Dan Werlinger of Hico presents a check to Sandra Thomason, Central Texas College nursing department chairman, to endow the Alfred and JoNell Werlinger Memorial Scholarship for future CTC nursing students. Werlinger family members joined in the presentation. Central Texas College Foundation recently announced a new endowed scholarship has been established, thanks to an area family of nurses.

Dan Werlinger of Hico and his family donated $10,000 to the CTC Foundation to create the Alfred and JoNell Werlinger Memorial Endowed Scholarship. The scholarship eventually will grow to $50,000.

A graduate of the CTC nursing program in 1974, Werlinger is honoring his mother, JoNell, who was a member of the first graduating class of nurses from CTC in 1969.

“Our mother dedicated her life to nursing,” said Werlinger. “She taught nursing for more than 20 years at Del Mar College in Corpus Christi, worked as an LVN at King’s Daughters Hospital and helped initiate the LVN program at Temple College.

“The scholarship is one way we can thank her for steering us in the direction of a very rewarding career and remembering her dedication to helping others,” he said.

The nursing vocation has become a tradition for the Werlinger family, who grew up in Lampasas. Seven of JoNell’s children and grandchildren are nurses.

After years of working as a registered nurse, Dan Werlinger graduated from State University of New York at Buffalo with a degree in anesthesiology. He is an anesthesiologist who started his own business. Based in Hamilton, the company provides services to rural hospitals throughout Central Texas.

The Werlinger family presented a $10,000 check during a recent meeting of the CTC Board of Trustees to members of the nursing department, which will initiate the endowed scholarship. The remaining $40,000 will be contributed over the next eight years.

The first Alfred and JoNell Werlinger Memorial Scholarship is scheduled to be presented next year.