Renowned expert in the care of older adults and the nursing management of long term care, Mary
Opal Wolanin influenced the inclusion of gerontological content in nursing curricula. Committed
to ongoing research in the field of gerontology, she funds an annual research award and mentors
American and foreign graduate students.
Mary Opal Browne was born in Chrisney, Indiana, on November 1, 1910, to Earl Edwin and
Florence (Abbott) Browne, she spent the first year of her life in Saskatchewan, Canada, where
she developed diphtheria, which eventually left her completely deaf in one ear. In 1931, she
received a diploma in nursing from the Kansas City General Hospital School of Nursing in
Missouri and completed a course in psychiatric nursing at Cook County Hospital, Illinois. From
1941 to 1943, she served as second lieutenant in the Army Nurse Corps in World War II, and
while in the service was married to second lieutenant, H.J. Tiger Wolanin. Between 1944 and
1951, Wolanin held positions in Mississippi, Louisiana, Ohio, Arizona, and Nebraska, which
included experiences in obstetrical nursing and the care of native Americans with tuberculosis.
After completing a bachelor of arts degree at the University of Arizona in 1954, Wolanin again
accompanied her husband on his various military assignments. Returning to Arizona in 1958, the
Wolanins settled in Tucson where they remained for the next twenty-nine years. In the early
1960s, Wolanin joined the faculty of the University of Arizona School of Nursing where she also
completed a master's degree in 1963.
In 1968, Wolanin was given a joint appointment with the newly established Regional
Medical Program and began her study of nursing homes and long term care needs in Arizona.
Through her sustained efforts, a graduate program in gerontological nursing, one of the first of its
kind in this country, was established at the University of Arizona.
A valuable resource for educational programs in nursing as well as nursing home
administration, Wolanin provided thirty consultations on gerontological nursing and presented
more than twenty-five scholarly papers in the U.S. and abroad. Author of numerous published
articles, books, and book chapters, she is the recipient of a great many honors and awards,
including the Lifetime Achievement in Nursing Award from the National Gerontological
Nursing Association, and fellowship in the Gerontological Society of America. Retired in 1987
as associate professor emeritus, she now resides with her husband of 53 years in San Antonio,
Texas. Active in nursing for more that sixty years, Wolanin continues to affect the lives of the
aged and, according to colleagues, "remains a guiding light in gerontological nursing."
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