Long-Time Instructor Creates New Scholarship Endowment

Few people know more about what it takes to be a registered nurse than Marlene Kay Mehlhose. After 32 years of teaching at Delta College and another 26 working at area hospitals, she has influenced and inspired countless nurses in her career, which stretched nearly six decades.

Believing she still has more to give, she has created the Marlene Kay Mehlhose Endowment to provide scholarship support for Delta students in the registered nursing program. In her career, Mehlhose had a high interest in mental health, and she hopes future nurses will learn and use positive mental health skills as well.

Dedicated to Delta and Nursing Profession

Mehlhose was a full-time nursing instructor at Delta College over two periods, 1962 to 1966 and 1978 to 2006. She taught medical surgical nursing and her specialty, mental health nursing, in both the classroom and hospital settings. 

She was an active participant in division committees, particularly Auto Tutorial Lab (ATL) and Simulated Laboratory. She also participated in Information Technology Advisory Council (ITAC), Senate Special Projects Committee and, with Betty Rickey, she obtained a Helene Fuld National Health Trust Grant for Nursing. Mehlhose was also elected to the nursing honor societies Sigma Theta Tau and Phi Kappa Phi.

When not teaching, Mehlhose practiced nursing in the field for 26 years. That time included four years at Northville State Hospital and Lafayette State Research Clinic in Detroit, which are both now closed. She spent ten years working par-time as a charge nurse of ICU/CCU of Mercy Hospital in Bay City and five years as a visiting mental health nurse for A&D Health Homecare in Saginaw. For seven years at HealthSource in Saginaw, she was first in charge of the substance detoxification unit and later head nurse of the adult mental health unit. 

About Marlene Mehlhose

Mehlhose was born on October 29, 1935 in Manistee. She graduated from Manistee High School in 1954 and went on to earn a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Nursing from Michigan State University in 1958 and a Master’s Degree in Adult Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing from Wayne State University in 1983.

She married David Mehlhose on June 6, 1959 and the couple moved to Bay City in 1962 when he opened a dental practice. He passed away in 1994. She is the mother of four children and has 12 grandchildren and six great grandchildren.

Retired in 2016, she now enjoys family activities such as school, church, scouting and camping. She also remains active in the Michigan Nurses Association, the National League of Nursing and Girls Scouts of Mitten Bay. 

Interested in creating an endowment? Contact Julie Dorcey at 989-686-9079 or  juliedorcey@delta.edu.