Edna Dell Weinel, 97, of Columbia, died April 28, 2023, in Columbia. She was born Nov. 8, 1925, in Columbia. She was born on Nov. 8, 1925, in Columbia, the fourth child, and only girl, of Edna (nee Schoening) and Philip Weinel. She owes her middle name to her father’s favorite sister, Adelia, called Dell. 

She loved growing up in Columbia, a close-knit community of extended families where everyone had a nickname. Hers was “Pussy.” She felt her life was “charmed” and loved every minute of it. She grew up with her beloved cousin, Ellen Weinel, who was six months younger, and her best friend through high school, (except when the aunts were paying more attention to Ellen than to Edna Dell!).

At the end of high school, she chose to pursue nursing education at Washington University, since her father was a Washington University engineering graduate. An older cousin, Esther Rose, had also graduated from the WU School of Nursing. Following graduation many of her classmates joined the armed forces (immediately post World War II), but she knew herself well enough to recognize she was not a good fit for a regimented way of life. She had a strong desire to innovate rather than follow an established path. This was her truth ever after.

Edna Dell first worked at Barnes Hospital as a registered nurse in psychiatry. Barnes created the first psychiatric care unit for acutely ill patients in a general hospital. It was a new model of care with a team approach which included all disciplines relating to patient care. After four years she quit the position as head nurse because the hospital would not allow her to take a month of summer vacation to work as the camp nurse at a Girl Scout camp. Scouting was her life-long love, which she passed on to many generations of girls.

Her second job was with the Visiting Nurse Association of St. Louis, which propelled her into her passion for public health nursing. Edna Dell credited the VNA with teaching her to have a “social conscience”. 

In 1953 she became the first public health nurse in Lewis County, Mo. There she learned about politics, and the strategic use of power and influence for the benefit of the community.

Edna Dell completed her bachelor’s and master’s of public health – nursing at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, because the state of Missouri wanted her to work as a state consultant for Maternal and Child Services. This education further led her to a commitment to the interprofessional practice of public health (team work!). 

Four years later she returned to Columbia due to her mothers deteriorating health and was offered a job with Saint Louis University School of Nursing. She served on this faculty for 16 years and concluded as public health – nursing department chair.

In 1980, Edna Dell became the executive director of Family Care Health Center (FCC) in Carondelet, Mo. She was the first federally funded health care director in the country. This position provided her the opportunity to bring to life health care according to the tenets she developed over her career. She was known for her unorthodox approaches to solving administrative problems (especially with the “feds”) and she nurtured this unorthodox streak in her nurses. She believed in putting patients and families in the center of care, and in providing comprehensive services.

She retired from FCC in January of 1991 but continued to be active on public health care boards and committees. She was elected for a second time as president of the Missouri Public Health Association. In 1993, at the centennial celebration of the Public Health Nursing Section of MONA, she received the Ruth B. Freeman Distinguished Career Award.

In retirement, she had time to follow her passion for the natural world, training the become a Master Gardener with the Monroe County IL Extension, supporting Clifftop, an organization that preserves the bluff prairies along the Mississippi River in Southern Illinois, hiking numerous trails in Missouri and Southern Illinois, tending her own prairie in the backyard in Columbia.

Edna Dell adored her family and friends. She was a lifelong member of St. Paul United Church of Christ in Columbia. She was an avid supporter of the vision and mission of the United Church of Christ and truly believed in the UCC motto: that all may be one.

Surviving are her dearest friend Sheldon Culver of Columbia; nephew Jim Weinel of Greensboro, N.C.; nieces Linda Chrivia of El Cajon, Calif., Susan (Ray) Brownfield of Lemon Grove, Calif., and Joan Gibbs of Columbia; great-niece Christina Chrivia of El Cajon, Calif., great-nephew John Curtis of Austin, Texas; along with other relatives and friends.

She was preceded in death by her parents Louis Philip and Edna Dorothea (nee Schoening) Weinel and brothers Admiral John ‘Hans’ (Anabel) Weinel, Arthur (Ruth) Weinel, and Jim Edward Weinel.

Visitation will be 4-7 p.m. May 19 at Leesman Funeral Home, Columbia, and 10-10:45 a.m. May 20, at St. Paul United Church of Christ, Columbia. 

A funeral service will be at 11 a.m.  May 20 at church with Rev. Sheldon Culver officiating. 

Interment of her ashes will follow in Evangelical St. Paul Cemetery, Columbia.

In lieu of customary remembrances, the family requests with gratitude that memorial contributions be directed to: St. Paul United Church of Christ – Labyrinth Fund, Columbia; or Clifftop Alliance, Maeystown.