursing where she was in the first graduating class, and Duke University School of Nursing where she earned an M.S. in Nursing Education in 1960, which was also the first graduating class. She was employed as a nurse at Charlotte Memorial Hospital; and as a faculty member at Duke University School of Nursing and as a founding faculty member of UNC Charlotte School of Nursing. Jacqueline “Jackie” Dienemann was a 76-year-old woman at the time of interview. She was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1941. She was educated at Mount St. Mary’s College in Los Angeles California where she earned a B.S. in Nursing, and at Catholic University of America in Washington D.C. where she earned both an M.S. in Psychiatric /Mental Health Nursing, and a PhD. in Sociology. She was employed as a nurse in Los Angeles and Washington D.C., and as a faculty member at Columbia Union College, George Mason University, Johns Hopkins University, Georgetown University, and UNC Charlotte. Joyce Lowder was a 75-year-old woman at the time of interview. She was born in Caretta, West Virginia in 1941. She was educated at the Presbyterian Hospital School of Nursing and at Queens College in Charlotte North Carolina where she earned a Diploma in Nursing and B.S. in Nursing respectively, Emory University in Atlanta Georgia where she earned a M.S. in Nursing, and the University of Nebraska at Omaha where she earned an M.S.W. She was employed as a professor of nursing at the Gaston Memorial Hospital School of Nursing, UNC Charlotte, East Tennessee State University, and the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Ann Mabe Newman was a 74-year-old woman at the time of interview. She was born in Galax, Virginia in 1940. Dr. Newman received her diploma in nursing from the University of Virginia before completing a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from UNC Charlotte. She went on to obtain a master’s in nursing from UNC-Chapel Hill and a doctorate in nursing from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She was employed as an associate professor in the College of Health and Human Services School of Nursing at UNC Charlotte.
Dr. Ann Newman, and Dona Haney organized this interview as part of their research into the history of the UNC Charlotte School of Nursing in preparation to write and publish a book to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the school in 2018, (Ms. Bonnie's Nurses: The First Fifty Years of UNC Charlotte's School of Nursing History.) The interview includes seven individuals who had significant roles either as administrators, teachers, and/or students at the school. Interviewees recall the formation and development of the school from 1965 to the current time of the interview, and discuss ways in which the school has benefited the Charlotte community. In addition to Dr. Newman and Ms. Haney, other speakers include Elinor Brooks Caddell, Lynn Brown Dobson, Joyce Ann Lowder, Margaret M. Patton, and Jacqueline Dienemann. Topics discussed include the introduction and significance of the baccalaureate degree in nursing, which coincided with the foundation of the nursing school at UNC Charlotte; the involvement of UNC Charlotte nursing students and teaching faculty in providing and structuring healthcare for the homeless in Charlotte, (Center Health Services, which expanded to serve the Safe Alliance Center for the Battered Women's Shelter); and numerous anecdotes about personal and humorous experiences with the nursing program.
