“Set in stone”—it’s what we do, metaphorically, for all that is important, unforgettable.
It’s also an opportunity the Auxiliary provides for the Saint Francis community: personalized engraved paver bricks, installed annually in the Remembrance Way Garden, just outside the main entrance of Saint Francis Hospital. Each year the Auxiliary hosts a dedication ceremony for those memorialized or honored within the past 12 months. This year the celebration will take place on Wednesday June 12, at 1:30 p.m.
The tradition began nearly a quarter of a century ago, in 2001, under the leadership of Saint Francis President and CEO David D’Eramo, Ph.D. While Remembrance Garden had been created in 1996 in conjunction with the then-new Patient Care Tower and Woodland Street entrance to the hospital, the paths consisted only of crushed stones. Then the members of the Auxiliary conceived of a way to personalize it for the community, paving it with engraved Remembrance stones, honoring a friend, relative, colleague, or caregiver, or to memorialize a loved one who had passed. The purchase of the bricks provides funds used to support patient care at Saint Francis and Mount Sinai.
A search through the Auxiliary newsletter archives shows that the dedication of Remembrance Way was held, momentously, on September 13, 2001. The Rev. Marcus McKinney offered a prayer that “...We remember and honor those/Whose story of courage and saving lives/Have yet to be told, indeed; might never be known/May their voices echo in the spiritual/Halls of your heavenly kingdom.” Additionally, among that first cohort of those honored, a brick engraved and set in Remembrance Garden reads: “In memory of those who lost their lives on September 11.”
“It’s always been a very moving event,” notes Ranjana Chawla, President of the Auxiliary. “We have music and, as we call out the names on the newly installed bricks, we hand out a yellow rose to the families of those memorialized, and a yellow rose to those honored.”
This year, among those family members present will be Auxiliary board member Donna Wirthman. She will receive the flower in memory of her sister, Geraldine Wirthman, DMD.
“I’d purchased a brick for my parents when they died,” Donna recalls, “and every once in a while, someone I know walks by that brick and mentions it to me. So when my sister Gerry died, I thought of this. My sister was an amazing woman—filled with happiness; she saw the best in everyone. She went to UNC Chapel Hill and became a dental hygienist. Then she went back to teach dental hygienists, and after that, she got her master’s in public health and moved to Maine. At the age of 35, she enrolled in the UNC Adams School of Dentistry. She married the love of her life, Doc, in her late 50s. She was petite, with long red hair, and wore it in a ponytail at her wedding—what bride does that?—because Doc liked it that way. Our father was retired from the Marine Corps, and Doc from the Navy, so Gerry and Doc were active in serving the VFW community.”
“My brother Richard and I have such a hole in our hearts,” Donna continued. “I want Gerry’s name to be seen and read. I want it recognized that someone loved her enough to buy a Remembrance Way brick.”
Additionally, Ranjana suggests that a brick can also mark a joyful event: the birth of a child, for instance. New grandparents might celebrate a little one’s arrival with the name and birthdate engraved on a “welcome” stone, as the next generation begins their health partnership with Saint Francis. Likewise, she recalls that friends who were planning a wedding found an opportunity in Remembrance Way. “The couple purchased a brick honoring both families-of-origin as a way to celebrate their marriage and unity,” Ranjana said.
The Auxiliary invites those strolling through the garden to take a moment to peruse the names and dates of those memorialized, honored, and cherished, recognizing friends and associates, past and present.
This year the June event will celebrate those names inscribed on the 15 bricks ordered so far, as well as any others that are ordered before May 13. For those interested, please CLICK HERE for the Remembrance Way order form.
Submitted by Cynthia Rockwell, Board Member, Auxiliary of Saint Francis.
Have a story you want to share? Submit your story at TrinityHealthOfNE.org/YourStories