Dr. Lolita Garcia Rutland

Dr. Lolita Garcia Rutland, 97, died Friday, March 2, 2018. Funeral services will be held at 3:00PM Monday, March 5, 2018 at the chapel of Mulberry Street United Methodist Church with the Reverends Jimmy Towson, Creede Hinshaw and Maria Rutland officiating. The family will greet friends following the service in the chapel. Burial will be at Cassville Cemetery at 12:00PM Tuesday, March 6, 2018. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Macon Outreach, P.O. Box 149, Macon, GA 31202. Dr. Rutland was born in Bauang, Philippines, educated in the Manila Public Schools, received a certification in Teaching at the then Philippine Normal School Training for Teachers. She was the youngest teacher in the Manila Public Schools at that time. During WWII she served with distinction as a student nurse at Philippine General Hospital, caring for over 10,000 patients and refugees through the end of the war. Dr. Rutland received her diploma in Nursing in 1946. She attended the University of Colorado on a scholarship provided by the US Dept. of State on the occasion of Philippine Independence from the USA (July 4, 1946). She won the scholarship on the basis of her academic achievements and her meritorious wartime service as a nurse. She received her BS degree at U. of Colorado in 1948, and a MS degree at Catholic U. of America in 1949. Dr. Rutland was recruited by the Sisters of Mercy of Atlanta, GA in the St. Joseph's School of Nursing (1951). She received her Ed. D. degree from the University of Florida in 1955. She was recruited by the Superintendent of Central State Hospital in Milledgeville to reform the existing care to patients, beginning one of the first effective therapy treatments for psychotic patients in the U.S. She was the first Nurse Educator to share her approach to patient care with the American Psychiatric Assoc. in 1968. Dr. Rutland developed the nursing program at Macon Junior College and was an Assoc. Prof. in Psychology at Mercer University. She was a professor of nursing at the University of South Carolina. Dr. Rutland worked for many years in the VA hospitals in Georgia and Texas, retiring in the 1980s. In her retirement, Dr. Rutland was active in her church, Mulberry Street United Methodist Church, serving with Macon Outreach. She spent her final years at John Wesley Villas in Macon. She was the widow of Carey T. Rutland. Dr. Rutland is survived by three children, David Rutland of Atlanta, GA, Rev. Dr. Maria Rutland of Middlebury, IN, and Dr. Jonathan Rutland of Carrboro, NC; two grandchildren, Meghan Price and Rachel Price, both of Gainesville, GA. Also surviving is a brother, Franco Garcia of Macon, GA and a sister, Evelyn Bunagan of Quezon City, the Philippines and numerous nieces, nephews, cousins in the US and the Philippines. Register online at www.hartsmort.com. Hart's Mortuary, downtown, has charge of arrangements.