Genevieve Durand Siers Memorial Scholarship

Genevieve Durand was born the youngest of four children in Chicago, Illinois, on December 28, 1920. After graduating from Immaculata High School, she started her nursing studies at St. Anne’s Hospital Nursing School in Chicago, including floor work at the hospital. During WWII, she served in the Cadet Nurse Corps for several months in 1944.

We believe that Gen was the first in her family to pursue higher education. Unfortunately, before she was able to complete her studies she withdrew from the program so she could care for her mother and then her father at the end of their lives.

Gen worked and volunteered for a variety of organizations, including the Catholic Guild for the Blind. She married Ambrose Siers in 1964, and in 1965 gave birth to her first and only child, Judith. Once she became a mother, she stayed home to raise her daughter. Sadly, she was diagnosed with lung cancer in fall of 1981 and passed away on March 5, 1982, at the age of 61.

We are establishing this memorial scholarship on the centenary of her birth in order to support nursing students at Madison College. Preference will be given to first generation college students and to students of color.