LHSON Celebrates 100th Birthday of Marie Chiles: Longtime Donor, Volunteer and Board Member
The Baylor University Louise Herrington School of Nursing (LHSON) proudly celebrates the 100th birthday of Marie Chiles, longtime supporter of the nursing school and Baylor University. She currently serves on the LHSON Board of Advocates and has a passion for supporting aspiring nursing students who are dedicated to follow their calling to Learn. Lead and Serve. and be the hands of feet of Christ for their future patients and their families.
The LHSON will surprise Marie with a festive birthday celebration along with the entire nursing school and Board on Thursday, April 30, 2026 at 1:00 pm in the lobby of its Academic Building at 333 North Washington Avenue in Dallas. Nursing students will joyfully serenade Happy Birthday to Marie while her Baylor family and friends will provide her with 100 birthday cards to commemorate her milestone occasion. A large cake with candles will be served for all to enjoy.
“I have known Marie since she was a young 80-something-year-old,” said Dr. Linda Plank, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, Dean, LHSON. “Even then, I wanted to be like her when I grew up. She is amazing. She is a model wife and treats John like the king he is. She remembers everything and always has opinions that are important to me. LHSON is a better school because of her support and love. I am a better person for knowing her.”
In 2008 Marie and her husband of 71 years, John Chiles, became members of the LHSON Board of Advocates where they established The Good Samaritan Dean’s Fund and an Endowed Scholarship in Nursing in 2009 and provided three simulators for the Sim Training Lab. They received the first annual Friends of Nursing Award in 2011 during the LHSON Alumni Reunion. They also made a significant donation to the new LHSON Academic Building. Plus, they served on the LHSON Gala Task Force during its ten years of successful fundraising.
“Marie is one of the best cheerleaders for our LHSON students ever,” said Janis Kovar, Senior Development Officer, LHSON. “There are few times when there is a gathering that she is not talking about the nursing school to someone there. I know she loves the nursing school, and the nursing school loves her back even more! What an amazing life of giving and volunteering she has had. She has accomplished so much in her 100 years! We are grateful that John brought Marie into the Baylor University family. She is loved by all.”
Marie is noted for her vibrant personality, caring spirit and inspiring determination. Her legacy is filled with incredible stories and zest for life. Marie is a native of Long Island, New York, and received her Bachelor’s degree in mathematics at Chatham University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She is also proudly a 2023 Merrie Beckman Baylor University Alumna By Choice, (to watch a video click here). She retired from the business world in 1960 and became a full-time volunteer for worthy non-profits including: The Blue Birds Circle at Methodist Hospital; the Houston Symphony and Holly Hail Retirement Community, serving on their Boards. She was also a First Lieutenant in the Air Force, serving as the Base Adjutant in England where she met and married John Chiles.
She and John have been long-time advocates for the Baylor University Law School establishing two Endowed Scholarships and “The Starr’s Federalist Papers Lecture Series.” They were the founders and organizers of the Strecker Associates in 1989, the original support group for the Mayborn Museum on the Baylor University campus in Waco, Texas. John served as President of the Associates as well as Project Chair for the building of the Museum which opened in 2004. They are Charter Members of Baylor’s Old Main Society, the Endowed Scholarship Society, and Baylor’s Medallion Fellowship. They received Baylor’s Milton T. Gregory Distinguished Service Award, in 1990 the W.R. White Meritorious Service Award and in 2012 they were awarded the prestigious Founder’s Medal from Baylor University (to watch a video, click here). Marie was a Docent at Bayou Bend and became an avid student of the Decorative Arts studying in England at the Victorian Society in 1990 and Attingham Summer School in 1991. She also currently serves on the Board of Advocates for Baylor University’s Louise Herrington School of Nursing.
In Waco, where the Chiles lived from 1984-1992, John served as President of the Baylor Law School Alumni Association and as President and Chairman of the Board of Brazos Higher Education Service Corporation, Inc. for ten years. Marie was the Director of the Barnes Decorative Arts Course for Hispanic Waco Foundation 1985-1994. They moved to Dallas in 1952 where Marie became coordinator of the Friends of the Decorative Arts at the Dallas Museum of Art (1992-97) and special projects coordinator at the Dallas Heritage Society for Old City Park, and The Historic Village of Dallas 1998-2006. John was on the Baylor Scott & White Medical Center of Waxahachie Board of Directors, 2010-2019, during one of the most dynamic periods in its one-hundred-year history.
As stated by Baylor University, “Marie and John Chiles have been two of Baylor's most loyal benefactors for decades, and their interests have stretched far across campus for more than 40 years.” Their legacy continues and the LHSON is blessed to warmly celebrate Marie on her 100th birthday as a gesture of our gratefulness for all she has done for the nursing school over the years.