To some, she was a lighthouse, a mentor and a guide for the entire nursing profession. Others remember her visions, elegance, courage, precision and tremendous amount of energy.
Yesterday afternoon, a memorial service was held for Nursing Professor Margaret Sovie in the Nursing Education building.
Sovie, who died on Aug. 16 of pulmonary fibrosis at the age of 68, was much more than a Nursing professor to her friends and colleagues.
"She could do things that we never really envisioned," Clinical Director of Penn's Health System Eileen Haller said.
Among Sovie's many accomplishments, the one that is most remembered is her Magnet Hospital Project -- a solution to the current nursing shortage and concerns over hospital patient care.
"I think [the Magnet Hospitals are] the most important idea in the last 20 years of nursing," Director of the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research Linda Aiken said. "My own research is built very much upon Marg's."
About 70 people attended the service, most of whom were females. Among the audience members was Sovie's husband, Al. And throughout the service, two screens showed various slides of Sovie at work and play.
Thirteen out of the 14 speakers were women who had known or worked with Sovie in different capacities.
"It was amazing how many people wanted to come forward and talk about Marg," Nursing Dean Afaf Meleis remarked.
Sovie began her career at Penn in 1988 when she became the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania's chief nursing officer, the Jane Delano Professor of Nursing Administration and the Nursing School's associate dean for nursing practice.
Sovie was fondly remembered by all of her colleagues and friends. Aiken -- also the Claire M. Fagin Leadership Nursing professor -- coined Sovie "the exemplary clinician educator at a research-intensive university."
Nursing Professor Eileen Sullivan-Marx read to the audience words written by Sovie's colleagues at the University of Rochester, where Sovie held academic and administrative appointments before she came to Penn.
"With Marg's encouragement, words and support, it was impossible to be anything but the best," a friend from the University of Rochester noted.
In the middle of Sovie's extended career at Penn, she received a Master's and a post-Master's degree in nursing. Nursing Professor Neville Strumpf remarked that Sovie's educational plan at Penn was "a profound reminder that a unique covenant exists between the student and teacher."
And despite her diagnosed illness, Sovie continued to work as a nurse practitioner at the Nursing School's Health Annex.
Sovie's ambition, her concern and love for her profession and great attention to detail allowed her to accomplish many of her "visions."
"This is a woman who decided when she wanted something, she would get it," Nurse Educator Candice Stiklorius said.
Although American Academy of Nursing President Margaret McClure said that "work was an operative word" for Sovie, there was more to Sovie than just her dedication to her work, particularly to patient care outcome.
"Marg was an avid golfer, lover of ballroom dancing, driver of a spiffy car, impeccably sharp dresser and [had] flashing steel blue eyes," Nursing Professor Lois Evans remembered.
Sovie was also known for her truthfulness, which at times was quite blunt.
"Dr. Sovie would always be the one to tell you just the way it is," doctoral student Kimberly Trout remembered.
At the close of the service, Meleis announced a brand new fellowship created in honor of Sovie. The Margaret D. Sovie Fellowship Endowed Fund is meant to support Nursing graduate students, particularly those interested in administration.
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