it's lasting: the tribute gift

If you would like to discuss thoughtful ways of honoring or remembering someone special, please call Barrow Neurological Foundation 602-406-3041 We’re open Monday - Friday 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Ours is a generous community. People from all walks of life step forward to help those in need. Most often, their help serves those they do not know. We are touched by stories that allow us to share in the lives of others in times of sadness and in times of celebration. Whether it’s assisting the family of a fallen police officer or helping raise funds to send families to support their children’s little league team in the national finals, we are there. We pay tribute through our time and gifts.

The example set by our community is very much reflected in gifts received by Barrow Neurological Foundation. There are a number of ways to show respect, gratitude or affection for someone through a tribute gift. Asimple cash gift in memory or honor of a friend or loved one is perhaps the most common. Gifts of this type may be sent to the Foundation and notification will promptly be sent to the honoree or the family of the person being remembered.

Through trusts, bequests and gifts of appreciated assets or personal property, the memory or commitment of an individual to a particular cause can be carried into future years. These types of gifts help to fund the development of new programs, enhance and expand existing programs and services, and create endowments that will support an endeavor in perpetuity. Commitments such as these also may provide for new educational facilities, research laboratories and patient- care areas.

As you consider ways to remember and honor those closest to you, consider making a tribute gift… the gift that lasts.

Sister Mary Placida Conant, RSM, was born Maria Josephine in Modesta, CA, the fourth of eight children. She grew up on her family’s farm and
vineyard outside Modesta. After graduating from St. Gertrude’s Academy in Rio Vista, CA, she attended St. Mary’s College of Nursing in San Francisco and then entered the Sisters of Mercy in Burlingame in 1931. She professed her vows in 1934.

Sr. Placida worked as a staff nurse at St. Mary’s and continued her studies, receiving a bachelor’s in nursing education from the San Francisco College for Women in 1938. She spent the next 16 years in various nursing management roles in San Francisco.

In 1954, Sr. Placida became the administrator of St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, where she oversaw the completion of the new hospital on Thomas Road, the founding of Barrow Neurological Institute and the opening of the first coronary care unit in Arizona. She was a Fellow of the A m e r ican College of Hospital Administrators and served as president of the Arizona Hospital Association.

Sr. Placida left St. Joseph’s in 1965 and returned to California where she held several hospital administrative positions before retiring in 1982. She worked another eight years as an assistant in the admitting office at St. Mary’s before retiring to the Marian Care Center in Burlingame.

Sister Mary Placida will be remembered for her calm, optimistic, engaged and progressive style of leadership and for her strong and generous community spirit. At St. Joseph’s, she will be remembered for successfully collaborating with Charles Barrow and John Green, MD, on the creation of the Southwest’s first neuroscience center, Barrow Neurological Institute.