Helen Iola McClellan Manoogian, BSN’47: Nursing Pioneer

Iola Manoogian, BSN'47, seated, center, with nursing classmates at the 1987 Vanderbilt Reunion (Vanderbilt Special Collections and Photo Archives)

Helen Iola McClellan Manoogian, nursing missionary to the Middle East and founder of a nursing school in Lebanon, died March 16, 2024, in Richmond, Virginia. She was 102.

Manoogian was born in Palmyra, Missouri, on June 2, 1921. She formed her early habits of diligence, work ethic and frugality during the Great Depression. When she was 13 years old, she heard a missionary speaker from China and decided then to become a missionary. After working her way through Vanderbilt, she served in the Cadet Nurse Corps during World War II. After the war, she was commissioned by the International Mission Board to the Middle East as a nurse. Through a series of unexpected events, she found herself in Beirut, Lebanon, where she immersed herself in the Armenian and Arab cultures. She volunteered her services as a nurse at Christian Medical Center Hospital, where she met her husband, Dr. Peter Manoogian. Seeing the need for the hospital to establish a nursing school, she founded one. Nurses who received their hands-on training at CMC were heavily recruited by hospitals in Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan, Palestine, Cyprus, the United States, United Kingdom and other countries.

The Manoogians' 41 years at CMC Hospital came to an end when they emigrated to the United States in 1986, after weathering a 15-year war in Beirut. Iola continued working as a registered nurse at Williamsburg Community Hospital until her retirement in 1996 at the age of 75. Several organizations recognized Manoogian for her contributions to the Middle East and the Armenian and Arab communities. She was awarded the Vanderbilt School of Nursing Alumni Association Board of Directors' President's Award of Distinction (2004) and recognized as one of the 100 Years-100 Leaders at Vanderbilt School of Nursing's Centennial Celebration (2008).

She was predeceased by an infant son in 1958 and her husband in 2001. She is survived by six children, including Evelyn Biles, '73, and son-in-law, Stephen Biles, BSN'74; 21 grandchildren; 41 great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren.

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