Mercy College of Health Sciences announced Wednesday that it has received an alumna gift of $426,772 from the estate of G. Frances Shiltz Weieneth to establish an endowed scholarship for the benefit of a nursing student. Weieneth, a 1945 diploma nursing graduate who spent much of her career as an industrial nurse at the John Deere Ottumwa Works, requested that first priority for receiving the scholarship be given to an eligible nursing student from Ottumwa. The John F. and G. Frances Weieneth Nursing Scholarship’s goal is to support one nursing student with an award estimated at more than $21,000 when fully funded in three years. Last year, the Des Moines-based nursing college graduated 132 new nurses who went on to successfully complete the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses.