Reflections - Winter 2022

MASONIC VILLAGE HOSPICE

WINTER 2022

Providing Spiritual Care (p. 4) Your Gifts Are Supporting Families Through Grief

Finding a Safe Haven Robert (Bob) and Marian Hinkle spent 74 beautiful years together. On their 74th wedding anniversary – 10 days before Bob passed away – Pastor Timothy Nickel, former Masonic Village Hospice chaplain, and Robert Heim, Bob’s hospice nurse, put together dessert, flowers, music and candles for the couple in the room they shared

Above: Robert and Marian Hinkle at Masonic Village at Elizabethtown. Left: Deborah Beozzo visits with her mother.

at Masonic Village at Elizabethtown.

The Hinkles’ daughter, Deborah (Hinkle)

friends of the family in attendance.

Beozzo, who lives in Pittsburgh, said her family was extremely touched

“The next day, I learned I had a broken

by the gesture. It meant so much to

foot and three bruised ribs, but nothing

her brother, her and her parents.

mattered except the dedication Rev. Tim displayed,” Deborah said. “Following a

“The things that Hospice did were

harrowing drive home in a treacherous

incredible,” she said. “I live about four

snowstorm, but he ministered to our

hours away and couldn’t be there all the

mom and our whole family until her

time. Hospice was always there. They really did fill in the gaps and eased my mind when either my brother’s illness or my distance kept family from visiting.”

The family developed such a strong bond with Pastor Tim during her parents’ time in Hospice, that he gave the eulogy at both Bob’s funeral in 2017 and Marian’s in 2020.

“All of our family members felt like he was a member of our family,” she said. “Even my cousin just recently said how much he captured every aspect of my parents’ life.

They’re still talking about it.”

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Following Bob’s funeral and a luncheon

death a little over two years later.”

held at Masonic Village (so Marian

Pastor Tim again delivered the eulogy at

could attend), the family began the

Marian’s funeral and made the long drive

journey to bury him in his hometown

for her burial. Bethann Lizzi, Marian’s

of West Hazleton, Pennsylvania.

hospice nurse, also attended the

En route to the burial, a two-hour car ride each way, Deborah’s car was totaled in a car accident, after which

Lancaster funeral, telling Deborah she had a special bond with Marian, because she was her first hospice patient.

a snowstorm made it impossible

“Hospice not only nurtured my

for family and friends to get to the

parents, but they were also there for

cemetery. Fortunately, Pastor Tim

me and my family,” Deborah said.

had gone on before them with the hearse and proceeded to bury her dad in a 17-degree snowstorm, with her sister-in-law and five local

Bob and Marian were born and raised in West Hazleton and never left the area. Both were raised

during the Great Depression. Bob and Marian struggled through the worst of times as children and adolescents.

Bob and Marian met through Bob’s sister, Ruth.

Bob was able to graduate from high school. Marian completed the ninth grade and then worked to support her family.

“My mother went there [to Ruth’s house] for several months before my father would ask her for a date,” Deborah said. “He was painfully shy, the only boy in a family of seven sisters. She was the more gregarious one.”

The couple married in 1943 in Texas, where Bob was stationed in the Army Air Corps. Marian was 19 and Bob was 23. When Bob got orders to ship out to India on the SS George Randall, Marion returned home to West Hazleton with a baby on the way.

Bob spent four years in the military before arriving home in 1946 and beginning work in the trucking industry, a family business on Marian’s side.

The couple had two children, Robert and Deborah, three granddaughters, four great-granddaughters and one great-grandson. Their fifth great-granddaughter, Evie, was born in 2021, a year after Marian’s death.

Both Bob and Marian were active at St. Paul’s United Church of Christ, formerly located on Broad Street in West Hazleton. Bob was an elder and served on the administrative consistory. He and Marian worked with youth and were also members of the “Couples Club.” Marian, an avid baker, used her home kitchen to make her recipe for 132 Dutch cakes. She could barely keep up with the demand for the cakes, and they always sold out, Deborah said.

After 65 years in the same house in West Hazelton, Bob and Marian moved to Drums, Pennsylvania, and into Fritzingertown Senior Living Community, where they stayed for five years. Eventually, Bob’s health began to decline, and a move was necessary.

“He needed more care, and we were waiting to get a room at Elizabethtown where they could be together, because they wouldn’t go without each other,” Deborah said. The two arrived at Masonic Village in August of 2017, and Bob died in December of that year.

Deborah noted, “My mother always sang the song, ‘You Are My Sunshine.’” As my father was getting worse, she

Marian and her son Robert. would sing it to him all the time. We didn’t think she was aware of how bad he was. “But when we left the night of his death, Mom asked that their beds be pushed together.”

