Verna Denice O'Rourke

Verna Denice O’Rourke fell asleep in the promises of Christ on Sunday January 24th, 2021, at the age of 68. She was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1952, and moved to Quincy, Illinois as a teenager. She spent many of the summers and holidays of her youth with family in Somerset, Kentucky.
Denice was a graduate of Quincy Senior High School and went on to attend St. Louis Christian College. She earned her BSN from Blessing-Rieman College of Nursing and her Masters as a PMHNP from Vanderbilt University. She cared for patients nation-wide as a travel nurse but devoted most of her life to those at Blessing Hospital in Quincy, Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital in Nashville, TN, and Shawnee Healthcare in Carbondale, Illinois. Denice served with tenderness and zeal in her vocation as a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner, ultimately leading the development of Worthington Square Geriatric Psych Unit at Illini Community Hospital in Pittsfield, Illinois.
Upon retiring, she moved to Atlanta, Georgia, and spent her time surrounded by grandchildren, often traveling to visit her children and loved ones. She was a member of Grace Lutheran Church in Atlanta, serving to establish a mission to refugees and offering guidance for safety protocols in the midst of the Covid19 pandemic. Throughout her life, Denice spent many happy hours singing, dancing, cooking, reading voraciously, and delighting in nature. She used her natural green thumb to surround herself with plants indoors and out. Taking up art in her retirement, she sketched and painted still lifes and landscapes. All remember her for her sweetness and spunk, her irresistible laughter, her genuine kindness, and her abiding love.
Denice was preceded in death by her mother and father, Christine and Bill, by her father, Vernon, and her brother Bill. She is survived by her sister Julie (Jim); her siblings Kelly (Emily), Bonnie (Howard), Kevin (Sonya), and Kerry (Pam); her children Ali (Brian), Adam (Beth), and Aaron (Carrie); her six grandchildren Jacob (Emily), Wrenn (Taige), Isaiah, Asher, Linus, and Ari; and many dear nieces, nephews, and cousins.
Funeral and interment services will occur in Somerset, Kentucky, at a future date in 2021.
If you would like to honor Denice’s life with a monetary gift, please make a donation to your local women’s shelter, coalition against domestic violence, or mental health charity organization.