The Kathryn (Katie) Smucker Brenneman Nursing Scholarship Fund

Kathryn (Katie) Smucker was born October 25, 1931, the youngest of three girls. She is the only daughter to graduate from college. Her father was a farmer and her mother worked from the home. Katie grew up in Tiskilwa, Illinois, attending a one room school until high school. Her high school was small also, with only about 10 graduates each year.

Katie always wanted to be a nurse so she enrolled at Goshen College in the nursing program. She graduated in 1954 in Goshen’s second nursing class earning a bachelor’s degree in nursing.  After graduation, Katie married a fellow Goshen College student, Gerald Brenneman.  She then worked in Illinois for a doctor for two years before moving to Oregon where she lived for the remainder of her life.  Jerry got his Master’s in Education from Oregon State University and then taught History at Albany High School until his retirement in 1990.

While raising their three children, Katie spent most of her working nursing career as the solo office nurse for a private, self-contained doctor.  The patients loved her as did the office staff. Her professional, competent manner contributed to a well-run office. When the doctor retired, Katie retired from nursing also.  In her spare time Katie created pierce-and-cut lampshades, ornaments and angels and sold them at craft shows.

Katie and Jerry were members of Albany Mennonite Church. They moved to the Mennonite Village in Albany Oregon, where Katie ordered merchandise and worked in the gift shop.  Katie passed away of pulmonary fibrosis in March 2010.