New Garden Blooms at Benefis Peace Hospice
A beautiful new garden at Benefis Peace Hospice came into bloom in 2024 to honor the legacy of a former Benefis leader who passed away at the Hospice House.
Terry Preite poured her heart into the
Benefis family during a career that spanned nearly three decades. She was a senior leader who combined great vision with a personal touch.
”We all should be doing what we love. It should be our passion. It was for me, absolutely,” Terry said of her career in healthcare. “I loved every bit.”
Because of the support of generous Hospice donors, the Terry Preite Memorial Garden adds a tranquil and lovely space to the house. Sculptures by Mike Hollern, perennial flowers,
and winding sidewalks give Hospice patients and their families
an expanded outdoor area to experience.
Work also continues this spring to incorporate a wind phone into the garden to help with grieving.
Hospice volunteer Cortney Leverentz is leading the wind phone project in honor of her dad, Lyle.
The first wind phone was installed in Japan, an out-of-commission phone booth that offered a grieving man the space to speak to those he missed. After the 2011 tsunami, many more visited the wind phone to say all they wanted to say to those swept away. Their voices were carried to the wind, but it helped their hearts heal.
Instead of an upcycled phone booth, Cortney, a Hospice volunteer and an occupational therapist, is working on a custom, enclosed gazebo with enough room for a wheelchair or walker and a support person so everyone can access the space. It’s meant to be durable to continue to bring comfort into the future.
“You go into the wind phone booth with your own grief and feeling alone, but then you’ll feel those who grieve, too, and made this project possible,” Cortney said. “It will be open to the community as a meditative and reflective place for those who need it.”
Donors can contribute to the building and maintenance of the wind phone or to the garden at Benefis.org/Give. Under gift designation, select other and write in “wind phone” or "Terry Preite Memorial Garden."
