Alumni and friends gathered at the Hotel Albuquerque on October 20, 2006 to wish Dr. Marion Fleck, founder of the UNM College of Nursing, a happy 90th birthday and raise money for nursing. The mayor of Albuquerque, Martin Chavez, escorted Fleck to the festivities with familiar mariachi sounds in the background setting the tone for an evening of recognition for a remarkable woman.

Martin Fleck Jr. served as masters of ceremonies. Tributes to Fleck were presented by Dr. Estelle Rosenblum, former dean of nursing and professor emerita, Dr. Phil Eaton, Health Sciences Center (HSC) executive vice president emeritus, Dr. Sandra Ferketich, former dean of nursing and HSC vice president for interdisciplinary education and Nancy Greenberg, retired director of health and nursing services for Albuquerque Public Schools. In November, Congressman Tom Udall recognized Dr. Fleck with special remarks on the floor of the U. S. House of Representatives that have become part of the U.S. Congressional Record.

The evening ended with Annehara Fleck Tatschl leading the guests in singing Happy Birthday to Fleck. Humbly thanking her guests, Fleck said, “Everyone should experience such an evening surrounded by a lifetime of friends and memories.” Fleck was most honored by the evening, but her primary concern, as, always is someone or something else. On this occasion, it was certainly nursing.

Ticket sales, an auction, individual and corporate gifts all benefited the UNM College of Nursing’s Carter-Fleck Professorship. Thanks to the generosity of many, including an anonymous donor, the Carter-Fleck Endowed Professorship is just $30,000 shy of reaching its first goal of $500,000. Our next step is to grow the principal to an endowed chair level, $1,000,000. The endowment’s purpose is three-fold: it provides an opportunity for visiting professors to share their expertise with local faculty, deepening the knowledge base; it raises the College’s ability to attract new, permanent faculty members; and, finally, it allows even more students to enroll at the College thus helping to ease the nursing shortage for New Mexico.