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Tuesday, March 17, 2009

A Musical Moment From The Gala Celebrating The Opening of St. Anthony's Hospital

I had the opportunity to participate in various activities celebrating the opening of St. Anthony's Hospital in Gig Harbor, Washington. I cannot begin to put my head around the meaning of that... this wonderful institution, St. Anthony's, with its doctors, nurses, and staff, will serve so many people for years to come. And I was there at its opening... I cannot begin to put into words how much "being there" means to me.
Lots of very happy people came. And I had a chance to sit and listen to the talented
Rob Rigoni.


I think you will like his wonderful work.

6 comments:

Stephanie Frieze said...

It is exciting to have a hospital on this side of the creek, Joseph! I love St. Joseph's, but am happy that there's something closer to my home. Thanks for sharing this happy Gig Harbor community occasion.

JosephMcG said...

I hope you get to take a look at the hospital soon... beautifully put together, state of the art technology... I am saddened because of my friends who worked in security and admissions transferred to St. Anthony from St. Joe's and I miss them...

take care, Joseph

Kim Thompson said...

Gig Harbor has really built up beyond my imagination! I remember going there as a kid and teen and it was nothing but trees!

Lorraine Hart said...

A hospital on this side of the bridge has been anticipated for a long time. So glad it's come to fruition.

I'm not so keen on some of the new shops put in and other developments that have come to Gig Harbor, just in the dozen or so years we've been here. I can't imagine what it looks like to folks who have been around the area so much longer.

Makes me think of dear George Carlin, who once said, "The suburbs...that's where they cut down all the trees...and then name the streets after them!"

JosephMcG said...

Thank you for the wonderful way you help us to smile as we take a good look at ourselves...

Joseph

Jaynie Jones said...

Listening to this Rob Rigoni play reminds me of two very special moments at the Franciscan Hospice House when my brother was dying at Christmas:

The first was when a hospice volunteer strolled into my brother's room out-of-the-blue with an acoustic guitar and played a free-flwing, spontaneous concert of uplifting, mellow music as he stood at my brother's bedside (I think his name was Tony or Anthony; mea culpa for not remembering his name precisely, but I'll never forget his face, his beautiful, long, flowing silver hair, or how beautifully he played Bach's Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring).

The second remarkable moment that was personalized, customized just for my brother came about when a young man named Ben, a hospice volunteer who had just moved here from New York, had learned that my brother liked guitar music. Not only did my brother like guitar music, he played guitar and owned a number of different guitars over the years) Ben came in with his laptop computer and sat down beside my brother's bed. Ben asked me about some of my brother's favorite artists: that was easy ~ Santana, Eric Clapton, and others.

Ben had all kinds of music on his laptop so he crafted a superbly, rocking concert, the likes of which the hospice had probably never heard echoing through its halls from Room #17.

After Ben went home, he created a custom CD of music by those same artists and brought it back to my brother's bedside so that he could listen to it on the little CD player as much and as often as he'd like in his final days and hours whether Ben could be there or not. He was even listening to it at the moment of his death, yes, right through to the very end of his life in a royal send off immersed in his favorite music...

There was a bond established with Ben that will remain with me through the end of my own life. I can never adequately express my appreciationg to him for his loving, thoughtful caring and sharing at that most difficult time.