May Rawlinson experienced a lot in her 105-year-life—from earning her bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate degrees, to serving as a nurse in the Navy during World War II, becoming a renowned researcher and professor at OHSU, and traveling to six continents. 

Rawlinson died peacefully in February 2025, likely as one of the University of Oregon’s longest living alumni.  

She was admitted to the UO in 1938, moving from her native Portland to Eugene, where she spent two years working toward her junior certificate. 

In 1940, Rawlinson moved back to Portland to pursue a degree in nursing at the University of Oregon Medical School—now Oregon Health & Science University. During a 2022 interview with the UO Alumni Association, Rawlinson said she wasn’t sure when exactly she decided she wanted to become a nurse. 

“In those days, women didn't have a lot of choices; it was [become] a teacher or nurse, and I didn't want be a teacher, so I wanted be a nurse,” Rawlinson said laughing. 

However, she did recall drawing inspiration from a nurse who helped take care of her brother Herby, who had muscular dystrophy.  

“[Herby] had very few people that he would allow to take care of him because he would be screaming and [others] would grab his arm, and it would really hurt, and they didn’t understand that. This nurse really understood it, and [Herby] was devoted to her because she had a very gentle touch. I had a good role model while I was growing up of nurses that I admired.” 

While studying on the UO’s Eugene campus, Rawlinson joined Gamma Phi Beta and lived in the sorority house. In a 1997 oral history interview with OHSU, Rawlinson remembers how jarring it was to go from the sorority house in Eugene to living in Emma Jones Hall on the Marquam Hill campus. 

“In those years, we lived in a dormitory with a house mother under lock and key, and it was really kind of a shock to us to kind of step backwards in time. But anyway, it was a wonderful experience. Our classmates became lifelong friends.” 

After graduating with her bachelor’s degree in 1943 and earning a public health nursing certificate, Rawlinson joined the US Navy during the peak of World War II. She was sent to a naval base in California. While she never served overseas, Rawlinson told the UOAA in 2022 that she always had her footlocker packed and ready to go, in case she was called to the South Pacific.  

“I was [at the naval base] for over a year, and I worked in orthopedic surgery first. Then, I worked in their diet kitchen . . . I selected things that people on special diets could eat . . . I enjoyed that.” 

After World War II ended and Rawlinson was discharged from the Navy, she returned to Portland and decided to pursue a master’s degree. In her OHSU oral history interview, Rawlinson said that she didn’t feel she was cut out to be a hospital nurse, but that her background in public health made mental health nursing a great fit. 

“University of Portland at that time [had] a federal grant to prepare psychologists at the doctoral level in rehabilitation psychology, and that just seemed like it was tailor-made for my interests because I had done a lot in rehabilitation as a public health nurse, and I was interested in mental health,” Rawlinson said. 

She earned both her master’s degree and PhD in rehabilitation psychology from the University of Portland, before joining OHSU in 1970 as the first faculty member in nursing with a doctorate degree. She was a professor in the School of Nursing and later an associate professor in the Department of Medical Psychology.  

During Rawlinson’s tenure, the institution experienced a great deal of change. In 1974, the medical school that had previously been part of the University of Oregon became its own independent institution, then known as the University of Oregon Health Sciences Center and later renamed Oregon Health & Sciences University. In 1976, the institution recruited Carol Lindeman as dean of the School of Nursing, for which Rawlinson chaired the search. She said that launched an exciting time of development and growth for the school. 

“Those were very exciting years. I thought they were extremely exciting and stimulating,” Rawlinson said in her oral history interview. “We were very busy. It seemed like we were developing things right and left. But Carol encouraged a lot of research, and she liked it to be practice relevant, so she liked people to be involved clinically and to do the research and to teach.” 

Barbara Gaines, DEd ’74 (curriculum and instruction), OHSU professor emeritus, served on the search committee for a new dean alongside Rawlinson. As a colleague of Rawlinson’s, Gaines described her as a respected researcher and a credible leader with a great sense of humor. 

“You have to understand the fact that she was appointed as an associate professor in the School of Medicine is almost unheard of,” Gaines said. “The School of Medicine does not give nursing faculty positions very often, and especially at the associate professor level. That was a really major accomplishment in her career. She truly was an awesome and very genuine person.” 

Similarly, Catherine Burns, OHSU professor emeritus, remembers Rawlinson as kind and supportive. As a young faculty member, Burns had developed a fear of flying, which was impeding her ability to travel to professional meetings and further her career. Rawlinson volunteered to help Burns navigate her fears, walking her through a desensitization process.  

“She didn't have to do that for a very junior faculty person when she was, in my mind, a very senior faculty person. She chose to do that and and I remembered her for [it].” 

In her OHSU oral history interview, Rawlinson said that working with students was the highlight of her career.  

“They were, I think, the source of most of the invigoration,” she said. “You know, working with them on the research projects, they were exceedingly meaningful, I thought.” 

Outside of her professional career, Rawlinson is remembered as an engaged community member and volunteer, having been involved with organizations such as Cascade Behavioral Health, the Native American Art Council, and the Portland Art Museum.  

—Story by April Miller, UO Alumni Association associate director of marketing and communications, 2022 UOAA interview by Serena Markstrom-Nugent, BA ’03 (magazine journalism)