Olive McLaughlin

Olive and her husband, Gurney, moved to NC in 1983. Both were originally from Cleveland Heights, Ohio.

Gurney McLaughlin was a graduate of Case Institute of Technology in 1942 with a degree in Environmental & Civil Engineering. Gurney was a Navy Ensign in WWII, and after his discharge from the service following the war, he was career engineer.

Olive graduated from Cleveland Heights High School, and spent two years in New Hampshire at Coby Junior College. She went on to Massachusetts General and was enrolled in Nurses training during the war (WWII). Because there was a national shortage of nurses stateside—most of the experienced nurses were deployed in Europe—the hospital where Olive was training was very dependent on the students to act as nurses. Olive spent the last five months of her training time as an acting Head Nurse. Later, Olive went on to receive her BS in Public Health from Case Western Reserve.

Olive has two children. Her son is a Civil Engineer and his daughter is in the Peace Corps. And her daughter is and RN—just like Olive.

In fact, Olive is the second of 4 generations of RN’s in her family—her mother, Olive, her daughter and her granddaughter have all been Registered Nurses.

Olive is a true believer in the power of a good education. And she has expressed this belief by supporting students through scholarships not only at Sandhills but at other institutional as well. In 2007 she established the Gurney and Olive McLaughlin Endowed Nursing Scholarship at Sandhills Community College.

Through her scholarship Olive has ensured that her family’s legacy of nurses will continue in perpetuity. Her scholarship is awarded annually to first year AD-N students with financial need, and a strong record of high school citizenship.