As a nurse case manager at Fort Jackson in Columbia, S.C., Candice Dulaney saw the ravages of war every day in the soldiers and veterans that she treated. The experience moved her to join the U.S. Army Reserve.
“From 2009 to 2011, we were bringing back a lot of wounded soldiers, mostly from Afghanistan and Iraq,” says Dulaney. “Hearing their stories, some of the things they had seen and done and the sacrifices they had made, I felt inclined to further assist in any way I could.”
Dulaney, the mother of Ali Dulaney ’26, decided to honor the sacrifices of those soldiers with a gift to Wofford’s Military Memorial. The memorial will be a public space on campus that will bear the names, class years, service branches and ranks of those who died while on active duty beginning with World War I and Wofford’s establishment of a U.S. Army Reserve Officer Training Corps unit.
“I was excited when I heard Wofford was doing this,” Dulaney says. “I wanted to drop something in to help get the project going.”
Dulaney joined the Army Reserve in 2011. She is now a major.
“I was 35 at the time, and I thought I had missed my chance,” she says. “Then I found out they were still taking nurses up to age 52.”
Dulaney still works at Fort Jackson, one of the largest training bases in the country. Later this year, her unit will be mobilized for a year. She says she’ll welcome the mission and the opportunity to continue to support the Military Memorial as well. She looks forward to seeing the finished project, which will begin once the funds for the project have been raised.
“Wofford is invested in its alumni, and that’s something I encouraged Ali to seek,” Dulaney says. “Recognizing the people who went before you and showing your appreciation for them meets the mission of the college.”