Roy C. Beazley directed nursing education in various positions at the University of Virginia from 1946 until 1969, and was the first woman at the university to be named professor emerita. Born in Orange County and named for her uncle, Beazley began her career as a teacher but after suffering a serious illness she became interested in nursing. She attended the hospital nursing school at the University of Virginia and, with the exception of a degree earned at Columbia University in 1953, remained in Charlottesville for the rest of her career. She directed the evolution of the nursing education program into the School of Nursing and served as president of the Virginia State Board of Examiners of Nurses from 1959 to 1961. She retired from teaching in 1969 and died in 1985. Later that year she was posthumously awarded the University of Virginia’s Distinguished Nursing Alumnae Award.
ENTRY