“He died in the middle of the night, and mom slept through it. For months after his death, she would sit in her wheelchair and sing the song over and over again. Only Pastor Tim could comfort her.”

Bob’s fondest wish was that his family visit the Taj Mahal in Agra, India, where he’d been stationed in 1944. Days after his death, son Robert and his wife, Cheri, received e-mails about an upcoming cruise to India. Three months after Bob’s death, Robert, Cheri, Sy and Deborah fulfilled Bob’s wish for his family to see and visit the Taj Mahal.

Unfortunately, Marian developed pneumonia while her family was in India and was placed on hospice the next month. But hospice and many family visits nursed her back to health so that she was able to anticipate, realize and enjoy the Colorado birth of her great grandson, Dylan, in 2018.

In June, 2019, Marian and Dylan finally got to meet in person. Deborah is grateful that her mother was able to meet baby Dylan before she died.

“I think my daughter’s pregnancy kept her (my mom) alive,” she said. “Hospice encouraged her that my daughter would come visit with the baby. Bethann helped us Facetime with her when my husband and I visited Dylan in Colorado.”

“Thanks to Hospice, my mom got to enjoy Dylan and see him grow,” she said. “We are very grateful.”

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Providing for Patient Needs New hospice chaplain Leah M. Williams compares her job with being a scientist; determining what each patient needs is like doing a science experiment.

“Every patient is unique,” she said. “So, as a chaplain, the spiritual care that I provide must remain fluid in order to meet the needs of all we serve.”

Leah, who started in November, works with a second chaplain, Robert Ziehmer, to provide spiritual care for patients.

“In order to provide optimal care, we work in tandem with the nursing

“Each patient gets the same type of attention. I’ve never been part of a team that’s so concentrated like that. It’s exciting.”

make the wrong decisions,” she said.

Arkansas because her husband moved

the support services team. “Their main

for his job. In 2020, he got a new

intention is to provide intense, deep

of the transformations happening is

position in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania,

care for the patient,” she said. “Each

so the couple moved to Lewisburg,

patient gets the same type of attention.

where Leah served as lead pastor at

I’ve never been part of a team that’s so

Beaver Memorial United Methodist

concentrated like that. It’s exciting.”

staff, social workers and volunteer coordinators,” she said. “For some, having a visit from a chaplain can be intimidating. However, we do our best to demonstrate a level of care that not only focuses on spiritual care, but also a high level of compassion.”

Leah originally hails from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and most recently lived in

Church. Prior to that, she served on the City Council in Arkansas.

justice from the University of Memphis

Leah decided to come to Masonic

and a Master of Divinity degree from

Village at Elizabethtown because

Duke University Divinity School and the

she appreciated the different levels

Interdenominational Theological Center

of care it provides. “From what I

(ITC) in Atlanta, Georgia. She spent time

gathered, Masonic Village was very

working with the prison population and

intentional in providing adequate care

realized they had strong spiritual needs.

on all levels.” she said. “The patient

That led her to enroll in divinity school.

and their family really don’t know you, but trust you in their sacred space.”

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Leah has a bachelor’s degree in criminal

“I realized how connected your soul is … I noticed some people don’t take

So far, her experience has been

care of their soul or have access to

wonderful, especially working alongside

why they do what they do, and they

“When you spend time in the criminal justice system, it makes you think about things you wouldn’t normally think about. I felt like exploring the spiritual route was a good thing.”

Leah said she likes that Hospice puts the focus on the family and being able to “walk with them” during a very difficult time. “Being able to see some really powerful and intimate,” she said.

“You’re like the ‘intimate stranger.’

They don’t know you, but you’re in these spaces you’re not usually invited to. It’s amazing to be in that space.”

Leah said her goal as chaplain is to be there to provide exactly what the patient needs. “You know when you get a massage and afterwards you say, ‘I didn’t know I needed that until I got it?’” she said. “I am hoping when I leave the room, my patients can have that emotional release or reflection.”

When she’s not working, Leah enjoys swimming, fitness activities, reading and getting her nails done. She is married to her husband, Michael.

The couple has four children.

Embracing His Calling Most people would rather be invited

what phenomenal services we provide.”

to a wedding than a funeral. However,

Robert initially gravitated toward

Robert Ziehmer, new hospice

ministry work because it was “a call.”

chaplain, prefers the opposite.

