Iva Loraine McNiel was born and reared in Middlesboro, KY. She graduated from Middlesboro High School in 1937 and attended Eastern Kentucky State Teachers College in Richmond, KY, Harding College in Searcy, AR, and completed her Bachelor of Arts degree in Home Economics at Abilene Christian College, Abilene, TX in 1944. She married James Mack McNiel, a Church of Christ minister, in August 1944. After several moves due to his ministry, they settled in Cleburne, TX in 1960. She worked as a Nurses Aide at Johnson County Memorial Hospital from 1965 to 1969 and completed her Bachelor of Science Nursing (RN) degree at John Peter Smith Hospital in Ft. Worth, TX in May 1969. She then accepted a position with Vanderbilt University Hospital in Nashville, TN and returned to Cleburne to assume a position as Charge Nurse on the Geriatric Ward at Johnson County Memorial Hospital in the late fall of 1969, remaining there until her retirement in 1987. Additionally during this period, she worked as weekend Nurse Supervisor of Colonial Manor Nursing Home in Cleburne for approximately 10 years. She moved to Annapolis, MD in July 1998 and was a resident at Jones Acres Assisted Living for the past six years. She enjoyed reading, attending concerts, movies, scenic drives throughout the countryside of Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey, sampling all the great local cuisine, and being with her children, grand children, and great grand children. She was a loving mother and a good friend to many.

In Maryland, funeral services will be Tuesday, August 15 at 11 a.m. at the Barranco and Sons Funeral Home in Severna Park, MD; visitation will be Monday, August 14, 4 to 8 p.m. In Kentucky, funeral services and interment will be held Thursday, August 17, 2006 at 11 a.m. at the Pine Hill Cemetery with Minister Bill Dayton officiating; visitation will be Wednesday, August 16, 4 to 8 p.m. at the Van Kirk Funeral Home in Corbin, KY. In lieu of flowers, memorials in her honor to Jones Acres Assisted Living (Fern Care Corp; P.O. Box 384; Crownsville, MD 21032) would be appreciated.