Development News

Haven Hill Hudson Memorial Scholarship established for Tennessee Tech nurse practitioner program

The Haven Hill Hudson Memorial Scholarship at Tennessee Tech honors and remembers a wife, mother and nurse who loved her profession and her community. Dr. Toney Hudson and his children Heath Hudson, Shawn Detwiler and Seth Hudson established the scholarship to provide support for Tech students in the nurse practitioner program.

“My children and I felt this would be a way to carry on Haven’s legacy and memory,” Toney said. “She was devoted to her family and her profession. We know there is a tremendous need for nurses in our region and beyond, and we felt like this would be a good way to fulfill that need.”

Toney is the chief medical officer for Interstate Health and one of the founders and the medical director for Occupational Health Center in Cookeville. He says his high regard for nurses is both personal and professional.

“I’ve always had a great deal of respect for nurses, and not just because my wife was a registered nurse,” Toney said. “I have gained even more esteem and admiration for the quality of the nurses who graduate from Tech. It’s absolutely an incredible program.”

While neither Toney nor Haven graduated from Tech, Toney says he considers it his home university. Toney has 10 grandchildren; two are currently enrolled at Tech, and he anticipates three additional grandchildren will attend Tech as well.

“I have seven granddaughters, and I see Haven in them,” he said. “At least three of my granddaughters are going to be nurse practitioners. They wanted to follow in their Meme’s footsteps. They saw her compassion, concern and gentle nature.”

Toney says that his wife was also a very determined person. She grew up in rural Mississippi at a time and in a region where few women went to college.

“She was told by her high school counselor that she wasn’t college material,” he said. “That didn’t really settle well with her! She was determined to show this counselor that she was college material.”

Haven attended Blue Mountain College in Mississippi and later the Baptist School of Nursing at Baptist Hospital in Memphis, which is where she and Toney met.

Haven became a registered nurse and worked in the coronary care unit. When the Hudsons moved to Cookeville, she worked as an oncology nurse at her husband’s internal medicine practice. She was also a member of the founding board of Young Life of the Upper Cumberland, a founding volunteer at the Cookeville Pregnancy Clinic and an instrumental part of the first Teen Challenge program.

Toney says he hopes the nurses who graduate from Tech will stay in the Upper Cumberland region.

“This is a great place to live,” he said. “Anytime we can recruit really great people to this area, this raises the bar for all of us. It’s a blessing to have a nursing program right here in Cookeville. I think sometimes we take that for granted. Tech’s Whitson-Hester School of Nursing offers a tremendous education, and the staff are outstanding. Dean Kim Hanna is one of the most delightful, intelligent, motivated people I’ve ever met in terms of her leadership and skills. She relates extremely well to the diverse population in this region.”

Hanna, dean of Tech’s WHSON and professor of nursing, says she is grateful for Toney’s generosity and expertise. In addition to his financial support, he also serves on the WHSON Development Council and Executive Committee.

“Dr. Toney Hudson is a man of integrity who is truly passionate about the provision of quality healthcare within our community, the Upper Cumberland, state and beyond,” Hanna said. “He is strategic, innovative and motivated in his approach. I have been very impressed with his humble, professional demeanor as well as his personal dedication to his family. This scholarship is a tribute to his loving wife, her profession as a nurse and those advanced practice nursing student recipients who will be financially supported by his gift.”

Kourtney Roberts Mann, a graduate student in Tech’s nurse practitioner program, is the first recipient of the Haven Hill Hudson Memorial Scholarship.

“I am so grateful to be the first recipient,” Mann said. “This scholarship has helped me focus on my education and build a strong foundation as an advanced practice nurse. I am thankful for Dr. Hudson and his family’s support and generosity. It is so special that this scholarship is in memory of Haven who was an inspirational nurse. I hope to have a positive impact on our community just as she did.”

Toney says he hopes to meet with each scholarship recipient to share his wife’s story.

“I want them to understand how compassionate she was and how much love and passion that she had for faith, her family, her profession and her community,” he said. “When I went to medical school, I learned the science of medicine. My life with Haven taught me the art of medicine.”