R-T Photo/Alexis Russell
Susanne Walden, second from left, and her late husband, Virgil, have made a $150,000 donation to the Wright Memorial Hospital Foundation. The donation will be used to construct a maintenance building and provide funding for WMH Auxiliary scholarships. Pictured with Mrs. Walden are her children, Jane Fischer, Dan and Terri Walden and Gena Crowdis. [/caption]
The couple lived across the street from the hospital from the time it was constructed at its Iowa Boulevard location in 2011 until they moved to Springfield in 2019. They saw the building every day, walked on its walking trail and Mrs. Walden served as a long-time member of the hospital auxiliary. She also said there were times that having a local hospital not only helped keep their family healthy, but kept them alive. So, when it came time to determine where they wanted to make a donation that would provide a lasting legacy, it’s no surprise they chose Wright Memorial Hospital.
Mrs. Walden, along with her children, Jane Fischer, Gena Crowdis and Dan Walden and his wife, Terri, were honored Thursday at a ceremony at the Barton Farm Campus, where their gift of $150,000 to the WMH Foundation was announced and a plaque in honor of Mrs. Walden and her late husband was unveiled.
WMH Foundation Director David Bain said the donation is the largest one in the history of the foundation, with the exception of the donation by Dr. J.B.Wright that established the hospital. The gift will be used to construct the “Virgil and Susanne Walden Maintenance Building,” with $5,000 of the funds being donated to the WMH Auxiliary to be used for its scholarship program. Bain said the gift is indicative of their long commitment to the community and will provide a lasting legacy to their family and be an ongoing blessing to the community.
Mrs. Walden said the gift is a way to say “thank you” to the community for being a good place to raise her family, which came to Trenton in 1970.
“Trenton was such a good place to live and grow and raise a family,” she said.
While education was important to the couple – Mr. Walden was a vocational agriculture teacher for many years – good health, they knew, was most important. They were thankful to have a local hospital nearby.
Mrs. Walden, who retired as the associate director of the Northwest Agency on Aging in 1991, spoke to the WMH auxiliary about her work there and when her speech was over, some members asked her to volunteer. That led to decades of service and obtaining knowledge that she uses even now living in an assisted living facility in Springfield.
“It was important to them to help keep the hospital in Trenton going,” said daughter Jane Fischer, noting that her parents have left quite a legacy for their family.
“Well, I saw the impact first-hand that it has had,” Mrs. Walden explained.
The gift will be used to construct a building that will be approximately 40-feet by 60-feet by 12-feet. It will be located on the south end of the WMH campus. While Mrs. Walden said her husband always had to be busy – even picking up trash when they were on their walks – the plaque that will be placed at the trail in their honor sums up their feelings about what they hope people will find when they walk the trail or when they seek healing at the hospital.
“In this quiet place you are invited to take a moment to slow down, take in the beauty of the green hills and be refreshed.”