Rose Mayr Nursing Scholarship Honors Derailment Victim

This month marks the one-year anniversary of the deaths of Ellicott City residents Rose Mayr and Elizabeth Nass, who were killed by the tragic derailment of the CSX train on Main Street in August 2012.

Before her death, Mayr, 19, was preparing to begin her junior year studying nursing at the University of Delaware. Her parents with the help of the Howard Hospital Foundation (HHF) have set up a nursing scholarship to honor her memory.

“Rose’s death was not just a tragedy for our family, but for Ellicott City and Howard County,” said Mark and Sharon Mayr, Rose’s parents, in a statement. “She died about a week before starting her junior year at the University of Delaware, where she found her passion in their nursing program. In requesting that donations in her memory be made to the Howard Hospital Foundation, we felt we were both honoring her aspirations for nursing and benefiting the people of Howard County.”

The scholarship will award $1,000 per semester to each recipient for up to four consecutive semesters, according to the Howard Hospital Foundation. One new scholarship recipient will be chosen from Howard Community College’s nursing program each year.

“Those closest to Rose have turned this tragedy into a powerful memorial,” said Sandy Harriman, vice president of development for HHF, in a statement. “The outpouring of support resulted in the largest number of memorial gifts we have received in the foundation’s history.”

The “2 Hearts 2 Miles” memorial run is scheduled for Saturday in Ellicott City to honor Nass and Mayr. The run is being held to raise funds for the Mayr Nursing Scholarship and the Elizabeth Nass Scholarship, which is awarded to a Mt. Hebron High School senior attending James Madison University. Nass was a student at James Madison at the time of her death where she was studying early childhood education.