NEWS

Gazebo at the Pines to be named for Heather McKee

The Pines at Davidson will name the gazebo located along Kimbrough Circle in honor of Heather McKee, who served as the Interim Director of The Pines at Davidson from November 2020 to March 2021. This covered rest area is situated near the Cedar Court cottages.

Board Chair, Dr. Joe Trask, shared, “Heather McKee led the Pines during a challenging time, serving residents and team members with compassion, wisdom, and grace. Many residents frequently walked past this gazebo or visited with friends there during the pandemic. It is a picturesque space enjoyed by the community. We are pleased to honor Heather in this meaningful way.”

Heather McKee

McKee began this important work for The Pines when the previous Director retired and when the Board needed the time to conduct an intentional, nationwide search for a new director.

“Heather came to us during a difficult time period,” said Trask. “Extensive construction was ongoing, causing disruption, noise pollution, and inconvenience. The pandemic was in full force, with loss of freedom and privacy on the part of residents, closing much of the world to them. At the same time, staffing issues and safety protocols further disrupted services.”

Trask continued, “It was an act of real courage for Heather to step into this work at such a complicated time, and she immediately began the process of regaining residents’ trust, while ministering to their needs and allowing them the safe space to vent their concerns. Heather was a homerun for us. She knew that she was coming into a bit of a hornet’s nest. She made the commitment to us that she would fill the need as long as she could and as long as it was needed.”

McKee’s presence and efforts “went a long way to assuring residents that the board and management were moving in a resident-centric direction. She was truly the right person in the right place at the right time. Within a few days of Heather starting at The Pines, the kind of concerns that had been expressed daily by the residents dropped dramatically. They could tell that she had infinite patience and wide experience,” said Trask.

McKee’s intrinsic nature and her educational and professional backgrounds made her that “right person at the right time.” She graduated from Davidson in 1987, lettering in four sports. In 1989, she earned a second bachelor’s degree, this one in accounting, from Queens University. She went on to receive her Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1994.

Immediately after seminary, she became the Bonner Scholar Director at Mars Hill University in the mountains of western North Carolina. Next, she went on to the role of Associate Director of Health Policy Research at the Medical College of Wisconsin. There, she also taught Medical Ethics to first year medical students. The article she co-published on physician supply and demographics is still quoted today and helped secure her next job.

She became the Associate Director of Research at Harvard Medical School and left there to become the full-time care provider for her father, who had been diagnosed with cancer. This is part of the experience that fired her interest in senior healthcare. After her father died, she took an around-the-world trip, heeding his benediction to do so. This travel fed her intellectual curiosity about other countries and cultures.

She then moved to Pinedale, Wyoming, becoming the CEO and Executive Director of the Sublette Center, a nonprofit senior housing and health facility in the sparsely populated county just south of Jackson Hole.

When she returned to Davidson in 2012 for her 25^th reunion, she reconnected with a classmate, Jane Campbell, and they married in Hawaii in December 2013. That ceremony was followed by a ceremony at Davidson College Presbyterian Church so that friends and family could celebrate with them. She moved to Davidson in 2014, becoming an integral part of the community and the church, teaching many Sunday School classes and bringing awareness of social issues to all who know her.

Emmie Alexander, the Vice President of the Residents’ Association when Heather began as Interim Executive Director, remembers Heather as “a gift to us. Residents were deeply stressed about Covid and the disruption caused by the building project, making it a dark and difficult time. The Board’s selection of Heather was heaven-sent.”

Alexander believed that McKee brought just what they needed, “kindness and compassion, calmness and steadiness, professional leadership with firmness combined with flexibility. Roger Cothran and I met with her weekly and found her dependably supportive and unfailingly cheerful even through the toughest days.”

Trask followed in the position of Board chair previously held by Harrison Marshall, one of his classmates at Davidson. “Harrison knew we were in a difficult spot. Along with Barb Neidinger, he and I were on the committee that asked Heather to come in as Interim Director. We knew we were asking a lot of her, and we had great confidence that she could lead us into assuring the residents that we would listen to their concerns and give them more opportunities to participate in decision-making, as well as give us the time to find the right person to come in as Director.”

Trask explained why the gazebo was such an appropriate space to name for McKee. “With her experience in continuing care and ministerial background, Heather brought her steady nature to board, staff, and residents. She demonstrated every day that we were listening to residents because she listened to them without rancor or impatience. She became the embodiment of the board commitment to be more focused on residents’ needs and to move in a resident-centric direction. She showed residents that they are our partners.

“The gazebo relates to Heather because it is a place where people can go for reflection, which honors the calming influence she brought to us. She alleviated anxiety on the part of residents about their importance in planning for their own lives. The gazebo provides a quiet and beautiful space for contemplation and meditation. It represents her.

“You can name something after somebody, but we wanted it to be about her – refined, intelligent, and kind. It is a nice spot.”

Or as Alexander said, “I believe I speak for all residents – we are eternally in her debt and know that this peaceful and lovely space will continue to remind us of her time as our leader.”