Annual scholarship awarded to honor the memory, work of a dedicated nurse

Posted

GONZALES — The Hannah Siepmann Deschner Scholarship was started to honor the memory and work of Everett Deschner’s mother Rosa Johanna Gertrud Siepmann.

Siepmann was born August 27, 1898 in Monthalia, Texas. Her childhood heroine was Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing. When the time came, Siepmann elected to become a nurse, despite family and community objections and being told “nice girls do not do that sort of work.”

Seipmann received her nursing certificate from Physicians and Surgeons Hospital Training School for Nurses, in San Antonio and went on to pass the state board examination to become a registered nurse.

Seipmann's cousin, Walter A. Sievers, went into medicine and was a beloved Gonzales doctor for many years. Today, the Gonzales Healthcare Systems Clinic is named for him.

Since Seipmann and Sievers made their contribution to medicine many other family members have gone into the medical field. Siepmann started that tradition and now it continues outside the family as the scholarship is available to persons living in Gonzales and surrounding areas interested in obtaining nursing credentials , such as Registered Nurse, Nurse Practitioner, or a Bachelor of Science in Nursing.

In 2017 recipients of the Hannah Siepmann Deschner Scholarship were: Nina Autry, LVN; Haley Leopold, RN; Chelsea McCauley, nursing student; Cerena Michalec, ER Nurse; and Kristin Schuette, LVN.

Autry, Leopold, Michalec and Schutte are all currently employed by Gonzales Healthcare Systems.

The scholarship is awarded annually by the GHS Foundation. The application for the 2018 Hannah Siepmann Nursing Scholarship will be May 18, 2018.

Comments