Without Thought of Special Notice
Saturday, June 15, 2024
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Gal. 6:9, NIV.
Henry M. Porter, once a Pony Express rider, later a banker from Denver, Colorado, was visiting his daughter in Pasadena, California, when a serious cold suddenly struck him down. At his daughter's suggestion, Porter went to the nearby Glendale Sanitarium for hydrotherapy treatment. After the treatment, Porter offered the boy who gave it a dollar tip. The boy declined, saying that it would not be right to accept further payment in addition to his sanitarium earnings.
Years later, while spending the winter near San Diego, Porter again contracted a serious cold. Remembering his experience in the Glendale Sanitarium, he asked whether a similar institution existed nearby. He learned of Paradise Valley Sanitarium.
While a patient there, every day he opened his door a crack so that he could watch the unfailing kindness of a student nurse feeding an old man who had Parkinson's disease. She never knew that anyone was observing her.
Porter soon recovered and returned home. In a few days he was surprised to receive a letter of apology and explanation from the sanitarium business office and a check for 45 cents. It seemed that the books had not balanced at the end of the week (bookkeeping was done by hand in the 1920s), and the error, traced to Porter's account, showed that the sanitarium had overcharged him 45 cents.
These small examples of integrity made a lasting impression, and Porter wrote a letter of gratitude. "I feel I have underpaid you for all your kind and careful treatment and attention, and I owe you all a debt of gratitude for the kind consideration while with you."
In 1928 he wrote again, asking for the address of the general manager of these institutions, since he wanted to establish a similar institution in Denver. This led to a gift of $330,000 (the first of many gifts) for the establishment of Porter Sanitarium and Hospital in south Denver.
Porter Memorial Hospital, as it has been renamed, is a tribute to the Porter family, but also to the acts of kindness and compassion quietly done without thought of special notice or reward.
Look around you. What kind act can you do for someone in your family, your church, or your community?
Henry M. Porter, once a Pony Express rider, later a banker from Denver, Colorado, was visiting his daughter in Pasadena, California, when a serious cold suddenly struck him down. At his daughter's suggestion, Porter went to the nearby Glendale Sanitarium for hydrotherapy treatment. After the treatment, Porter offered the boy who gave it a dollar tip. The boy declined, saying that it would not be right to accept further payment in addition to his sanitarium earnings.
Years later, while spending the winter near San Diego, Porter again contracted a serious cold. Remembering his experience in the Glendale Sanitarium, he asked whether a similar institution existed nearby. He learned of Paradise Valley Sanitarium.
While a patient there, every day he opened his door a crack so that he could watch the unfailing kindness of a student nurse feeding an old man who had Parkinson's disease. She never knew that anyone was observing her.
Porter soon recovered and returned home. In a few days he was surprised to receive a letter of apology and explanation from the sanitarium business office and a check for 45 cents. It seemed that the books had not balanced at the end of the week (bookkeeping was done by hand in the 1920s), and the error, traced to Porter's account, showed that the sanitarium had overcharged him 45 cents.
These small examples of integrity made a lasting impression, and Porter wrote a letter of gratitude. "I feel I have underpaid you for all your kind and careful treatment and attention, and I owe you all a debt of gratitude for the kind consideration while with you."
In 1928 he wrote again, asking for the address of the general manager of these institutions, since he wanted to establish a similar institution in Denver. This led to a gift of $330,000 (the first of many gifts) for the establishment of Porter Sanitarium and Hospital in south Denver.
Porter Memorial Hospital, as it has been renamed, is a tribute to the Porter family, but also to the acts of kindness and compassion quietly done without thought of special notice or reward.
Look around you. What kind act can you do for someone in your family, your church, or your community?
Used by permission of Health Ministries, North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists.
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