Jane Sidwell, 1969
Jane has retired after a career as a nursing clinician, educator and leader. Much of her career was devoted to hospice and palliative care, where her teaching, management and fund-raising skills helped two hospitals develop and improve their palliative care services. She continues this work by serving on the board of directors of a hospice care organization in Beaufort, S.C., and advises Beaufort Memorial Hospital as it establishes palliative care services.
She is very active in Beaufort community affairs, serving on boards, committees and in groups that advance the causes of local tourism, the library, Planned Parenthood, historical preservation, a film festival and a museum.
Among her professional memberships, Jane has served as president and a director of both the National Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association and the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Foundation. She has received several awards and grants for her research and teaching efforts and has spoken before numerous groups about such subjects as palliative care, pain, death and dying and ethics in nursing.
She holds a master’s degree in social work from Washington University, St. Louis, an associate degree in nursing from Houston Community College, and numerous certifications. She was awarded a fellowship in hospice and palliative care nursing by the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association.
A native of Decorah, Iowa, Jane majored in psychology and sociology at Cornell. (Maiden name: Welgos). She was president of the religious life council and a member of the sociology club. “My experience at Cornell was ‘everything’ in my life,” she wrote, citing challenges from professors that helped develop critical thinking and leadership skills. She even praised the mandatory chapel convocations, with their exposure to new ideas, as “shaping the ways I developed my career and kept my life open to possibilities.”
Jane’s daughter and son-in-law are Cornell graduates. Jane served on her class’s 50th reunion committee. Her husband, Lloyd, is a former CEO of a mental health and family service organization.