In Memoriam
The School of Nursing extends its sympathy to the families of former faculty members in appreciation for their loved ones' contributions to the School of Nursing.
Dr. Marcia Rachel
Dr. Marcia M. Rachel, former associate dean for academic affairs in the School of Nursing, died Sept. 26. She was 65.
A native of Picayune, Rachel graduated from Wingfield High School in Jackson and received her B.S.N. from Mississippi College. She served as a mental health nurse at St. Dominic Medical Center and as a home health nurse and received her M.S.N. in mental health nursing from the University of Southern Mississippi and her Ph.D. in higher education from the University of Mississippi.
Executive director of the Mississippi Board of Nursing, Rachel was a chief executive in UMMC’s hospitals and clinics. She was a nurse educator at the graduate and undergraduate levels in the School of Nursing, most recently as associate dean for academic affairs.
Rachel served as president of the National Council of State Boards of Nursing and president of the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools. She is a Mississippi Nurses Association Hall of Fame inductee.
Visitation was Sept. 29 at Brandon Baptist Church with visitation and funeral service Sept. 30 at Lakewood Funeral Home. Memorials may be made to the Brandon Baptist Church building fund.
Dr. Kathy Kolar
Dr. Kathy Kolar, a longtime professor of nursing at UMMC, died Sept. 12. She was 68.
A native of New Castle, Pennsylvania, Kolar grew up in Jasper, Alabama and graduated early from Walker County High School. She received her R.N.-B.S.N. from the University of Alabama Birmingham School of Nursing and began her career at Children’s Hospital and then at Brookwood Medical Center in Homewood, Alabama. She went on to earn her M.S.N. at UAB.
Kolar joined the Medical Center as a professor of nursing in 1977 and remained on faculty in the School of Nursing until her retirement in 2005. While at UMMC, she received her Ph.D. in nursing from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center.
After retiring from UMMC, Kolar worked at several private clinics, including two school-based clinics, before finally retiring in 2015.
A memorial service and internment took place Sept. 18 at Parkway Hills United Methodist Church in Madison. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Parkway Hills United Methodist Church or BSA Troop 164 at P.O. Box 1721, Madison, MS 39130.