When Raymond Beverly ’51 met Annabelle Phipps ’52 during his third year at Berea College, he knew the stars had aligned. The physical sciences major instantly fell for the nursing major, and the two became inseparable.
“We promptly became a well-known ‘item’ from then on,” he recalled. “We were married just a very few days after her graduation in 1952 and had a good life together for 65 years. Annabelle was a wonderful lady indeed.”
In those 65 years, Beverly spent his career in the nuclear industry and Annabelle went on to earn a second bachelor’s degree in adult education and finished her career as an in-service education director at Baptist Health in Paducah, Ky.
After Annabelle passed away, Beverly wanted to honor her memory by contributing to the College that brought them together. In 2020, as he was making estate plans, he decided to make a gift to the College’s nursing program that would immediately benefit students while memorializing Annabelle and the cohort of nursing alumni he said he felt had adopted him. Beverly settled on a $95,000 gift—$45,000 of which was used to purchase the College’s first geriatric high-fidelity patient simulator.
“I have previously made several smaller gifts to the College in her memory, but this specifically to the nursing program seemed especially appropriate to me.”
Raymond Beverly ’51
“I have previously made several smaller gifts to the College in her memory, but this specifically to the nursing program seemed especially appropriate to me,” Beverly said. “She was always very proud of her diploma from the old School of Nursing.”
The simulator, known as Nursing Anne, is a geriatric mannequin students use in the nursing lab to practice assessments on elderly patients. Nursing Anne is the most life-like mannequin available and includes extremely realistic skin and other aged changes that can be added, such as foot ulcers at various stages, cataracts and staples for students to learn how to change dressings. She also is much lighter, more flexible and easier to move, allowing students to more easily assess her.
“Taking care of geriatric patients is an expected competency across the curriculum,” said Dr. Monica Kennison, Nursing department chair, “so, this is really important for allowing our students to do more in our lab than they are able to observe in the hospital.”
Beverly’s remaining $50,000 contribution created the Annabelle Phipps Beverly and Claude Raymond Beverly Endowed Fund in Nursing, which provides funding for the Nursing department, as determined by the department chair.
