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Frye, Paula McFadden
Paula McFadden Frye passed away Sunday, Dec. 1, 2013, at Mercy Medical Center, Cedar Rapids. Private family services were held. Arrangements are with Stewart Baxter Funeral & Memorial Services, Cedar Rapids.
Paula was a mother, a nurse and a friend. She was born in Elkins, W.V., in 1943, and grew up in the southern part of Pittsburgh, Pa. She graduated from West Virginia University in 1964, earning a Bachelor of Nursing. She married and adopted a baby boy in Denver, Colo., who they named Paul after her father. She attended Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Va., earning a Master of Science in Nursing with a specialization in mental health. She divorced, returned to West Virginia, remarried and moved to Columbus, Ohio, where she had her second son, Neil. She practiced nursing in private practice with her second husband delivering therapeutic mental health care in Fairmont, W.Va.
In 1982, she divorced and moved the boys to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, beginning a teaching career at Mount Mercy College where she helped many nursing students learn the basics and foster others' passion for mental health care until 1988. Paula returned to hospital care and practiced nursing at Mercy Medical Center where she advocated for a more sustainable model of mental health care supporting the hospital's outpatient mental health program. She retired from Mercy Medical Center in 2000.
In retirement, Paula enjoyed gardening, listening to music and traveling to visit wherever Neil decided to land next. Paula's passion for life, thoughtful nature and a witty sense of humor touched everyone she met. She often said her greatest accomplishment was raising two men who were thoughtful, caring and made a difference in this world.
Paula is survived by her sister, Rita Kathryn Yonker of Bloomington, Minn.; sons, Paul William Collins of Cedar Rapids and Neil Edward Frye of San Francisco, Calif.; daughter-in-law, Sherrie Collins; granddaughter, Emma Collins; and many friends.
Please sign the online guest book and share a memory about Paula at .
Published in The Gazette Dec. 4, 2013.
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