MEDIA ADVISORY
December 20, 2016
To: Reporters, editors, columnists, producers
From: Dennis O’Shea
dro@jhu.edu | 443-997-9912 (o) | 410-499-7460 (m)
Johns Hopkins employees, alumni, students and friends will attend the annual Christmas Eve graveside observance honoring the founder of the university and health system, Mr. Johns Hopkins.
This year’s brief ceremony will take place at Mr. Hopkins’ grave in Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore at 10 a.m., on Saturday, Dec. 24, the 143rd anniversary of his death.
The 2015 observance at the Hopkins gravesite
Mr. Hopkins left $7 million in his will to establish a university and hospital in Baltimore that revolutionized higher education and health care and evolved into today’s worldwide Johns Hopkins institutions. His gift was, at the time, the largest bequest in the nation’s history. It was the foundation for all that the institutions named for him have done.
The 18th consecutive Christmas Eve observance will be led by university Vice President and Secretary Emeritus Ross Jones. It will include informal remembrances of Mr. Hopkins and presentation of a memorial wreath.
The speaker is Phoebe Evans Letocha of the Chesney Medical Archives at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. An expert in the history of nursing at Johns Hopkins, she will discuss “Johns Hopkins’ Legacy for Nursing Education.”
Mr. Hopkins’ obituary, published in the Dec. 25, 1873, Baltimore Sun, is online.
Logistics: To reach the Hopkins family gravesite, enter the cemetery’s main gate at 1501 Greenmount Ave., about five blocks south of North Avenue; drive straight up the hill, park near the crest, and look for the gathering to the right. For information, contact Dennis O’Shea.
Afterwards: Civic Works has invited participants to come after the observance to Mr. Hopkins’ former estate home, Clifton, now Civic Works’ headquarters and the centerpiece of Baltimore’s Clifton Park. Guests will toast Mr. Hopkins with a cup of hot cider and may take a short tour of the mansion. Clifton is at 2701 St. Lo Drive, less than 2 miles from Green Mount Cemetery.
###