Community leaders, Alice Center residents and hospital officials on Tuesday celebrated the completion of the second phase of a three-part special project at The Alice Center, with a ceremony dedicating the recently-completed Jack and Inge Hinman Walkway.

“I can’t think of two people whose names are more synonymous with Alice Hyde,” said Judge Robert Main Jr., Chairperson of the hospital’s Board of Directors, thanking the couple’s three adult children, who were on-hand for the ceremony “The entire medical center family is so grateful for your generosity and your desire to remember your parents in this way.”

The Hinman’s adult children, Leif Chaffee, Michael Chaffee and Elisabeth Williams, accepted ceremonial plaques in their parents’ honor, participated in a brief tour of the walkway — which winds around the facility from The Alice Center’s Assisted Living Program’s entrance, to a rear door to the Skilled Nursing Facilit — and released Monarch butterflies to mark the occasion.

Alison Guile, MD, Medical Director of The Alice Center, speaking to visitors, called the project an important step towards ensuring the facility continues to deliver leading-edge long-term care. She recalled back to the COVID-19 pandemic’s early days in 2020, when long-term care facilities were routinely isolating residents as part of efforts to stop the spread of the virus.

“I remember a resident saying to me ‘please get rid of this virus; I need my children and grandchildren’,” said Dr. Guile. “The things that we are doing today, to make sure our residents have ways to connect safely with their loved ones, will benefit future generations.”

The walkway, completed earlier this month, is the second phase of a three-part special project at The Alice Center constructing and beautifying an outdoor space for residents and their families at the long-term care facility. The project’s first and second phases — paving an emergency access roadway and constructing the walkway — were completed this summer. The project’s third phase, which includes beautifying and enhancing the outdoor space with a play area, garden beds, and decorative plantings, will continue in 2023.

A Legacy of Volunteerism & Community Service

Jack, a Malone native and Major in the U.S. Army who served in the 1^st Cavalry Division during the Korean War, joined Alice Hyde in 1962, when he was first elected to the hospital’s Board of Directors. That same year, he would also become principal of Franklin Academy – a position he held for 23 years before retiring in 1985.

Jack would hold numerous positions on the hospital’s board through the years, serving as president of the Executive Board from 1981-89; as president of the Foundation Board from 1984-95; and continuing to serve as an active board member from his election in 1962 through May of 1998 – a total of 36 years. In 1998 he was granted Honorary Emeritus Status as a board member, and continued to contribute to the hospital in various ways – including in Alice Hyde’s Pharmacy Department, where he volunteered nearly 1,000 hours of his time from March of 2011 to March of 2016.

Inge, a native of Dessau, Germany, who had served as an interpreter for the U.S. Army in 1947, emigrated and became a U.S. citizen in 1951. She joined the Alice Hyde family in 1956, when she took a position as a medical technician at the hospital. Inge would go on to serve as Alice Hyde’s chief medical technician for several years, and served on the hospital’s Board of Directors from 1974-81. She also served as president of the Alice Hyde Hospital Auxiliary for several years, and in 1994 was honored for 25 consecutive years of volunteer service at the hospital and what was then known as the Alice Hyde Nursing Home. In 1980, she founded what was then known as Alice Hyde’s Patient Representative Program, and led the program, which still exists today, until 1988.

Both Jack and Inge were also active in numerous civic, religious and community organizations – from First Congregational Church, where they both served as trustees, to Jack’s service as a member of the Malone Rotary Club and American Legion; and Inge’s work as director of the American Heart Association’s Northern New York Chapter, among much, much more.

“They both had a lot of integrity, and they were compassionate and generous people,” said daughter Elisabeth Williams, “and not just monetarily, but in terms of their energy and time. More than anything else, they just strongly believed in giving back.”