Patricia Ann Grall Memorial Scholarship for Nursing Students

Patricia Ann Grall was unable to pursue nursing studies upon completion of high school. However, in her early 40s she returned to study at Northcentral Technical College, where she completed her Nursing Associate Degree. For more than 15 years Pat provided some of the best care ever experienced by her patients, borne of her incredible love and compassion for anyone who came into her life, regardless of the circumstances. She spent most of her career working at the former Wausau Hospital (Aspirus) and Marshfield Hospital Wausau, where she did more than just care for patients. She was a vocal leader and actively engaged in several Wausau Hospital Committees and Task Forces where she led efforts to ensure the hospital lived up to its mission statement to give efficient, quality care to patients. She also took her talent on the road, serving as a traveling nurse in rural Wisconsin communities, including the Amish communities of west central Wisconsin. For her the most challenging but rewarding work was her many years as a hospice nurse, where her innate compassion truly shone, where she, undaunted, helped so many souls cross over, concurrently consoling the bereft family and friends of those in their last days.

Her contributions to the community in which she lived went well beyond her care-giving. She was among the select few chosen for the 1998 Wausau Leadership Program (now the Chamber of Commerce Transformational Leadership), a nine-month intensive program to capacitate area professionals with greater skills, knowledge and networks to guide Marathon County through inclusive, collaborative decision-making. She was a trailblazer in her own right also: long before attitudes and social norms began to evolve in Wausau, she founded the Central Wisconsin Chapter of P-Flag (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) as well as the Rainbow Club, a group she built to serve LGBTQ youth aged 14-24. After retiring, the need to share love and help others continued to call Pat, and she spent several years volunteering at St. Clare’s Hospital (Marshfield Weston). Anyone who experienced her caring hand knows her warm-heartedness, her benevolence, was without end. It is out of this great admiration for the woman she was—nurse, wife, mother, sister, daughter, friend—that this endowed fund has been established to provide annual scholarships to students pursuing careers in nursing at Northcentral Technical College, her alma mater.

This scholarship was established by Pat’s son, James, to honor her memory. Contributions of any amount can be added to this scholarship at any time by visiting www.ntc.edu/give and indicating Patricia Ann Grall Memorial Scholarship in the “Gift Designation or Comments” section to ensure your gift is appropriately credited.