Nursing Instructor’s Legacy Thrives Through Scholarship

The late Mary Ann Chou, former nursing instructor at Western Piedmont Community College, built a legacy of medical expertise in two countries and still supports nursing students through a scholarship.

Born in China in 1918, Mary Ann thought about her future as she came of age in the 1930s. She explained in her memoir that only three professions were open to women in China during that time: teaching, secretarial work and nursing. She disliked secretarial work and felt too small of stature to command discipline in a classroom. In 1932 at age 14, she entered the Lutheran School of Nursing, a school affiliated with the Tsingtao Lutheran Hospital, opened by American missionaries the year before. The ten-bed hospital only had one attending physician the first six years of its operation.

Mary Ann thrived in her role as student nurse and graduated with the highest score in her class. She then attended Peking Union Medical College in Beijing, where she passed her National Board exam for nursing.

Following her training, she worked at the Lutheran hospital. A booklet about the hospital, published in 1942, lists her as assistant superintendent of nurses. By this time, the hospital had grown to 75 beds, three attending physicians and a dentist.

As World War II progressed, the hospital was forced to close. Mary Ann turned to working as a midwife in her home province of Qingdao on the eastern coast of China. There she delivered more than 2,000 babies, “some in huts after curfew when the streets were dark.” Following the war, Mary Ann reopened the Lutheran School of Nursing and served as its first Chinese principal. She only held the position a few years before political unrest and a rise in communism in China made it unsafe for her to lead a foreign, Christian-based institution. The United Lutheran Church in America sponsored her evacuation from China in January 1949 by passenger ship.

“The threat to her life was why she left,” her son, Timothy Chou, said. “She knew it would be the last time she saw her parents or her four sisters and brother.”

Once in the U.S., she enrolled at the University of Minnesota, supported by Lutheran missionaries she had worked with in China. In 1951, she met David Chou at the University of Kansas at a meeting of fellow Chinese students. The couple began dating and married two years later. Mary Ann earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing Education from U-Minn., and David completed a doctoral degree at Ohio State University. He was hired as a professor of chemistry at Lenoir-Rhyne College in 1956, so the couple moved to Hickory with their three sons and lived there for many years.

“We’re Americans, and also southerners,” Mary Ann said in an article published in The Hickory News in 1975. “When we’re returning from a trip, North Carolina road signs are most welcome. This is our home.”

Mary Ann stayed home to raise her children, but later longed to put her nursing skills back to work. She passed the North Carolina state exam for nurses in 1967 at age 49, and was hired as a nursing instructor at WPCC that same year. An article published in the Hickory Daily Record in 1968 said she specialized in obstetrical and pediatric nurse training. She would teach at the college for the next decade, retiring in 1977.

“I think she just enjoyed seeing the progress in her students – her opportunity to give back all of the knowledge and experience she had,” Timothy said. “She was always a teacher – it’s the only reason we can speak a little Chinese.”

Mary Ann enjoyed a second career in art following her retirement from WPCC. By the 1970s, she was an exhibiting member of the Hickory Arts League and sold her watercolor paintings at art shows. 

“She designed a fabric used by Hickory Manufacturing in a line of sofas and chairs,” Timothy said. “She even wrote a healthy Chinese cookbook and illustrated it.”

Mary Ann died in 2013 at age 95. To honor her dedication to WPCC, her sons established the Mary Ann Chou Achievement in Nursing Education Scholarship, which awards $1,100 annually to the student with the highest GPA in the nursing program at the college.

This year’s scholarship winner was Crystal Myers, who plans to graduate with an Associate Degree in Nursing next spring. 

“The opportunity to make a meaningful difference in people’s lives every day is what inspires me to be a nurse,” Myers said. “I have a big heart for people and know I’ll be fulfilled looking back on my life and career in nursing. I chose to go to WPCC because I know this school has a great reputation with the hospitals in the area. I wanted a high-quality education so I can be as competent as possible when I graduate.”

She shared what her experience in the nursing program has been like.

“The first year was challenging because I needed to adjust to a very rigorous program,” Myers said. “I needed to learn how to manage my time effectively and understand my learning style. I enjoy clinicals the most because I build meaningful connections with my patients, and it’s exciting to apply the skills I’ve learned in real-life situations. Throughout the program, I learned to be mindful and take on challenges one day at a time. I’ve come to understand that making mistakes and not having all the answers is a necessary part of growth. The instructors are so knowledgeable and supportive and genuinely want to see us succeed.”

Following graduation, she plans to pursue a bachelor’s degree in nursing while working in a medical-surgical unit. She hopes to later transition to working in critical care or trauma units to gain the experience needed to become a flight nurse.

She was intrigued to hear about Mary Ann Chou’s career.

“Her passion and devotion to her community is very inspiring,” Myers said. “I was very honored to receive this scholarship, and it came as a pleasant surprise. I put in my best effort every day and it felt good to have someone acknowledge that.”

Timothy Chou hopes that students in the nursing program will remember his mother’s most valuable lessons.

“The golden rule – do unto others what you would have them do to you,” Timothy said. “Always see the positives and possibilities for the future and give back and pay it forward – why else would she have gone back to teach at age 50?”