Legacy of Love

Alexandra Nicole Faerber ’15 was a kind soul with a free spirit who could be tough when she needed to be. She liked to help people in need and would not abide anyone being excluded.

“She didn’t judge others,” said her father, Craig. “She accepted people and just assumed they were good.”

Alexandra, who was 27 years old when she passed away on April 8 after a short illness, had always looked out for people who were older or otherwise fragile, Craig said. This became evident when her elementary school took students to nursing homes for visits.

“She would come away with all the folks there loving her, and she was friends with them,” he said. “Even while growing up, if there was a need or somebody was shunned, she was the one who would always reach out to them. She would be the one to take up for them.”

Alexandra became a nurse and was caring for patients who were fragile and in some cases elderly when she passed away. She worked at a long-term acute care (LTAC) facility that provides specialized care and extended rehabilitation, including prolonged mechanical ventilation for patients.

The technicians at the LTAC loved Alexandra because she would help them out in ways other nurses typically didn’t. She went out of her way to lend a hand.

Alexandra had chosen Piedmont’s Athens campus after considering the University of Georgia and attending Clemson University for a semester.

Craig said Piedmont wasn’t overwhelming.

“She felt that it was a better school for her and would be a better experience,” Craig said.

She started college undecided about a major. Craig has always been a “big fan of nurses. He and Alexandra talked about the flexibility that the degree would provide.

“I think nursing is such a noble profession, and there are so many options,” Craig said. “I was really happy that she became a nurse, and I encouraged her to, but she was a free spirit. She was going to do what she wanted.”

Her mother, Febby, said Alexandra was a worrier as a student.

“She didn’t take grades for granted, that is for sure,” she said. “She was one of those people who say, ‘I know I just failed that test.’ You would ask later how she did, and she would say, ‘Oh, I got a B-plus.’”

She pressured herself because she wanted to do well.

“She was very proud that she graduated as a nurse,” Febby said. “It is not an easy major.”

Alexandra shared stories about her work life with her family. They could be gross—like why she would have to purchase new shoes—and Febby said they weren’t always “G-rated.”

“She was no shrinking violet. She would come home and say, ‘you wouldn’t believe what somebody said to me today.’ People say all sorts of things to you, but she was not easily offended.”

At the same time, Alexandra was not one to say negative things about others. Febby said her daughter believed “if you send good out into the world, you’ll get good back.”

The scholarship that bears her name will carry on that legacy for her.

The Alexandra Nicole Faerber Memorial Scholarship in Nursing was established through generous gifts from family and friends. It is awarded annually to two students who have been accepted and are in good standing in the R.H. Daniel School of Nursing and Health Sciences.

The first recipients are Jasmine Lopez and Garion Williams.