The enduring legacy of the Stenzel Healing Garden

By Kelsey Warfield, RN, Assistant Nurse Manager
Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center

The Stenzel Healing Garden has long been a refuge for me since starting at Legacy Good Samaritan in 2008.

Whether they were planned or impromptu lunch dates with colleagues, or intentional solo breaks, I have so many great memories of being in the garden.

I love its variety of plants, flowers, trees and shrubs. There is always something new or different to observe, especially as the garden transforms its beauty throughout the seasons.

My personal connection to the Stenzel Healing Garden is deeper than just observing.

I don’t remember the date, but early on in my career here, I was in the garden on a break and happened to read the placard attached to the bench I was sitting on. In gold was etched the following name and dates: “Helen Todd June 1885 – April 1995.”

A rush of goosebumps hit me. I thought: “No way. This couldn’t be.” I didn’t know this was here. Helen Todd was my great-grandmother.

Great-grandma Todd was legendary in my family. She emigrated from London, England to Calgary, Canada before moving to Portland.

We grew up hearing stories about how she almost bought a ticket on the Titanic but chose a different ship due to the cost of the ticket. She lied about her age because she married a younger man. This was not considered proper back then.

She was trained in mathematics at a time when women weren’t generally educated in such subject matter. My mom told us stories of visiting her at the old downtown Meier & Frank store and having to wear white gloves up to her elbows, a dress and patent leather shoes. This was because Grandma Todd was “an elegant, stuffy, proper Brit.”

She held onto her traditions and never wore a pair of pants a day in her life. She lived independently until the age of 100, at which point our family decided she should move into a care facility. Helen Todd lived in the Bishop Morris Care Center’s nursing home for 10 years before she died at the age of 110.

When I visit the Stenzel Healing Garden, I make it a point to walk by the bench with my great-grandmother’s name and pay my respects to the long line of amazing women who came from this brave woman who crossed the Atlantic Ocean to start a new and better life for her family.