WellStar Health System's emergency is honoring Kevin Dunn, a long-time hospice singer at WellStar West Georgia Hospice.
Since 2002, he sings at the hospice once a week, usually on Monday’s between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. He also volunteers at assisted living facilities.
Dunn, who lives in LaGrange, will be honored at the WellStar Foundation's annual WellStar Starlight Grand Gala at The Whitley Atlanta Buckhead on Saturday. The event, now in its 21st year, benefits WellStar Health System's emergency and trauma services.
Cadillac Jack, Kick’s 101.5 morning show host and heart attack survivor who was treated at WellStar North Fulton Hospital, will emcee the program.
In 2013, The AJC wrote a feature about Dunn. Here’s an excerpt:
Shirley Gunn-Walton reads the Bible to her mother every time she visits her at a hospice. One day, while reading Psalms 23, Gunn-Walton hears a sound – so sweet, like a gentle breeze.
She opens the door to discover Kevin Dunn singing, his soft, pitch-perfect voice floating inside this 16-room building.
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me …. I once was lost but now am found, Was blind, but now, I see.
Every Monday, for the past decade, Dunn has filled the West Georgia Hospice in LaGrange with soul-stirring songs.
“His voice is so pretty. My mom lights up when she hears his voice. And honey, I really enjoy it, too,” said Gunn-Walton.
Gunn-Walton’s mother, Beulah Burton, recently turned 100 years old. Burton, who has dementia and recently suffered a stroke, spends much of the day in her room — with daffodils and a poster that reads, “Aged to Perfection,” — with her eyes closed. But her eyes fluttered open when Dunn stepped inside and crooned at her bedside, “How Great is Our God.” Jesus loves me. This I know, For the Bible tells me so; Little ones to Him belong. They are weak but He is strong. Yes, Jesus loves me.
A decade ago, Dunn became a singing hospice volunteer after a layoff from a job as a pressman for a printing company. At first, the suddenly-out-of-work Dunn thought he would donate his time to a nursing home. But during a fateful traffic stop after dropping his kids off at school, he said a voice pointed him in a different direction.
“I heard a voice say, ‘hospice,’ ” said Dunn, “and at first I thought, no way, that is where people went to die. I don’t want to be there. But I kept hearing the voice, so after a week or two, I made some calls and looked into what I needed to do to volunteer at hospice.”
You can read more of this story at www.myajc.com
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