Bernadine “Dee” Ulan Dolan Neill, of Williamsburg, died on May 12, 2014, at the home of her loving daughter.
Born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania on May 30, 1924, she was the daughter of John Anthony and Elizabeth Martin Ulan. She graduated from the West Philadelphia Catholic Girls High School, Philadelphia and the Berkeley School, Orange, New Jersey.
Mrs. Dolan Neill founded Career Development Center, in Newport News, in 1978, a private post-secondary career training center and was president until she retired.
After having three children and helping Mr. Dolan through graduate school at Syracuse University and Albany State Teachers College, Mrs. Dolan Neill felt the acute need to establish a school that would train students for jobs in a short period of time. When liquor by the drink in the state of Virginia was legislated, she trained bartenders. When she saw that people were living longer she began training nurse’s aides. When doctors and hospitals needed medical assistants and transcriptionists, she started training courses in these areas. One of her greatest accomplishments at CDC was establishing the first private career school in the State of Virginia, to be approved to train Practical Nurses leading them to licensure in only 12 months. Mrs. Dolan Neill herself had a successful career with the Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, Maryland, and at Ft. Eustis, Virginia. As a young woman, she worked for the Alexander Summer Mortgage Company, Teaneck, New Jersey.
Mrs. Dolan Neill was the widow of Thomas Joseph Dolan, who was born in Orange, New Jersey. They retired to the Northern Neck in 1985 to “Dobhailen” on Kilneck Cove in Lottsburg, Virginia.
Mrs. Dolan Neill’s second husband, Captain (USN, RET) Dugald Tucker Neill, also preceded her in death. Mrs. Dolan Neill is survived by her three daughters and sons-in-law, Peggy Dolan Love (David) of Richmond, Patti Dolan Ettus (Doug) of Williamsburg, and Ellen Dolan Franks (Dan) of Williamsburg. She is also survived by six grandchildren, Jennifer Love Tschopp of Charlotte, North Carolina, Erin Love Milton of Richmond, Ryan Dolan Ettus of Norfolk, Megan Melissa Ettus of Arlington, Vernon Thomas Franks, and Marisa Caitlin Franks of Williamsburg. In addition, Mrs. Dolan Neill is survived by five great-grandchildren, a brother, Leonard Ulan of Huntington Valley, Pennsylvania and numerous nieces and nephews.
A viewing will take place at 10 a.m. Monday, May 19, 2014 at St. Bede Catholic Church, 3686 Ironbound Rd, Williamsburg, VA 23188, followed by a service at 11 a.m. A private family interment will take place at a later date.
The family requests that expressions of sympathy take the form of contributions to St. Bede.
Please leave online condolences for the family at Nelson Funeral Home.
