Growing up in a Vermont farming town, May Futrell formed a close bond with her grandparents. All four lived nearby, happy and healthy. Their presence and their love for her, she says today, were among the greatest influences in her life: 鈥淥ne grandfather especially was a big influence on me. I think that as a young person, if you have a good experience with your grandparents, as I did, you emerge with a positive view of aging.鈥�
So it came as a shock to her several years later as a young nursing student on hospital duty when she witnessed the neglect of elderly patients. This struck her deeply and ultimately defined her career. Her enthusiasm for caring for the elderly has been, and always will be, a goal she has worked toward for close to forty years.聽
鈥淓veryone loves children鈥攎aternity nursing has always been a popular specialty. But that鈥檚 not where the greatest need lies. We鈥檙e not getting more children, we鈥檙e getting more older people. And we need more educated nurses to care for them.鈥�
By the 1960s, Futrell earned her master鈥檚 degree in nursing from Columbia and was teaching nursing while also taking courses at Boston University. She began her career at UMass Lowell as a member of the nursing聽faculty in the fall of 1970. During her thirty-year tenure, she served as chair of the聽School of Nursing聽for 23 years before retiring in 2005.
Due to the direct efforts of Futrell, the University received government funding in 1975 to implement a program to educate gerontological nurse practitioners (GNPs) at the master鈥檚-degree level. It was the first graduate program in the U.S. to educate primary-care GNPs.
May Futrell has made a difference in too many lives to count: family, friends, students, faculty, the elderly, the recipients of her scholarships, the readers of her works. Her work continues through the May Futrell Scholarship endowment fund that helps graduate students pursue their degrees full time.聽
Even when she鈥檚 home, she鈥檚 seldom still for long. Whether it鈥檚 volunteer work at the Firehouse Theatre in Newburyport, where she lives, or any of the lists of services she continues to perform for UMass Lowell鈥攅diting her publications, interviewing faculty applicants, serving on the department鈥檚 advisory board鈥攕he is rarely, and very reluctantly, idle.聽
鈥淚 like to stay useful, I like to stay active, even though it can be harder these days. I've been very lucky. Ever since I woke up from a tonsillectomy operation at the age of sixteen, and saw the nurse standing over me, and said to myself, 鈥楾hat鈥檚 it!鈥� That鈥檚 what I want to be! 鈥� I've known what I was meant to do in the world. And I've done it. And I鈥檒l just keep doing whatever I can, as long as I can. Because there鈥檚 no use at all in just sitting around.鈥