Couple’s gift honors mother’s healing legacy and family connection
Richard and Rita Vernetti, through the gift of a life insur ance policy donated to Saint Martin's University, will fund the Hildegarde Louise Wickie Vernetti Endowed Scholarship in Nursing. This gift is in memor y of Richard’s mother, and the scholarship will honor her leg acy as a nurse as w ell as their respective family connections to Saint Martin’s Abbey and Saint Martin's University.
Hildegarde (Wickie) Vernetti studied at the original St. Peter Hospital in Olympia, graduating as a registered nurse in September 1936. Her first nursing job took her to Fairbanks, Alaska, where she met Richard’s father, Jim Vernetti. The family later moved back to the Olympia area, and Hildegarde spent much of her career working in the nursery at St. Peter Hospital. She is lovingly remembered as a daughter, sister, mother, grandmother and friend to many.
Richard Vernetti graduated from Saint Martin’s High School in 1960 and from Saint Martin’s College in 1966. He spent his career in missile defense. Much of it was spent overseas; however, the latter half of his career was in Alabama where he and Rita still reside. Rita worked for the State of Alabama Administrative Office of Courts for more than 16 years. Richard and Rita are both active members and volunteers with their church. Rita’s uncle, Father Placidus Reischman, O.S.B., was a member of Saint Martin’s Abbey, and he married the couple in 1973.
Caring for our students today
To learn how you can honor a loved one while making a difference in the lives and outcomes of our students, contact Nate Peters, MBA at (360) 438-4367 or NPeters@stmartin.edu.