Vicky S. Brookhouser Memorial Endowed Scholarship

After recovering from a battle with breast cancer, nursing student Vicky Brookhouser was heading towards a new beginning and a promising career. Vicky was known by family and friends as someone who saw herself for who she was, remained focused on the needs of others and who was always able to laugh at herself. Unfortunately, however, she learned just three weeks before graduation that her cancer had returned. Discouraged, but determined, she completed her degree, started a career at Via Christi-St. Francis and remained a committed mother to her two teenage sons while she underwent cancer treatments. Despite remarkable efforts to continue on, she passed away in June 1997.

To honor her strength and selflessness, Naomi Werne, an instructor and clinical educator in the school of nursing, developed the idea to name a scholarship for her. Contributions from supportive faculty, friends and students were combined with those of Vicky’s parents, Esther and Howard Koehn, to create this scholarship for non-traditional female nurses like herself. Ms. Koehn feels her daughter would be touched and honored that ‘she was thought of that much.’