About the Thomas A. Kerns, M.D. Endowment Fund
Dr. Tom Kerns and his wife Tops shared everything with each other. Trained as a nurse, she could understand his empathy for his patients and feel his enthusiasm for treatments that worked.
When it came to building Serenity Lane, she grew intimately involved in the process. She became good friends with people like Lois O'Connor and Sam Graves – two Serenity Lane pioneers who played pivotal roles in getting the center off the ground. Dr. Kerns began building his clinical staff hiring his nurse, Marianne Lilly, whom Tops had known for years.
It was about a year after her husband died, that Tops began wondering to herself how she could contribute to her community. She prayed and sought inspiration from her husband. It came to her that she and Tom had often talked about some addicts who had the toughest time fighting the disease. It was not uncommon for these patients to require more rigorous treatment. Sometimes they could not afford to continue treatment even though they were motivated and working hard to fight the addiction.
That's when Tops conceived of the idea to create an endowment that would gather interest and help support some of these patients. She gathered her eight children and their spouses together to share her vision. Eager to honor Dr. Kerns and their mother, they made donations of their own and enthusiastically agreed to help her create the Thomas A. Kerns M.D. Endowment.
Tops died August 18, 2007. But within a year, her vision had become real and the endowment had gathered enough donations from family, friends and supportive businesses to make its first contribution to Serenity Lane.
The endowment is a fund of the Oregon Community Foundation.
