David Miller of Chester, VT was awarded the first annual Mary Louise Beaulieu Scholarship in August. A third year graduate student in the Geriatric Nurse Practitioner program at the Yale School of Nursing, Miller is also working during school vacations at Springfield Hospital as a Registered Nurse on the medical-surgical floor.

A graduate of Hobart College in Geneva, NY, and the recipient of an RN degree from Yale School of Nursing, Miller’s first career was as a commercial fisherman off the Connecticut coast. “Connecticut put a moratorium on commercial fishing at the same time that a close family friend was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s disease,” recalled Miller. “My healthcare training; began with a six-week nurses’ aid course at a local university, which enabled me to help care for this dear friend. After that experience, there was no doubt in my mind that I wanted to remain in the healthcare field, and it’s been a perfect fit.”

Miller’s wife, Sarah Parmelee, is a Family Nurse Practitioner at Grace Cottage Family Health. Miller hopes to work in southern Vermont when he finishes his degree.

David Miller & Al LaRochelle