Mark Spates ’82 & A. Lynn Spates and Diane Spates Clement ’84 & Albert E. Clement

Constance Spates Memorial Fund Benefits FSU R.N. to B.S.N. Program
(Published Spring 2009) The late Constance Spates ’78 was, according to those who knew her, a nurse who went beyond the traditional limits for her profession, a mentor to young nurses, an advocate for regional health care and a truly caring individual. Now, to continue to support the concerns she cared about, her children and their spouses have pledged more than $80,000 to establish the first scholarship to benefit students in FSU’s new Bachelor of Science in Nursing completion program. David Ramsey, a former colleague and friend, first met Spates when she and the late Dr. Fred Miltenberger were working to establish a regional trauma center at Memorial Hospital. Spates was well-equipped to navigate the political, administrative and medical hurdles in this and many other major projects she tackled, he said. “She really had a unique ability to understand the patient care side, as well as the administrative side” of an issue, Ramsey said. Her children say that since their mother passed away, they’ve learned more and more about the way her life touched others, especially those nurses whose careers she nurtured. At her funeral, they were approached by a woman who wanted to express how much of a mentor her mother had been to her, and what that meant to her life. “She helped me become more than I thought I could be,” the woman told them. Those who knew Spates feel it is only appropriate that a scholarship in her name benefit those nurses who are trying to advance their careers through FSU’s R.N. to B.S.N. program. “Connie supported the advancement of nursing as a profession, including the increased role of nursing in medical care over the years,” Ramsey said. “She was a strong, smart, caring woman,” Ramsey said.
“Mom was a caretaker in her work and in her life. She was always looking after someone,” said Mark Spates ’82, who is funding the scholarship with his sister, Diane Spates Clement ’84, and their spouses, Lynn and Bert. Constance Spates passed away in 2007. Clement said her mother was a role model for other women, especially other nurses, as she worked her way up through the administration at both the former Miner’s Hospital in Frostburg and later Memorial Hospital in Cumberland, now part of the Western Maryland Health System. Starting her career as a staff nurse, she retired with the ultimate title of assistant vice president of Ambulatory Care/Outpatient Services. All this was achieved in an era when women were rare in hospital administration, Clement said. At the same time, she was raising her two children alone and working toward a bachelor’s degree, which she received 20 years after her nursing degree.