A Legacy of Giving
Louise and Paul Spray | |
When Dr. Paul Spray and his wife, Louise, came to Tennessee in 1950, they had no idea what life had in store for them. Recruited by a friend to serve a small hospital in Crossville, Dr. Spray was just completing an internship at the Mayo Clinic. It didn't take long for the Sprays to realize there wasn't enough business at the small Crossville hospital to make a living. Then Oak Ridge came calling…and Methodist Medical Center will be forever grateful.
The Sprays moved to Oak Ridge when the hospital was just a small army facility. But, it boasted some of the best equipment and physicians in the country. Dr. Spray recalls, "We had the first anesthesia recovery room and the first doctor anesthesiologist. It was an exciting place to be."
Over the years, the hospital has changed dramatically, but the Sprays' commitment to the hospital and the community has stayed as strong as it was that first day in Oak Ridge. The Sprays have been very generous with their time, their talents and their financial support. Dr. Spray has given many years as a physician and surgeon, as well as serving on the the Fort Sanders Foundation board of directors, including a two-year term as board chair. So, why did they stay in Oak Ridge so long?
"There is no place in the world I'd rather be than Oak Ridge, Tennessee," says Dr. Spray. "It is where we were destined to come."
The Sprays have made an impact on our community and our world in many ways. Dr. Spray has traveled across the globe as a volunteer physician with Health Volunteers Overseas providing services in Russia, Jordan, Nigeria, Vietnam, Sudan, Indonesia, Ghana, Algeria, and more. While volunteering in Afghanistan, he even recruited a missionary physician in Pakistan to come back to the states and work at MMC! Dr. Spray continues his volunteer work by seeing patients at the Interfaith Health Clinic once a month.
Louise and Dr. Spray have raised three wonderful children, all of whom are following in their parents footsteps of service to our world. One son is the chief of cardio-thoracic surgery at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Their other son is a researcher and professor of neuroscience medicine, and their daughter is the head social worker for the Minneapolis school system. Their legacy of giving is living on in their children.
That legacy will also live on when they are gone. The Sprays recently choose to make a generous gift to the MMC Foundation's robotic surgery campaign through a charitable gift annuity.
"We can make a contribution to the hospital and at the same time get a little bit back for the years until we pass on," say the Sprays. "You know, we get requests in the mail every day from charitable organizations promoting these annuities as a way to make a gift, avoid some taxes, and get a little income back. It's just a good way to do it."
Their annuity gift was also a memorial gift honoring their good friend Vivian Joyce who recently passed away.
Dr. Spray remarks, "Our foundation was started because people wanted to make memorial gifts and things like that. Now, it is growing and can educate people about all these other ways of giving. The annuity has allowed us to donate a little more than we probably would have been able to otherwise."
"The good old days of Oak Ridge were really something," recall the Sprays. "The slogan was 'Atoms for Peace' and atomic energy was going to be the solution to everything. It's not the same now. Life changes, but Oak Ridge is still a great place to be. The hospital is really something special. As we go from old to old-old, we're very glad the hospital will be here for us."
Covenant Health is very glad the Sprays have been here in East Tennessee, and around the world, making a difference in the lives of so many in need of quality healthcare. Their legacy will keep on giving for many years to come.
Are you interested…
in finding out more about the advantages of a charitable gift annuity?
As Dr. Spray shared in the accompanying article, the charitable gift annuity is a wonderful way to give a gift to one of the many programs and facilities of Covenant Health and receive:
- sizable charitable deduction
- significant savings on capital gains tax (if you gift appreciated stock)
- guaranteed income for the rest of your life
- satisfaction of being thanked now for a future gift to support health care in our region
For a complimentary, confidential report on the advantages of a charitable gift annuity, please contact Dave McCoy at (865) 835-5262 or dmccoy@covhlth.com.
| 
