By
Emily Severson
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Funds will be available to nursing students in financial
Friends and co-workers of Amanda Gerber, a UMC nurse who was killed in November, established a scholarship fund under her name so that she would always be remembered.
The scholarship was set up immediately after Gerber's body was found near North Thornydale and West Tangerine roads on Nov. 29, and is still in its early planning stages. It has not yet been determined if the scholarship will be available through the University of Arizona Foundation or the Pima Community College Foundation.
Beth Orenduff, Gerber's aunt who is also a nursing case manager at the University Medical Center, said she is arranging meetings with the foundation directors at both schools and will decide which one to work with at a later date.
Gerber's family members and friends in New York have started another scholarship in her honor at Sullivan County Community College, where she attended nursing school, Orenduff said.
The scholarship is for $500 and will be given to students who want to attend nursing school but do not have the financial ability. The money for the scholarship comes from donations and fund-raising events, Orenduff added.
"The scholarship here will probably be similar to the one back East," Orenduff said. "We would try to make sure that the recipients met some sort of financial need requirement."
A lot of people have donated money, although an exact amount has not yet been determined, said Michelle Cervantes, a close friend of Gerber's and a patient care nurse at UMC's Four West unit where Gerber worked.
"We are not sure what we are going to do next, but maybe the scholarships will be available next year," Cervantes said. "We are just trying to deal with all the other stuff and get through each day."
There is an account at DM Federal Credit Union for people who want to donate money, Orenduff said.
"The reason we chose that bank was because when Amanda came up missing, we knew that she had her debit card with her," Orenduff said. "So we went to the bank to look at where her card had been used and that really helped the police find her."
Gerber was a resident nurse at the UMC Four West Cardiac Unit for three years before her death. She cared for heart patients with transplants, artificial hearts or assisting devices.
Tucson police arrested John Michael Harper, 18, of the 1800 block of South Pantano Road and Frankie Lee Rodriquez, 18, of a general delivery address, on charges of first-degree murder, armed robbery, aggravated assault, auto theft and kidnapping in connection with Gerber's murder.
