cjensen@westhawaiitoday.com
BY CHELSEA JENSEN | WEST HAWAII TODAY
Alcy and Jacque Johnson spent much of their lives together volunteering and supporting their North Hawaii community.
Now, after their deaths, the couple continues giving in perpetuity through an estate gift valued at $1.5 million to fund North Hawaii Community Hospital and North Hawaii Hospice for years to come, said Kerry Howell, the hospital’s vice president for development, marketing and communications. The fund was established in accordance with Alcy Johnson’s will.
“Both of them supported and will continue to support their community,” said North Hawaii Hospice Executive Director Katherine Ciano. “They are leaving a legacy, an example to the community that you can do something yourself during life and leave a lasting difference.”
The Jacqueline and Alcy Johnson Memorial Fund, held by the Hawaii Community Foundation, will distribute annually 60 percent of the proceeds to North Hawaii Community Hospital and 40 percent to North Hawaii Hospice, said Howell. The fund will be established from proceeds from the sale of the Johnson’s Kawaihae Road home, which Howell estimated would net about $1.5 million.
The minimum annual distribution of the fund is 5 percent, which means if the fund is valued at $1.5 million the hospital and hospice will each get their share of $75,000. Because the estate gift will be placed in a perpetual fund, Howell said it should not run out since it will be managed and invested by the Hawaii Community Foundation.
“If it’s distributed, invested and managed well, it should last in perpetuity,” she said.
Money that hospice receives from the memorial fund will go into the organization’s patient care general fund, Ciano said. At the hospital, funds will support general operations, which includes salaries, equipment purchases and staff training, among other expenses, Howell said.
“It will fund all of the important stuff that makes the hospital run,” Howell said before noting the importance of having money able to be allocated solely to operations, not necessarily a certain department or project. “It is the most valuable kind of support we can get because it’s the most flexible.”
Alcy “Shorty” Johnson, 89, died June 12 in Waimea, and his wife, Jacque, a well-known local artist and teacher, died in 1993. The couple was known for their volunteerism, generosity and community support, said Ciano, who noted through her involvement in the North Hawaii Rotary Club she got to know Alcy, the club’s oldest member, as well as Jacque.
Alcy was also a volunteer for the hospital, even before it opened in April 1996, Howell said.
“He was very involved in the community,” Ciano said, before noting hospice assisted Alcy at the end of his life. “He felt strongly about doing good things for the community.”
In addition to the estate gift, Ciano said Alcy also donated to hospice the value of all items sold from his estate, which totaled about $17,000 and will go toward patient care. Alcy also gave about $8,000 remaining in his retirement account to hospice that will go toward expanding its facility to include a new conference room.
cjensen@westhawaiitoday.com