The nursing community lost 3 remarkable women, who died in December 2007 and February 2008. All were known as “Living Legends” of the American Academy of Nursing (AAN) during their lifetimes. This honor from AAN is in recognition of the most stellar fellows who epitomize nursing's proud history and serve as role models for all of us. These women were honored as Living Legends in recognition of the multiple contributions these individuals have made to our profession and our society and in recognition of the continuing impact of these contributions on the provision of health care services in the United States and throughout the world. In this column, I want to reflect on the lasting legacies of M. Elizabeth Carnegie (named as a legend in 1994), Imogene M. King (named in 2005) and Marie J. Cowan (named in 2007).
M. Elizabeth Carnegie, RN, DPA, FAAN
Mary Elizabeth Carnegie was 91 years old when she died on February 20, 2008. She will be remembered for so many achievements, including starting baccalaureate programs at 2 historically black colleges, being editor of Nursing Research, and serving on the editorial staff of the American Journal of Nursing. The obituary story from the Washington Post describes her ongoing struggle to combat racism in the profession and in society:
During a long career, Dr. Carnegie started one nursing school and led another, wrote books and professional journal articles, and challenged racism in its many forms. She most recently was a member of the board of visitors at Howard University's College of Pharmacy, Nursing and Allied Health Sciences. Sixty-five years ago, she launched Hampton University's four-year nursing program, then spent 1945 to 1953 as professor and dean of Florida A&M University's school of nursing.
At a time when black nurses at some hospitals were not allowed to identify themselves as “Miss,” only “Nurse,” Dr. Carnegie insisted on the proper honorific. She refused to ride in hotel freight elevators while attending state nursing meetings in Florida and broke the color barrier as the first black nurse appointed to the board of the Florida Nurses Association. Her academic colleagues so feared for her safety that they prayed for her return every time she went on the road. The appointment had its drawbacks; she was told she could not speak or vote at its meetings. She refused the honor until 1949, when she was officially elected as a legitimate, not just courtesy, member of the board.1
Dr. Carnegie was a Past President of the American Academy of Nursing, past Chair of the American Nurses' Association Minority Fellowship Program Advisory Committee, and was inducted into the American Nurses Association “Hall of Fame,” as well as being a long-standing Living Legend of AAN. Her wisdom and gentle courage inspired us all.
Imogene M. King, RN, EdD, FAAN
Imogene King will be long remembered for her theory of goal attainment, published and expanded toward a systems theory in Toward a Theory for Nursing: General Concepts of Human Behavior in 1971 and A Theory for Nursing: Systems, Concepts, Process in 1981. She was 84 when she died on December 24, 2007. She was an active member of the American Academy of Nursing's Expert Panel on Nursing Theory-Guided Practice, and was one of the first nurse theorists to link academic theory with clinical nursing practice. I recall vividly how she “wowed” a group of specialty nurses some years ago with her ability to make the theory of goal attainment come alive for their practice.
During her career as a nurse educator, Dr. King served several universities, and retired as Professor Emeritus from the University of South Florida in 1980. She was indefatigable in retirement, traveling all over the world to consult, mentor nurses, nursing students and faculty, and consulting with nursing scholars who were implementing her theories. Not only was she a Living Legend of AAN, but was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the American Nurses Association, Florida Nurses Association, and Teachers College of Columbia University. A wonderful tribute to her is posted on the Sigma Theta Tau Website.2
Her colleague Patricia Quigley, PhD, ARNP, CRRN, FAAN, sent an email that was passed on to many in the nursing community. It sums up Dr. King's legacy very well: “May we all burn a candle today for the light that Imogene shined on us with her smile, laughter, knowledge and passion for each day. We all shared in our love for her. Combining religion and science through nursing, her inspired voice was never weak—but strong with passion and conviction.”
Marie J. Cowan, PhD, RN, FAAN
Marie Jeannette Johnson Cowan was honored as a Living Legend in November 2007, shortly after she announced her retirement from the Deanship at the UCLA School of Nursing. She was wrapping up the final months of that work when she died February 22, 2008 following a 10-year battle with metastatic cancer. Like the other legends described here, she began her nursing career with a diploma in nursing. The spark of learning was lit and she quickly proceeded to earn a bachelor's in nursing, a master's in physiology and biophysics, and a doctorate in pathology, physiology and biophysics, all at the University of Washington. She was one of the small number of nurse physiologists who blazed the trail of biobehavioral research, uniquely from a nursing perspective.
Following her tenure as Associate Dean of Research at the University of Washington, Dr. Cowan became Dean at the University of California, Los Angeles. As noted in the UCLA tribute to her life:
Her mentoring talent blossomed when she was appointed dean of nursing research. She encouraged faculty to attend “modeling parties”—line-by-line peer evaluations of their grant proposals—in order to increase the likelihood of funding. Her hands-on efforts boosted funding so measurably that other schools hired her to teach them how to create similar programs.
She continued the tradition at UCLA, transforming the nursing school's culture into one where funded research was a priority. Cowan read every grant proposal and would arrive at meetings with her copy's margins scrawled with questions. Sometimes, she'd closet herself in a researcher's office for hours and help hammer out their grant details until late at night.3
Dr. Cowan persuaded the University of California system to restore the baccalaureate program at UCLA that had been lost in budget cuts years before, led the faculty in starting a new master's program for students with bachelor's in other fields, and doubled the size of the faculty during her tenure. In the words of the UCLA vice-chancellor for medical sciences: “Marie Cowan was a dynamo who loved UCLA and the School of Nursing. She was fearless about thinking outside the box, identifying what was best for UCLA and her school, and creating strategies to move purposefully forward.” She was only 69 when she died, but the faculty and students she has mentored will keep her legacy alive.
These are wonderful women who make us proud to be nurses. We will miss them all.
Corresponding author: Dr. Pamela Mitchell, University of Washington, Box 357265, Seattle, WA 98195-7265.
1Pamela H. Mitchell, RN, PhD, FAAN, FAHA is an Associate Dean for Research, School of Nursing; The Elizabeth S. Soule Professor of Health Promotion, School of Nursing; Adjunct Professor, Department of Health Services; SPHCM Director, Center for Health Sciences Interprofessional Education at the University of Washington, Seattle, WA.
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