THE EMILY ALICE LITTLETON NURSING SCHOLARSHIP
Her name. Her story. A legacy still growing.
Emily Alice was fierce, fearless, funny, independent, mischievous, beautiful and generous. She came into this world at full volume and pretty much stayed that way.
She walked early, climbed everything, earned the nickname Monkey, loved dressing like a fairy princess, adored animals, and was especially delighted by little tree frogs. She loved her siblings fiercely and defended them just as fiercely.
Her kindergarten teacher once said, “It’s Emi’s world and she just lets us live in it.”
Mental illness was part of her story.
But it was never the whole story.
As she got older, Emi experienced significant mental-health struggles. There were seasons that were frightening and heavy, and our family walked through years we never could have imagined.
But mental illness was something she experienced. It was not her identity.
She was still the girl who loved animals. The sister who defended her brothers. The daughter who made us laugh, lose our minds, and love her fiercely. She was still Emi.
Why a nursing scholarship?
Nursing changed my life. It gave me a career I loved, people I was honored to care for, and work that asked me to show up for others on some of the hardest days of their lives.
Creating a nursing scholarship in Emi’s name felt like a way to let her story keep reaching people—especially students whose own lives have been touched by mental-health challenges, whether personally or through someone they love.
Her name gets to keep opening doors.
Say her name.
One of the things that mattered most to me about creating this scholarship was knowing that Emi’s name would continue to be spoken. If someone receives this scholarship, they will know who Emily Alice Littleton was.
If someone wants that scholarship, they have to say her name.
That matters to me more than I can explain.
And then the flowers joined the story.
At some point, all the paths started crossing. I was making flowers. The scholarship needed funding. And suddenly it made sense that the two could help carry one another forward.
Something that had given my hands something beautiful to do could also help someone become a nurse. Beauty could carry her name.
Every arrangement moves us a little closer.
Look what love is still doing.
The scholarship originally had $52,000 to raise.
The Alabama Nurses Association gave $26,000.
In its first seven months, Drenched in Grace contributed $7,000.
$19,000 TO GO
Every arrangement moves us a little closer.
More than money.
The goal has never been simply to reach the number. The goal is to build something that will keep carrying her name long after we are gone.
Fully endowed. Forever.
This is how we remember her.
Not by reducing her life to the hardest part of her story. Not by letting darkness have the final word. We remember the girl who was fierce and funny and wild and free. We remember the sister, the daughter, the animal lover, the climber, the troublemaker, the one who lived at full volume.