The longtime leader of St. Joseph Health System has died. Sister Gretchen Kunz died Sunday at the age of 75.
She served as president and chief executive from 1981 through 2005, then was with the St. Joseph Foundation for another seven years until her retirement the year before last.
Plans are being made for a local memorial service.
Tim Ottinger, St. Joseph’s Advocacy, Governmental Affairs & Community Benefit Officer, was hired by Sister Gretchen 17 years ago.
He said she intended to stay only a few years. Instead, Ottinger says “She had a hand in so many of that things that moved us from a small Catholic hospital to a large regionalized system that had community clinics, that had hospitals in the rural communities where they were needed and greatly supported.”
Ottinger added “She had a way about her when she talked to a few people and made her mind up I think most people would say it would be hard to talk Sister Gretchen out of something that she made her mind up.”
“She had a determination about her, (but) on the flipside on that, she was a Sister. She was kind and compassionate. In her heyday she probably knew half or more of the patients that were in the hospital in any given day and time. She knew all the staff and checked on them”.
She “really saw this work as mission work and that’s what instilled in everybody else. You can be around Sister without realizing this wasn’t work, it was a mission, and you were being allowed to share this mission with the sisters. And that was a great blessing to everybody that worked here and is still a huge part of the organization.”
Ottinger also said this comes from the Sister’s core values of reverence, service, and stewardship. She was great in building relationships throughout her life.
He also recalled one of her many famous quotes, “There is always going to be people out there that need help and need care. And on the flipside there will always be people that will stand up to care for them.” And Ottinger says “And that’s how she saw her staff as those people that were special and had a special calling and were willing to step up and help people that were often at their most vulnerable time and really had needs where we could step in and help.”
Click below for comments from Tim Ottinger, visiting with WTAW’s Bill Oliver.
News release courtesy of St. Joseph Health System
Sylvania Franciscan Sister Gretchen Kunz, former President and CEO of St. Joseph Health System for 24 years, passed away November 2, 2014 in Rosary Care Center on the Motherhouse grounds in Sylvania, Ohio. Sister Gretchen, 75, led St. Joseph through major growth from 1981 to 2005 and then served seven years as the Senior Development Officer for the St. Joseph Foundation.
Born in Toledo, Ohio in 1939, Sister Gretchen entered the Sisters of St. Francis in 1957 and took her final vows in 1963. Except for four years as an elementary school teacher, Sister Gretchen spent her life ministering in healthcare. She received a B.A. in nursing from Mary Manse College, in Toledo and a M.H.A. in health and hospital administration from Xavier University in Cincinnati.
Sister Gretchen spent 16 years at Providence Hospital in Sandusky, Ohio as a nurse, nurse supervisor and director of nursing services. After receiving her M.H.A. she came to St. Joseph where she spent 31 years before returning to the Motherhouse in 2012.
Please join us as we remember Sister Gretchen and extend our prayers and sympathy to her family, friends and all who knew her.