We're glad we had a chance to say THANK YOU (Fall, 2010)

November 29, 2010

Mabel Johansson

Alumna Mabel Smith Johansson passed away on Nov. 13, 2009. She is missed by all who knew her gentle spirit.

Johansson, who received her Master of Public Health in public health nursing here in 1961, made annual gifts to the School and established a charitable gift annuity toward a scholarship she created. More than a decade ago, she also decided that the UNC public health school should receive a gift from her estate. She was passionate about public health nursing, and she liked the idea of giving a new generation the opportunity to study at the School as she had.

Fortunately, Johansson met on a number of occasions with Lyne Gamble, the School’s director of planned giving, and others, to tailor the gift in a way that fit her wishes. Most importantly, by working with the School’s external affairs office over time, we were able to say “Thank You” for her generosity and thoughtful planning.

“It was a privilege to have gotten to know Mabel Johansson,” Gamble says. “She had a wonderful combination of charm and seriousness of purpose. Throughout her life, Mabel was a great advocate for public health. It meant a lot to her to know she would have a positive effect on future generations of public health students.”

– Linda Kastleman

Carolina Public Health is a publication of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Gillings School of Global Public Health. To view previous issues, please visit www.sph.unc.edu/cph.