Published: September 27, 2008 10:11 pm      

Hospice to hold open house Oct. 7

Hospice of Southern West Virginia’s Bowers Hospice House will host a fall open house and reception Oct. 7 from 5 to 7 p.m. to unveil its rear exterior gardens and a very special memorial to the public.

The Bowers House, opened in November 2006 as another end-of-life care option for area patients, lost its first house director, Jo Ann Calfee Stanton, to cancer July 22. The Bowers House has since received an outpouring of donations sent in Jo Ann’s memory, used in part to erect a memorial waterfall in her honor.

Many employees at Bowers attribute their career choices to the widely known and esteemed director who influenced them with her positive outlook on life and her dedication to caring for her staff and for the Bowers House patients.

At the casual, drop-in ceremony, Delmas Wolfe, assistant director of Hospice of Southern West Virginia, will lead attendees in observing a moment of silence followed by a prayer of dedication at 6 p.m.

“Jo Ann would be so pleased with this setting,” Wolfe says, indicating the changes to the exterior. Wolfe, also an ordained minister, was taking in the peace and tranquility of the waterfall and gardens alone one evening, when he heard soft crying behind him. “It was one of the family members who had come out to stand by the waterfall. She had come out there to just let it all go …” he says.

The gardens are a result of the cumulative generosity of community members and family members who have donated circular “gardens” and seating areas named in memory of loved ones. Jason Walker, owner of Green River Garden Center and Landscaping of Daniels, has himself donated hundreds of plants toward the project, some belonging to his own father, Lewis E. Walker, who passed away in 1999.

Jo Ann’s Waterfall and the gardens are visible examples of the caring mission of Hospice of Southern West Virginia — to extend and enhance the quality of patient lives and to provide a comforting, nurturing environment to those struggling with the difficulties presented by terminal illness.

The Bowers Hospice House is located at 454 Cranberry Drive, Beckley. For more information, contact Public Relations Director Lisa McMillion at 304-255-6404.