Memorial Set for Schnee

Memorial Set for Schnee

BY DAVID KAPLAN
Rice News Staff
Sept. 3, 1998

The Rice community mourns the loss of Amanda Schnee, who was director of Rice’s
Student Health Services for the last 20 years. Schnee died from a congenital
heart defect on July 19 at the age of 51.

A native of Scotland, Schnee earned her medical degree in 1968. She began her
career as a physician in Scotland and became a civilian medical officer in the
U.S. Air Force in Omaha before accepting her position at Rice.

Mark Jenkins, associate director of Student Health Services, who spent seven
years in partnership with Schnee, believes that thousands of Rice students were
touched by Schnee’s compassion: "Some in small ways, others in life-saving
ways," he says. "The patients loved her. She truly cared about their
lives. Sometimes, they would just come in to talk."

Staff nurse Janet Martin recalls that Schnee was almost always cheerful. "No
matter how busy or stressful a day we were having–when she’d go into the examining
room to see a student, she’d have a smile." Schnee was "concerned
with their total being," Martin says. "It could be a medical problem
or a problem with a boyfriend or girlfriend. She was their mother along with
their doctor."

"She was genuinely happy when a student was happy," says Jenkins,
who says Schnee would "go out of her way to make sure someone got taken
care of." He recalls, for example, that she would call students over the
weekend to make sure they were all right.

"She developed a quality of medical care you don’t see in today’s society,"
says Jenkins. "She was like a doctor in a small town. Sometimes, I’d come
into work and see baked goods that someone had left for her."

Schnee, he says, was "very strong willed. It was refreshing to work with
her because she was so up-front. She wasn’t afraid to tell you what was on her
mind. You can get a lot accomplished when there’s nothing to hide."

Working with Schnee was also a lot of fun, Jenkins says. They often teased
each other about their respective Scottish and British heritage. On Halloween
she’d come to work dressed in disguise. Most students enjoyed seeing her in
costume, although, Jenkins says, a few were taken aback to see a doctor dressed
as Raggedy Ann.

A Dr. Amanda M. Schnee Student Health Services Memorial Fund has been established
to help realize Schnee’s dream of enhancing the student health service. "She
really fought hard to enhance the health service to be consistent with the university’s
reputation for excellence," says Jenkins, who hopes that within the next
two years the Student Health Services will move to a larger space on campus,
and be able to provide more services.

Schnee is survived by her husband Mark and four daughters, Samantha, Jicky,
Pippa and Briony.

There will be a memorial service for Schnee on Sept. 9 at 7 p.m. outside Student
Health Services in the Hanszen Quad, or in the Rice Chapel if it rains. It will
be open to the Rice community.

To contribute to the Dr. Amanda M. Schnee Student Health Services Memorial
Fund, contact Stella Evensen at (713) 527-4032. Donations in Schnee’s memory
may also be made to the Texas Heart Institute.