UNC Charlotte nursing pioneer turns 100. Her gift? The state’s top honor
Elinor Caddell, a storyteller and bit of a comedian, is beginning to feel her 100 years.
The aches and pains are increasing. Remembering names is hardly easy.
Still, Caddell, who was instrumental in the UNC Charlotte nursing program’s founding, celebrates every day.
“I try to have fun because I think laughter is one of the best ways to push away the doom and gloom,” she told The Charlotte Observer.
Caddell turned a century old this week and received the Order of the Long Leaf Pine — North Carolina’s highest award for service given by the governor — at a party the School of Nursing held Monday. The award is for people such as Caddell, who have made significant contributions to the state and community through exemplary service.
“I feel that I have not done anything extraordinary to earn the award,” Caddell said.
Her fan club of former students and colleagues disagrees.
“After Elinor retired, she immediately had a fan club, of which I am a member,” said Ann Mabe Newman, 80, a former student. “We celebrate her birthday, take her out to eat, and love to listen to her stories about the early days in nursing.”
Caddell never talks about her accomplishments or the innovative programs she’s developed, Newman says.
“She doesn’t brag. She listens,” Newman said. “She takes joy in the accomplishments of her students. She is a North Carolina treasure.”
Caddell moves program forward
During World War II, Caddell enrolled in the armed forces cadet corps after graduating from Central High School, which is now part of Central Piedmont Community College’s campus. Her enrollment provided a stipend and training through the Charlotte Memorial School of Nursing.
When the war ended in 1945, she took additional courses at Queens University before entering the baccalaureate program at Duke University, where she later completed a master’s degree in nursing. Caddell taught at Duke between 1960 and 1965.
Edith Brocker, founding dean of the College of Nursing at UNC Charlotte, begged Caddell to return home and join the faculty of UNC Charlotte. She’d become instrumental in its growth, Brocker said.
“Things really began to move forward with the hiring of the first faculty member, Miss Elinor Caddell,” Brocker wrote. “Our beloved Elinor Caddell began the business of nursing education with six students and many alumni benefited from her teaching for over a quarter of a century.”
Caddell helped establish a pathway program, wrote curriculum and led colleagues in obtaining a grant to develop the master of science in nursing outreach program with UNC Chapel Hill. For six years, she took students to Chapel Hill using a twin-engine plane and a ram-shackled van, according to UNC Charlotte.
Caddell retired in 1989 and established a faculty research award in 1990 to assist with costs of faculty research. A dozen educators have received those awards.
Lienne Edwards, an associate nursing professor emeritus at UNC Charlotte, counts herself among those grateful few, saying the award is just another example of the ways Caddell touched professional and educational lives.
“Elinor Caddell is a nursing trailblazer,” said Dena Evans, director of UNC Charlotte School of Nursing. “Even after her retirement, she continues to give of herself.”
Caddell says it’s the way she wards off aging: “My secret (is) I keep moving, that way old age may not catch up with you. I have been particularly careful during this pandemic, and I wish everybody would.”
The UNC Charlotte School of Nursing is now home to nationally ranked nursing programs that include bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate programs. The 40 freshmen the school’s leadership once envisioned are now approaching 500.
Teaching with bologna
Caddell’s service-oriented life extends beyond the UNC Charlotte campus.
She was a long time Stephen minister at Holy Comforter Church, a person trained to provide one-on-one care to anyone who is experiencing grief, divorce, job loss, chronic or terminal illness. She volunteered at the Loaves and Fishes food pantry, a ministry started in Charlotte in 1975.
Newman says she spent many afternoons at Caddell’s home on Charlotte Avenue when she was attending UNC Charlotte. There, Caddell taught Newman how to be a good teacher over bologna sandwiches and glasses of iced tea.
“She has led a life in service to the Lord, her fellow man, her community, and her state and has done it selflessly and with her whole heart throughout her entire life,” former student Scott McNeish said. “We should all have such an accomplished life and leave such an amazing legacy.”
Caddell insists she just found her groove early in life.
“People have a passion and my passion is service,” she said. “This is what God put me on earth to do.”
This story was originally published December 8, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
