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LMH Celebrates 20th Annual Tree Lighting
Special to KinstonPress
Posted: 12:01 AM November 29, 2005 |
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A warm November evening set the stage for the 20th anniversary lighting of the Lenoir Memorial Hospital's Lights of Love tree Monday.
Five-year cancer survivor and LMH employee Lesa Williams was selected to officially light the tree.
The Lenoir Memorial Hospital Auxiliary originated the annual celebration in 1985, which has become one of the community's earliest holiday events on the calendar. The two-decades old fundraiser has generated $378,000 for the hospital's oncology services. Lights can be placed on the tree in honor or in memory of someone. Donations are accepted throughout the year and the honorees' names are listed in a book of remembrance on display in the hospital lobby.
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Lenoir Memorial Hospital Auxiliary President Louise May presided over the event. The Rev. Blake Dempsey, LMH pastoral care coordinator, gave the invocation.
LMH President Gary Black remarked 'there is no better way to start the holiday season" than the Lights of Love Tree Lighting. Hospital board chairman Donald Bolt commended the Auxiliary for the success of the project over the years. He boasted the hospital had been rated in the top 250 of 5,000 nationwide for "having the best clinical outcome." He also said the hospital had been honored by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Hospitals by being the site selected for production of a training film.
Kinston Mayor Johnnie Mosley and Lenoir County Board of Commissioners Chairman George Graham Jr. made brief comments. Also introduced were Jim Dobbins, LMH vice president of human resources and the hospital's oncology physicians, Dr. Andrej V. Hnatoz, Dr. Gordon G. Koltis and Dr. Peter Watson.
The South Lenoir Singers, directed by Mona Knowles, presented the musical entertainment. They ended the performance with the traditional singing of "Silent Night" with the audience joining them on the first and last verses. The Singers performed the second verse in German, the language in which the song was written.
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