An American couple who discovered peace in a small, seaside Nova Scotia city will proceed serving the neighborhood for years to return.
Tim and Diane Ledvina posthumously donated $4.8 million to Liverpool’s Queens Common Hospital Basis, the biggest single personal donation the muse has ever obtained.
“They beloved folks,” Tom, Tim’s twin brother, stated in a current interview from his residence in Easton, Maryland.
“They moved to a brand new nation, to a small city, they usually did not simply sort of lock themselves up in a home. They went out and met the neighborhood and made it their very own.”
Work within the auto trade as an engineer introduced Tim to a number of worldwide locations like Germany and Japan, Tom stated, and as a pair Tim and Diane beloved exploring the world.
They got here throughout Liverpool on a journey to Nova Scotia within the Nineties, on a drive alongside the South Shore, and fell in love with the world. The Ledvinas began vacationing there, and finally determined to begin constructing their “endlessly residence” on close by Western Head in 2005.
“I do not suppose that they went trying to find Liverpool,” Tom stated. “They simply felt at residence, they felt at peace.”
Each Tim and Diane, animal lovers who raised miniature donkeys at their earlier residence in New York, volunteered with the SPCA in Liverpool.
Volunteering was the best way they each built-in into the neighborhood, Tom stated, with Tim changing into very energetic with teams just like the Kiwanis Membership, Diane the native library, and each attending St. Gregory’s Church.
A well being test as a part of the immigration strategy of transferring to Canada revealed that Diane had most cancers. She finally handed away in March of 2012, however throughout these years the Ledvinas felt supported and properly cared for on the Queens hospital, Tom stated.
They each appreciated having the benefit of Tim having the ability to go to the hospital repeatedly, relatively than having to journey to bigger centres like Bridgewater or Halifax.
Though Tom stated he was initially shocked Tim and Diane needed to spend their retirement in Nova Scotia away from household, as soon as he visited after Diane’s demise he realized how a lot friendship and heat his brother was experiencing.
“That was instructive to me as a result of I used to be getting ready for retirement myself … and that taught me methods to go about it,” Tom stated. “Tim had all of the help he wanted proper there.”
Tim remained in Liverpool till he turned ailing himself a couple of years later, and handed away in 2015.
Tom recalled his brother speaking with him about how he needed his donation to be put to good use, and how important the hospital was to the neighborhood.
The monetary present was left with no strings hooked up, permitting the muse to resolve how greatest to make use of the funds. Because of the nature of cross-border authorized points and purple tape, Tom stated getting the cash into the muse’s checking account took longer than anticipated, however most was delivered final yr.
“They gave again to the neighborhood in an enormous means. And we simply are so grateful and appreciative of that,” stated Al Doucet, chair of the hospital basis and retired Liverpool physician.
The cash is getting used to refurbish an outdated physician’s workplace that Doucet as soon as used, simply throughout the parking zone from the hospital, which at present homes a dentist and COVID-19 testing centre.
Finally, medical companies like psychological well being will transfer into the constructing, giving sufferers their very own entrance and saving them from having to return by means of the hospital itself, Doucet stated. It additionally creates extra room for docs and nurse practitioners within the hospital to increase their very own practices.
The constructing now bears the Ledvina title, which Tom stated is a considerate contact however not one thing Tim would have seemed for.
His brother’s generosity and legacy has Tom reflecting on their years in a Jesuit highschool, the place the theme of “service to others” was instilled into them.
“They each had a chance … to serve they usually each delighted in having the ability to do this,” Tom stated. “That is their persevering with to serve.”
