Dr. Marlene V. Merifield Rosenkoetter

Dr. Marlene Merifield Rosenkoetter

Marlene Virginia Merifield Rosenkoetter, RN, PhD, FAAN, of Brunswick, Georgia, entered into eternal rest on Tuesday, December 31, 2019, following a brief illness. She was the beloved wife of John Louis Rosenkoetter for 52 plus years. She is survived by her husband’s brother and sister-in-law, Arthur and Dorothy Rosenkoetter, of Rogersville, Missouri, and by numerous cousins throughout the country. She is poignantly missed by her fur-babes, Daschi, Piper, Tiger, Tommy, and Mattie.

Marlene was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the daughter of Ernest R. and Katherine (Grace) Merifield. Most of her early years were spent in central Illinois, wherever her father, a station agent for the Wabash Railroad, was posted. In 1959 the family moved to Bonne Terre, Missouri, where she graduated from the consolidated high school in 1961.

She then moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where she began her nursing career, earning her RN from Barnes Hospital School of Nursing. While supporting herself as a nurse, she continued her education earning a Bachelor of Arts and a Master’s degree in Education from the University of Missouri-St. Louis, a Master’s degree in Nursing from East Carolina University, and Doctor of Philosophy degree from St. Louis University. She often noted that her life motto was summed in one word—perseverance.

She held administrative positions both in practice and education, serving as the evening supervisor for St. John’s Mercy Hospital in St. Louis; Founding Dean of the then School of Nursing at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington; and Dean of the College of Nursing at Augusta University. She completed more than 50 consultations to hospitals and schools of nursing worldwide, visiting 30 countries in the process. Through her research, she contributed more than 300 articles to the body of nursing knowledge and was a reviewer for more than a dozen nursing and health care journals.

In 1990 she was inducted into the American Academy of Nursing, an accomplishment of which she was most proud. She retired in 2016, but continued to write, publish, and consult with her peers.

In her free time, Marlene loved to travel. An accomplished musician, she loved playing her Yamaha baby grand piano and the companion electronic keyboard. She was an exceptional and creative cook, having amassed over 600 cook books in the course of her travels.

A Memorial Service for Dr. Rosenkoetter will take place on Thursday, January 30, 2020, at 3:00 pm in the chapel of Thomas Poteet & Son. The family will receive visitors at the Funeral Home one hour prior to the service beginning at 2:00 PM.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial donations be made to the Marlene M. Rosenkoetter Endowed Research Award. This can be done online at www.augusta.edu/giving/gift.php?fund=313001 ; by check to Georgia Health Science Foundation, 1120 15th St., Augusta, Georgia, 30912, indicating the gift is in memory of Dr. Marlene Rosenkoetter, Fund 313001; or by check enclosed with a Research Award brochure, available at the service.

Thomas Poteet & Son Funeral Directors, 214 Davis Rd., Augusta, GA 30907 (706) 364-8484. Please sign the guestbook at www.thomaspoteet.com