He realized during his senior year of

Robert began his role as hospice

high school it was what he was meant

chaplain with Masonic Village

to do with his life and obtained a

Hospice in April 2021, but he has

bachelor’s degree in youth ministry

been committed to providing comfort

and a Master of Divinity degree.

and guidance throughout the end-

“I didn’t grow up romanticizing the

of-life process for over 20 years.

idea that I wanted to be a pastor. It

“At weddings, I feel like I’m just there to

was the opposite, in fact, but I felt

perform the ceremony, but at funerals,

a calling and nudging to do ministry

people want to be remembered.

of some sort. It wasn’t something I

They want their loved one to be

chose; it chose me,” Robert said.

eulogized in a way that’s authentic, but also a good summation of the person’s life and accomplishments,” Robert said. “I’m a writer at heart, and I find it very rewarding to create a narrative and research a person’s life. Working in hospice seemed to be a natural progression.”

Robert worked with funerals and

“I’m a writer at heart, and I find it very rewarding to create a narrative and research a person’s life.”

the end-of-life process in his roles as lead pastor at five different churches

Some of Robert’s duties include

prior to working at Masonic Village.

doing routine patient visits, making

He has served in Indianapolis,

spiritual assessments to gauge their

Indiana; Middle, Tennessee;

faith and attending meetings to assess

Memphis, Tennessee; Amarillo,

their needs and plans of care.

Texas; and Reading, Pennsylvania.

He said his goal within the role is to

Outside of work, Robert enjoys fly fishing and woodwork. He resides in the Reading area with his son, Benjamin, who has been a big factor and inspiration in Robert’s decision to shift his ministry focus.

Benjamin is autistic and nonverbal, so assisting patients who are nonverbal is “second nature” to Robert. Robert said Benjamin has given him the gift of appreciation for those who have difficulties communicating, a population of the patients using hospice services.

“You learn the importance of communication when people cannot communicate. I believe they are present,

In his previous positions, he worked

increase awareness of what hospice

with hospice chaplains often but didn’t

chaplains do, as well as Masonic Village

fully realize the scope of hospice.

Hospice’s program, specifically.

does something for them,” Robert said.

“It’s not just coming to someone beside

“There can be a tendency to focus

how can we truly say we understand

their bedside and praying,” Robert

almost exclusively on the medical

what’s going on in the heart and mind

said. “It’s understanding and working

aspect of end-of-life care, and the

of someone who can’t communicate?”

with medical staff, social workers,

spiritual care can be cast to the side

the bereavement coordinator and

or seen as not important,” Robert

volunteers. I focus on the spiritual

said. “I’m trying to lift up the spiritual

aspect but also need to be informed

dynamic of end of life and grow our

about the emotional health and

organization by getting the word out

medical background of a patient.”

to the community of who we are and

and when I read scripture and pray, it “Even though they can’t always respond,

Robert said it’s important to listen to those who can be misunderstood and ignored at times and is thankful his son has given him the ability to do this in his new role.

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Remembering Those Who Have Passed Masonic Village Hospice invited families to honor and celebrate their loved ones during the 2021 Virtual Butterfly Release.

The event was held via Zoom. Thank you to all who participated virtually. We look forward to next year’s release in 2022!

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MASONIC VILLAGE HOSPICE 98 Masonic Drive, Suite 101 • Elizabethtown, PA 17022 717-361-8449 • MasonicVillageHospice.org

Who We Are Since 2009, Masonic Village’s trained, compassionate hospice staff have cared for thousands of patients and their families, focusing on the physical, emotional, social and spiritual needs of patients so they may complete their lives joyfully. Our hospice staff promote comfort and self-determination, enabling patients to participate in making decisions about their care.

Based in Elizabethtown, Masonic Village Hospice is pleased to offer services to patients in the comfort of their homes throughout Lancaster, Dauphin, Lebanon and Eastern York counties.

Open for Everyone.

Masonic Village Hospice does not discriminate against any person on the basis of race, color, religion, disability, ancestry, national origin, familial status, age, sex, limited English proficiency (LEP) or any other protected status in admission, treatment or participation in its programs, services and activities, or in employment.

Masonic Village Hospice cumple con las leyes federales de derechos civiles aplicables y no discrimina por motivos de raza, color, nacionalidad, edad, discapacidad o sexo.

Masonic Village Hospice iss willich, die Gsetze (federal civil rights) vun die Owwerichkeet zu folliche un duht alle Leit behandle in der seem Weg. Es macht nix aus, vun wellem Schtamm ebber beikummt, aus wellem Land die Voreldre kumme sinn, was fer en Elt ebber hot, eb ebber en Mann iss odder en Fraa, verkrippelt iss odder net.