Jack S. Dolan: Appreciating the finer things in life
A Love of Music
Jack Dolan, longtime Springfield resident who worked and taught for many years at St. John’s Hospital as a nurse anesthesiologist, has generously given a charitable gift annuity to UIS in support students in the music program.
As a child, Mr. Dolan became fascinated with music and loved to watch people playing the piano. It was “a dream come true” to begin piano lessons at age 12, and he often played in church and for his own enjoyment.
At 46, he began taking lessons again, continuing for seven or eight years. He enjoyed that so much that he also studied pipe organ for three or four years. Playing the pipe organ, he says, has been “such a thrill.”
A Gift for Students
He would like to encourage students at UIS engaged in music programs because music can help students gain a better appreciation of the finer things in life. He himself enjoys classical and easy listening music, as well as music from the era of Sound of Music, Show Boat, and Camelot.
He would most like his gift to enable students who are pursuing a profession in music to learn, study, and practice without having to work extra hours to afford their education.
A Nurse Anesthesiologist
Regarding his own profession, Mr. Dolan decided early during his childhood in Arkansas that he wanted to work in a hospital, especially in surgery and preferably in anesthesiology. In 1958, after completing his initial nurse’s training in El Dorado, Arkansas, he moved to Springfield to attend St. John’s School of Nurse Anesthesiology.
After graduation, he was offered a permanent position, and he worked at St. John’s, both as a practitioner and as a teacher, for 35 years, until retirement. In addition to his other degrees, he earned a BS from the University of St. Francis in Joliet.
Another Springfield Community Friend to UIS
UIS is fortunate to have good friends like Jack Dolan among the residents of Springfield and the surrounding community who see in our students an opportunity to invest in the future.