Mary Alice Mulvihill

Mary Alice Mulvihill (nee Watson), wife, mother, and nurse died peacefully of natural causes on February 27 at the Meadows Manor Nursing Home in Terre Haute.  She was 93 years on this earth, and although her life has passed Mary Alice’s spirit will continue to resonate.

Mary Alice proudly dedicated more than 40 years of her life to nursing, providing compassionate patient care and advancing the nursing practice.  Mary Alice, a Registered Nurse and Pediatrics Nurse Associate (nurse practitioner), touched enumerable lives in the Terre Haute area with a principal focus on neonatal and infant healthcare, and the support of new mothers and families.  Mary Alice was a loving spouse and mother and was well-respected in her community and church.  Mary Alice Mulvihill was a role model for the nursing practice for which she was most proud.

Mary Alice is preceded in death by her beloved husband of 49 years Maurice Martin Mulvihill, and survived by her four children and their spouses: Christopher Martin and his wife Brenda of Cory, Indiana, Richard Patrick and his wife Leslie of Kensington, Maryland, Jane Ann Louder and her husband Michael of Edgewood, Illinois, and Paul Andrew and his wife Latisha of Rosedale, Indiana; three grandchildren: Hans Andrew Mulvihill, Mychal James Mulvihill, and Elizabeth Marie Mulvihill; and more than 20 nieces and nephews.  Also left to mourn her passing are her brother Dr. Richard Watson and his wife Willie, of Terre Haute, two sisters Sue Case of Hymera, Indiana, Sharron K. Jeffries and her husband William of Terre Haute; and in-laws Edward D. Mulvihill and his wife Lee of Ione, California, and Helga Mulvihill, Terre Haute.  She is preceded in death by her parents, brothers Robert Watson, Dr. Benjamin Watson, Christopher N. Watson, William T. Watson, sister Martha A. Mitzkat, and in-laws Charles and Rosemary L. Anleitner, and Thomas P. Mulvihill.

Mary Alice was born in Zeigler, Illinois on March 3 ^rd 1927.  She was the oldest of nine children of Christopher Noel Watson, Sr. and Georgia (Marsh) Watson.  Mary Alice and her siblings were first-generation Americans, born to an American mother and an English father.  The family moved to Sullivan County in 1933 in the midst of the Great Depression.  Her father was a coalminer, railroad worker, and farmer, and her mother was a homemaker.  Mary Alice helped her mother raise her eight siblings while also working in the family vegetable gardens and outside the home babysitting and housecleaning.   Mary Alice would say “It was a house-full and at times it was hard, but we made due and got by!”

Mary Alice attended Farmersburg High School, graduating in 1945, and a graduate from the Union Hospital’s Nurses’ School class of 1949.  In 1973 Mary Alice achieved her Pediatrics Nurse Associates (PNA) degree as a member of the inaugural PNA class at IUPUI.  She was sponsored and mentored by Dr. Thomas J. Conway, and later joined the pediatrics practice of Drs. Conway, William E. Scully, and Roger R. West at the AP&S clinic as the first practicing PNA in the state of Indiana, proudly pioneering the way for other nurses to become Nurse Practitioners.  Mary Alice also achieved a Lactation Consultant Certificate from UCLA, and became the Nursing Care Manager in the Nursery and New-Born ICU at Union Hospital.  Mary Alice provided clinical education in the Gynecology and Obstetrics department, developing and teaching child care classes to new mothers.

Mary Alice served on the Community Coordinated Child Care (4-C) Board, Vigo County Schools Health Advisory Board, and the Child Abuse and Infant Follow-Along program.  Mary Alice was recognized with the Florence Nightingale Award from the Indiana State University School of Nursing, by the American Nurses Association (ANA) with a Maternal and Child Health Certificate for Excellence in Nursing, and the by National Association of Pediatrics Nurse Associates and Practitioners (NAPNAP) with a Certificate for Knowledge and Skills as a Nurse Practitioner.  Retiring from nursing in 1992, Mary Alice worked part-time providing in-home elder care and assisting pre-school children at child-care centers until 2014, age 87.

Mary Alice was committed to her church, Holy Rosary in Seelyville, Indiana, serving as a Lecturer and Eucharistic Minister.  She was a charter member of the Holy Rosary Church Advisory Council, past president of the Ladies Club, and chairperson for fundraising events.  Mary Alice was a member of the Farmersburg High School Alumnae Association (past Vice President), Union Hospital School of Nursing Alumnae Association, Florence Nightingale Association, American Nurses Association, and the V.F.W. Auxiliary.

Mass of Christian Burial will be at 9:30 a.m. on Friday, March 5, 2021 in Holy Rosary Catholic Church with Father Martin Day, OFM Conv. officiating. Burial will be in Calvary Cemetery. Visitation will be from 4:00 – 7:00 p.m. on Thursday at Callahan & Hughes Funeral Home, 605 S. 25 ^th Street, with a rosary at 7:00 p.m.

I lieu of flowers please make donations to the Hospice of Wabash Valley or the ISU Martha Jane Pipes Nursing Scholarship Fund.

The Mulvihill family would like to thank the wonderful staff of Meadows Manor North for the care, love, and special attention they gave our mother during her final years.