IN MEMORY

This drawing is a portrait of Mr. Louis Tedder, a Duke Employee who passed away about three months ago. I did not have the opportunity to get to know Louis, but his reputation, as remembered by his friends and coworkers, is truly edifying. Louis worked many years at Duke, and was for many years the Hospital Concierge, responsible for serving all of Duke's Special Constituency patients. However, Louis was a servant to ALL patients at Duke, and made himself available to anyone who required his services. One of my favorite stories that I have heard about Louis told of his efforts to fulfill the wishes of a patient who was dying. The patient, on the rare occasion that he was able to eat, had a strong desire to eat pinto beans. Pinto beans were the one thing the hospital could not provide that day. When the patient's request was made known to Louis, he drove from store to store until he found pinto beans, and he and a fellow coworker prepared them for the patient, to his lasting gratitude. I felt the need to honor Louis' great memory with this portrait.