Bill, ’67, and Kay Leahy are helping La Salle University nursing students get their foot in the door of the profession through the Leahy Family Endowed Nursing Scholarship.

For nearly 40 years, Kay Leahy made a career out of helping others as a nurse. Now, she and her husband, Bill, ’67, are helping La Salle University students to be future nurses through the establishment of the Leahy Family Endowed Nursing Scholarship.

Bill and Kay made the decision to give to La Salle in part due to the higher education journeys closest to them: their own.

Bill’s time working toward his degree was not that unusual. The marketing major chose 20th and Olney as he and his parents lived across the street.

“I lived closer than most of the dorm students, which was convenient,” he said.

He enjoyed his time as an Explorer, as well as spending time with the Christian Brothers, and he was supported by his parents financially as he studied.

Fifty-eight years ago, just before he graduated, Bill met Kay on a blind date. After they’d been out a few times, she shared her story with him.

“I was blown away,” he said. “I was absolutely blown away by her desire, her forthrightness, and her pursuit of her goal.”

Kay’s journey had not been as straightforward as Bill’s. Before going to nursing school, at the time a three-year, full-time program affiliated with a hospital, she lived with her grandparents in Collingdale, Pennsylvania. As her mother passed away when she was a high school senior and her father was disabled, there was unfortunately no financial support for her to realize her dream.

The Collingdale community, however, stepped up.

“This community that I lived in, it was a blue-collar community. These weren’t people that had the extra dollars; they found the extra dollars for me,” she said.

They banded together and helped Kay throughout her training at Fitzgerald Mercy, now Mercy Catholic Medical Center, in West Philadelphia. While she received a full scholarship from the American Heart Association, there were still other expenses that had to be paid for, such as uniforms and large dental bills. One of her neighbors found a Spanish American War Veterans scholarship was also helpful.

There was also a “dear, sweet woman” at the Woman’s Club she visited with once a month who would write her a $25 check, so she had some spending money.

“It was truly a community behind me,” she said, adding that she was often surprised by their generosity. “It happened because this one would tell that one, and it would get back to me – I would still have to work to qualify though – and that’s kind of how I got through school.”

Getting through school led to Kay’s career in nursing, first in post-operative surgical nursing for 18 years, and then nearly 20 in hospice nursing.

“Kay never would have been a nurse if these good people didn’t come forward, and the scholarships didn’t happen,” Bill said. “And she had a wonderful career as a nurse.”

Throughout their marriage, along with having two sons, Bill and Patrick, Bill and Kay worked hard, budgeted, and saved. While Kay was nursing, Bill joined a family furniture business, working his way up until he retired around 10 years ago. Giving back was always something that they wanted to do.

“I always had in the back of my mind that people could grow and learn from our story,” Bill said. “And one of my goals was to do something to help others achieve their goals.”

For Kay, it was a way of acknowledging and paying forward the kindness and support her community had given her.

“I do think it’s important to give back, I call it passing the baton,” she said. “You have a chance to say ’okay, I was lucky that this happened and I was able to do this,’ and pass the baton on.”

From this sentiment, the Leahy Family Endowed Nursing Scholarship was born. A generous donation from the Leahys will be given to undergraduate nursing students over four years to help support them in their studies.

“We hope to help the student become a nurse, to say the obvious,” Bill said. “To help them define their career and their goals.”

Even if the scholarship money is used to help an Explorer make the decision that they don’t want to be a nurse, it would have been used well, he added.

“The main expectation is to give them the opportunity to put their foot in the door of the program,” Kay said.

As well as being Bill’s alma mater, the nursing program La Salle offers is one of the main reasons that he and Kay decided to give to 20th and Olney, instead of another school.

“There were reasons that were appealing to pick the La Salle program. Bill had gone there, and it was the area that we grew up in,” Kay said. “La Salle has diversification that’s appealing to me, and the program itself, it just seems like it has a lot to offer and that’s what you want.”

While they didn’t want students to have to jump through hoops for the scholarship, Bill and Kay did decide to add that first preference would be given to an undergraduate nursing major, who receives or has in the past received academic support services.

Bill noted that it was “not a have to have at all,” just something they would like to be considered if there was a student who fit the criteria.

This preference was inspired by their son Patrick, who was born with severe eye problems, but went through school, university, and on to a successful political career in Washington, D.C., where he can be found with another member of the Leahy family, his guide dog Hogan.

“We thought it’d be a good idea to add that because we know from raising Pat for 50 years, that disabled people have an extra hard time,” Bill said. “We’ve witnessed that firsthand.”

They’ve learnt a lot from watching their youngest son go through all stages of his education, and hope that their scholarship may help make things easier for any nursing students that have disabilities, if the opportunity arises.

“Just think, you could see a young woman or young man who wants to become an RN, but walking on a hospital floor might not be part of their agenda because they’re in a wheelchair. But they could do telehealth,” Kay said. “It’s time to maybe just let people stretch, just say let’s stretch here, let’s see what you can do. And we’re offering go ahead, stretch.”

-Naomi Thomas