Alumna’s legacy of giving honors School ‘family’ 

When Jo-Anne Trowbridge Martin BSN ‘69 and her husband Ted were making plans for the kind of legacy they wanted to leave one day for the UNC School of Nursing, they thought of family.  

“I was always proud to be a graduate of the School of Nursing at UNC. I feel, over the years, it’s been really obvious that the School provided such a foundation for my nursing career,” said Jo-Anne. “We’re both only children, so the School of Nursing has been like family to us both.” 

So, as the couple recently completed their estate plans, they chose to leave a significant portion of it to support students at the School. By sharing those plans with Carolina, the Martins have become new members of UNC’s Gerrard Society which honors those, like them, who provide long-lasting support to Carolina through their planned giving.  

With this latest gift, the Martins feel like they are honoring not only the family of friends they have made because of the School, but the kinds of forward-thinking students whose energy has always inspired them.  

 “I’m just constantly amazed by the conversations they’re having. They think outside the box — they’re worldly, they’ve traveled.” 

Their sizeable gift is a fitting extension of their generosity — together, Jo-Anne and Ted have already established three endowed scholarships at the School, all of which celebrate beloved bonds. She created the Ann Peirce Trowbridge Scholarship in 1981 to honor her mother, who’d wanted to be a nurse herself. The Joe Earle Trowbridge Scholarship, which supports graduate psychiatric mental health nursing, is named for her father. And it was Ted, who has been a faithful supporter of the School alongside his wife, who lovingly insisted the third scholarship bear her name. 

“When I moved back to North Carolina in 1996, the School connected me to old friendships and new ones,” said Jo-Anne, who spent her nursing career in the Navy Reserve Nurse Corps before retiring as in2000 as Captain. “It’s been an ongoing family of friendships.”  

Jo-Anne said that she’s always been proud of her degree, and that it became obvious early in her nursing career what it meant to have a four-year degree, particularly as a military officer. The caliber of her education stood out, and she felt prepared to serve and serve well, wherever she went. She spent from 1971 to 1996 on the West Coast, and when she returned to her home state, she was eager to become more involved with the School.  

“Someone once quoted to me that you can take off the uniform, but you can never cease to serve. That has always stuck with me,” she said. “I wanted to know more about what the School was like, not just how it was when I was a student, and I wanted to know the impact I could make.” 

Jo-Anne has served the School as a member of both the Alumni Association Board and the School’s Foundation Board. Through her scholarship funds, she’s been able to lift financial burdens for many talented nursing students and their families, allowing future nurses to focus on their educational and career goals. She’s enjoyed the opportunity to connect with those students, particularly those who have served or will serve in the military, like she did. 

“The energy at the school is mindboggling,” she says. “Every time Ted and I visit the School, we witness its awesome growth. Our hope is that, with our support, the vision and the leadership of the School will continue to inspire its students for generations to come.” 

---