Some of the most interesting people give to St. Anthony Foundation. And some of them have never been here. Pat Lamerdin, author, potter, painter, gallery owner, and friend of San Francisco’s poor, remembered St. Anthony’s in a handwritten will.

“Pat did not have direct contact with St. Anthony’s,” said her friend Sister Susan Knutson, OSF.  “She knew it only through the poor St. Anthony’s serves and had high regard for it.”

For ten years, the two women poured coffee and served soup once a week at another nonprofit offering hospitality, lunch, and assistance to its homeless neighbors. Many homeless people produced poetry and paintings there.  “I think the artist in her allowed her to connect with people who live on the streets and who are often artistic.”

Mrs. Lamerdin’s knowledge of the poor was extensive, personal and deep. “Before I met her ten years ago, Pat had written a book, Out in the Cold, based on her interviews with the homeless.  She had great compassion for people out on the street and down on their luck or mentally ill.  I believe that came from talking to so many homeless people one-to-one.”

Sheila Beck described her as “one of the original surfer girls.” Mrs. Lamerdin sailed with her husband around the world during her twenties and thirties; her husband once crewed Errol Flynn’s sailboat.

“You don’t have to be Catholic to get what St. Francis was about and to be drawn to the Franciscan way of life,” Sister Susan said.  “Pat got that.  We were an odd couple, but she loved the life I lived and loved the way St. Francis embraced everyone. I think she was a Franciscan at heart.”

For Legacy Circle information, call contact Barry Stenger at 415-592-2735.
or bstenger@stanthonysf.org.

Most of us know that guests at St. Anthony Foundation have amazing stories. Not everyone realizes that some of our donors do, too. A woman who escaped from China during the early years of Communism has left St. Anthony’s $100,000.

Mary Westwood Hyndman was born in Shanghai and went to Catholic schools there, where she learned fluent English. She married in 1945. Four years later, the Communist Party took control of the city. She and her family endured 8 years of government surveillance and intermittent questioning. Finally, they decided to leave.

The family made the 18-day voyage to San Francisco in 1957, and never went back. The only time Mary left the U.S. again was a trip to London to visit the grave of her father, who had served in Shanghai under British rule. The refugee experience left its mark. Her family says she chose St. Anthony Foundation for her bequest partly because she was touched by our no-questions-asked service to immigrant families.

St. Anthony’s unites vastly different people in an unlikely community. Mary’s bequest will help us serve immigrant families from Mexico, Central America, and Southeast Asia. It will feed, clothe, and counsel people with mental and addictive illness who come from Mongolia, Korea, and California. It will pay for supportive housing for elderly women from China, Russia, the Philippines, and the Fillmore. All of these people are one community in St. Anthony Foundation; all will share in Mary Hyndman’s bequest.

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