Faculty, staff and students from the Kent State Salem Nursing Department held a small memorial service for the late Dawn M. Hornsby and the late Justin D. Kidd, both of whom were students on this campus.
Family members and friends of the two students were led outside to view a garden bench and stone markers that were purchased by the Nursing Department. When weather permits, the items will be permanently placed near the Discovery Garden and incorporated into the landscape design of that area.
Speakers included Dr. Steve Nameth, campus dean; Dr. Mary Lou Ferranto, director of the program; Janeen Kotsch, assistant professor of nursing; and Sondra O’Donnell, nursing secretary. Other students and faculty members also took turns sharing their memories of the students.
Dr. Ferranto noted that Dawn Hornsby was a senior nursing student when she passed, just weeks shy of graduation. “She was a nurse. She was an incredible nurse,” Ferranto offered. “She touched so many lives and we all learned from her. We miss her.”
Kotsch read part of a blog that her nephew, Justin Kidd, wrote. He was a first-year student on the Salem campus, considering a major in psychology. His words described his relationship with God and reflected a mature insight about the world around him. “Justin was destined for great things,” Ferranto said. “But I have a wonderful feeling that God is using him in big ways and his legacy is yet to be fully shown. We miss him, too.”
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Media Contact:
Tina Smith, 330-337-4247, tsmit170@kent.edu
