Strawberry Plains resident Mary R. McNamara has received her second outstanding teacher award within a year.  She was presented her latest award at the joint Statewide Vocational Education and Tennessee Vocational Association Conference held at Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville in late June.

Mary was previously presented an outstanding teacher award from the Iota Lambda Sigma Beta Chapter at UT.

The vocational education teacher award is annually presented to a teacher on the basis of the teacher’s accomplishments in expading [sic] and improving vocational and technical education in Tennessee.

McNamara, health occupation [sic] teacher at Sevier County Vocational-Technical Center, has previously taught in the Knoxville City Schools [sic] System’s health occupations LPN program.

During her tenure as a state advisory council member, she presented a position paper on the levels of nursing with the emphasis on maintaining Tennessee’s LPN programs while the American Nurses Association continued to push for two levels of nursing which would do away with the LPN.

She also served on the Constitutional and Institutional Committee which was instrumental in starting the Tennessee Health Occupations Students of America chapter.

McNamara holds a diploma of RN work at Knoxville General Hospital.  She is a 1977 graduate of UT with a degree in education.  She is presently in the industrial education masters program.

Mary resides with her husband, Fred, on Hillcrest Drive in Strawberry Plains.

Source:  Holston-Carter Shopper (Knox County, TN), August 4, 1981, page 4