Catherine M. and Robert F. Greene Charitable Fund

“Nursing was very personal to her, not just a job. She lived up to her oath in every way, which translated into her volunteer work and personal life,” says Robert Greene of his late wife, Catherine. Bob, a career naval officer, came to Newport for training where he met Kay, then a nurse at Newport Hospital. After a five-year long-distance courtship, Bob convinced her “that this could work,” and they were married in 1967.

Kay, educated in the Newport public school system, graduated in 1944 from the Rhode Island Hospital Training School for Nurses, then volunteered for service in the Army Nurse Corps. A veteran of both World War II and the Korean War, Kay served for ten years, spending thirteen months in Korea treating the wounded. The couple also traveled extensively, both stateside and abroad, and were stationed in Japan for three years. “Through our travels, we learned about poverty and starvation, and it made us determined to help people,” explains Bob. “So many people out there have a tough life, and we counted our blessings every single day.”

Both Bob and Kay continued their mission of service to others in their retirement: Bob volunteering in schools, and Kay, as a hospice nurse, who was named South County Volunteer of the Year for her work in the community. As Kay began to near the end of her life, home care was needed to assist, and the experience of finding affordable in-home healthcare was “an eyeopener” to the immense cost and lack of available quality care.

After Kay passed, Bob came to the Foundation through a professional advisor with the goal of creating a fund to assist the elderly with homecare costs and to train palliative caregivers. The Catherine M. and Robert F. Greene Charitable Fund, a field of interest fund, was then established, supporting healthcare for the elderly with a preference for at-home care. Bob is especially grateful for the flexibility offered by the fund to assist across a wide spectrum of organizations associated with elderly and palliative care.

Through the work of this fund, the Greene’s collective legacy of service and care lives on. “There is nothing like first-hand experience to drive you to action,” says Bob. “Kay was my tutor and the finest person I ever met in my life.”