Wooster mourns passing of Nancy Anderson, retired director of Longbrake Student Wellness Center
Arline “Nancy” Anderson, former director of the Longbrake Student Wellness Center at The College of Wooster passed away on April 16, 2024, in Penney Farms, Florida at the age of 77.
Anderson began her career at the College in 1979 as a nurse at Hygeia health center, the campus’s former student wellness center. In 1990 she became director of Hygeia health center, serving as both an administrator and healthcare provider. For 32 years, Anderson dedicated herself to promoting student wellness at Wooster. She adopted a leadership role in the construction of the new Longbrake Student Wellness Center in 2002, and in the years following its opening Anderson and her team implemented a range of different wellness initiatives including a first responder program, peer mentoring groups, pet therapy and healthy eating education and a self-help cold care and first aid center, and sponsored program houses dedicated to alcohol-free entertainment.
In addition to her work in the Wooster community, she was also an active contributor to organizations like the Ohio College Health Association, American College Health Association, and American College Health Foundation. Her passion for student health and wellness informed her relationships, both personal and professional, on Wooster’s campus and beyond. In the Spring 2011 issue of Wooster magazine, Anderson explained her community-centered approach to wellness, emphasizing, “Our world is so small. In order to live in a healthy way, we must value other people as part of a global community.”
Celebration of life gatherings will be held in Penney Farms, Florida on May 2, and Wooster, Ohio on Sep. 29, 2024, offering an opportunity for family and friends to honor and remember Nancy’s legacy of love, adventure, and service. Her full obituary, virtual guest book and additional arrangements for her celebrations of life can be found here.
Featured image: Nancy Anderson outside of the newly-constructed Longbrake Wellness Center holding an artifact from the Hygeia health center, photo by Karol Crosbie as included in “Wooster Magazine: Spring 2011.”
Posted in News on April 30, 2024.
