Jacqueline "Jackie" Polite, 59, died on May 28, 2020, following a brief yet intense struggle with cancer. She had a successful career first in spiritual leadership and education, and then returned to college to pursue a nursing degree. In 2012 she graduated from Edgewood College at the top of her class and was awarded the School of Nursing’s highest honor, the Mary Kelly-Powell Award. She was hired at UW Hospital where she found great fulfillment in serving others through her work as a registered nurse transplant coordinator who cared for liver and kidney transplant patients following their transplant surgery.

The Jackie Polite '12 Memorial Nursing Scholarship Fund, created shortly after Jackie’s passing, has supported four Edgewood College nursing students in its short history, and we hope you will help us by making a gift so that we may offer this scholarship again next year.

Fund history
Jackie’s friends and co-workers chose to celebrate her life by creating this fund to support the education of our future nurses. One of her patients, Rudy, invited his friends and family to celebrate the “new life” he was afforded by his transplant surgery by making additional gifts to the fund. Rudy’s friends and family have renewed this scholarship fund each year since then.

With your continued gifts, the fund will award one or more scholarships again next year to Edgewood College undergraduate nursing students with a preference for a returning adult student who is following in Jackie’s footsteps to pursue a second career and is interested in specializing in organ transplants or procurement.

Thank you to the many alumni, colleagues, friends and family who have contributed to this special scholarship fund. Your outpouring of love in Jackie’s memory and in celebration of Rudy’s new life has made a significant difference for our Edgewood College nursing students as they prepare for careers of compassionate care for our communities.

Please use the form below or Rudy’s flier to make a gift in honor of Jackie’s legacy and support our Edgewood College nursing students with their education.