By Susan Newhof
It’s a warm afternoon in Houston and Leila Poppen Reynolds is reminiscing from her home about a series of conversations she had with her brother Sherman 20 years ago.
“Sherm and I had both received letters from Mary Anne Gorman, who was director of Hospice of Muskegon County at the time,” Leila said. “She asked about our interest in helping build a local hospice residence, and Sherm asked me to follow up on it.”
Mary Anne explained to Leila what the residence would offer the community and took her on a hike through the property where the planning committee wanted to build.
“I relayed all the information to Sherm and he was sold on the idea,” Leila said. “We had both lost our spouses at 60. His three daughters helped care for their mom at home, and I don’t know what he would have done without them. Sherm agreed that Muskegon needed a hospice residence.”
Together, the siblings had a lot to offer the project. Sherm had the finances and Leila had several years of hospice experience in Houston, as a volunteer and then a full-time staff member when non-profit hospice organizations were just beginning to open around the country.
A journey with hospice
“I spoke to every service group in Houston to share with them exactly what it means to have a hospice team alongside you when you’re caring for a loved one who is dying, and I knew what I was talking about,” Leila recalls. “I had gone back to Muskegon for nine months to be with my mother at the end of her life. She was at home, and I called Hospice of Muskegon County to help. I knew I could not manage her care without that support.”
Names in honor
When Leila and Sherm decided to make a large gift toward construction of the hospice residence, they were given the opportunity to name it. It was an easy decision to honor their parents, Leila and Cyrus.
“Our parents both had a deep history of investing in Muskegon and taught us the importance of giving back,” Leila said. “My Mom started the Girl Scouts there and volunteered with the Muskegon Rescue Mission for 50 years. Dad was a Muskegon city attorney for 17 years and was involved in many organizations, even handing my brother and I our diplomas at our graduation.”
Leila is proud of her role with hospice care in Houston, helping people understand the “new” medical specialty that offered so much to improve the quality of life for those coming to the end of life. She is especially proud of her partnership with her brother and watching the Leila & Cyrus Poppen Hospice residence grow from a dream to a reality.
Why support the Poppen now?
“Because it fills a need that so many families have,” Leila explains. “Their loved one’s care may be too complicated for them to manage at home, or perhaps they can’t be at home to provide the care for their loved one. And some patients don’t have a home to go to. The Poppen is the only hospice residence in our region, and it is as essential today as it was the day it opened.”
Leila’s words echo the heart of what hospice care is: dignity, comfort and compassion when families need it most. The legacy of the Poppen Hospice Residence is in the vision of its planners, the generosity of all who helped build it, and the countless lives it has touched and will continue to touch.
We offer our deepest gratitude to Leila for sharing her story, and to the dynamic sister-brother team whose experience and generosity 20 years ago helped create the Leila & Cyrus Poppen Hospice Residence in Muskegon from the ground up.