Dr. Lois Marian Parnell Frels (1929-2022)

FRELS, VINTON, PARNELL

Posted By: Ken Wright (email)
Date: 5/28/2022 at 19:19:03

Dr. Lois Marian Parnell Frels, age 92, of Moline and rural Hillsdale, IL, passed away at 6:50 am on Saturday, May 14, 2022 at Friendship Manor in Rock Island, IL. Visitation will be from 10:00am – 11:30am with funeral services beginning at 11:30 on Saturday, May 21, 2022 at Gibson – Bode Funeral Home, Port Byron. Burial will be in Oakwood Cemetery, Geneseo, IL. Memorials may be made to the Moline Rotary Club to support their effort to eradicate Polio or to the Ronald Reagan Breakfast Club.
Dr. Frels was born November 20, 1929 in Geneseo, Illinois. Lois is the daughter of Floyd Vinton and Mary Jane Davis Parnell. She married Calvin Edwin Frels on October 28, 1950 in Clinton, Iowa. Lois graduated from United Township High School in 1947; Moline Public Hospital School of Nursing, 1950; Augustana College, 1959, received a Master’s Degree from the University of Iowa in 1964 and a PhD from the University of Minnesota in 1977.
She was a teacher (grades 6-12), counselor (K-12), school nurse and a Registered Nurse. She was employed by the Moline Visiting Nurses’ Association and the East Moline Visiting Nurses’ Association. She was school nurse in District 37, East Moline Elementary Schools and was the first school nurse at United Township High School. She was employed as a high school counselor at Pleasant Valley High School. As a school nurse in the 1960s she piloted one of the first school-based clinics in the U.S.
In 1970 she began her career in academia. She was employed as Assistant Professor of Community Health Nursing at Marycrest College. She was Associate Professor and Director of the Division of Nursing at Iowa Wesleyan University, Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, Consultant and Community Health Instructor at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and in 1976, became Director of the Division of Nursing at Bradley University in Peoria. At Bradley she led the program to obtain and maintain accreditation and developed three outreach programs so Registered Nurses were able to earn Baccalaureate degrees. She wrote grant funding to establish the university’s first MSN Degree program in Nursing Administration and designed the second MSN Degree program in Nurse Anesthesia. After retiring from Bradley University, she established a consulting business, Frels and Associates, which specialized in research grant writing, community surveys, and accreditation reports.
She has more than 80 publications to her credit. She has completed many historical documents, several covering nursing in Rock Island County.
She was the first woman elected to the Riverdale Unit #100 School Board where she served 9 years, and was a charter member of the Riverdale Education Foundation serving as it’s third president and a trustee for 12 years.
Lois was a charter member of the Trinity College of Nursing Board, a charter member of the “Save the Patient” Organization Board. Dr. Frels and faculty started the nursing education program at Iowa Wesleyan University, Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, leading that program through state approval of the Iowa Board of Nursing and national accreditation with the first class receiving 100% pass rate on the State Board examinations. She chaired a national committee that developed educational guidelines for school nurse practitioners. Dr. Frels served as the director of the first Nursing North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Grant funded by the US Department of Education. She was a charter member of the board to establish the Board Education Center in Peoria.
For 6 years she chaired the Illinois Committee on Nursing. She served as a member of the Illinois Healthcare Cost Containment Council; the Illinois Lt. Governor’s World Health Council, the American Farm Bureau Federations’ Rural Healthcare Council and the Illinois Farm Bureau Rural Health Council.
Dr. Frels served as president of both the Iowa Constituent League for Nursing and the Illinois League for Nursing, holding regional offices and serving on the national committee for the National League for Nursing. She served on the American Nurses Association Community Health Committee as chair of the School Nurses for the American School Health Association (ASHA). She was a “Fellow” of ASHA and served on the editorial board and as a member of their research council. Her work has been presented at the state, national and international meetings, including presentations to the International Council of Nursing, the International Honor Society Phi Lambda Theta and at the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society. She traveled with members of Sigma Theta Tau when chapters were chartered at Universities in Taiwan and Seoul, Korea. She presented at the meetings of the Center for Quality Assurance in International Education, Washington, DC.
Dr. Frels was inducted into the following: Phi Kappa Phi, Sigma Theta Tau International Nursing Honor Society and Phi Lambda Theta International Educational Honor Society. In 2002, she was honored by being named a member of Leadership America. In 2004, she was inducted into the United Township High School Hall of Fame. The Illinois Association of School Nurses honored her by establishing a yearly research award named for her. Bradley University presented her with their Mergen Award, presented to a faculty member for outstanding community service. She was listed in 9 biographical publications.
Dr. Frels chaired the Rock Island County Whitehouse Conference on Children and Youth and was a delegate to the national and state Whitehouse Conferences on Children and Youth. She helped lead efforts to organize the Little Whitehouse Conference on Children and Youth in Rock Island County, which later became the model for the national Conference. She was a board member of the Rock Island County Association of Retarded Citizens when the Opportunity Center was built in Moline.
Upon retirement, Dr. Frels became active in politics. She served on the Board of the National Federation of Republican Women (NFRW) and was a delegate to several NFRW conventions. She served as Researcher to the NFRW Board. She has served as a member of the National Reforming Healthcare Council, Washington DC. She served as honorary chairman for the Business Advisory Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee, Washington DC.
She served as President of the Illinois Federation of Republican Women from 2005-2008, as a member of the Executive Committee of the Illinois National Committee Women’s Roundtable, and as a Governor of the Illinois Lincoln Series for Excellence and Public Service. In 1999, she was recipient of the Republican Women’s Organization’s Mildred Frisk Award. In 2014, the Rock Island County Republican Central Committee honored her by establishing the yearly Tom Getz and Dr. Lois Frels Lincoln Day Dinner Award for a young Republican. In 2016, She received the Belle Babb Mansfield Award from Iowa Wesleyan University for service to the University and lifetime achievement in community, state, national, and international service and to academia.
She served as President and First Vice President of the Republican Women of Rock Island County. She served as Secretary of the Rock Island County Republican Central Committee as well as Precinct Committee Person for Zuma and South Moline District 11 Townships.
She was a member of the Rock Island County Historical Society and chaired the Trinity Nursing Alumni Association Historical Committee. Lois was a member of the Mississippi Valley Regional Antique Automobile Club. In addition to antique cars, Lois enjoyed reading, antiques and history. She enjoyed traveling and her grandchildren. She also enjoyed the Osborn Birthday Club. She was a member of the Ronald Reagan Breakfast Club.
Dr Frels was preceded in death by her husband Calvin. She is survived by two sons and daughters-in-law, Mark Edwin and Ann Renee Harding Frels of Wyanet, Illinois (formerly of Bloomington, Illinois) and Arlan James (AJ) and Anita Willis Frels of Chaseburg, Wisconsin (formerly Gardnerville, Nevada) along with the two grandchildren, Garrett Calvin and Kathryn Marie Frels, one brother and sister-in-law, Orville Vinton and Cheryl Parnell of Davenport, Iowa. She was preceded in death by her parents.
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