Lugging a bottle of wine in her handbag across the Stevens Hospital lobby isn’t exactly what you’d normally expect from JoLynn Summy.
The gift of spirits was from Rotary Club admirers who, along with many others, bade good-bye to the executive administrative assistant at Stevens Hospital who retired last week after 32 years of service.
The 62-year-old Summy, who’s known for her fashionable style as well as encyclopedic knowledge of Stevens, is leaving the area, as well. She and her husband, Roger, a former Silver Lake Water District commissioner, are moving this month to a house they built north of Tucson, Ariz.
The time just seems right to retire, JoLynn Summy said. The new home was finished about one year ago, her husband recently sold the family business and retired, and the home they’ve lived in for 30 years sold quickly.
Plus, “It’s time for someone else to be me,” she said. That “someone” is Margie Correll, who has been assisting Wellspring Partners, consultants hired by Stevens to improve its financial picture.
There is the matter of three adult children and five grandchildren in this area, but Summy said “they can hardly wait to visit us.”
Summy joined Stevens in the medical-records department in 1974. After a brief hiatus in the office of the superintendent of the Everett School District, she returned to Stevens, where she worked in the medical-staff office, nursing administration and in other capacities before attracting the attention of the administration.
Serving under three administrators, Summy said her job was to “react to whatever needed to be done, I took on whatever was necessary.”
Policy advice, she noted, was not in her job description. Tact and discretion, she said, were vital, especially during the rocky financial and public-relations periods in the hospital’s recent past.
“… hiring her as my administrative assistant was one of the best hires of my time at Stevens,” said Steve McCary, former CEO of the hospital who now works for Northwestern Mutual Financial Network in Seattle.
“She is a professional who clearly placed the long-term interests of the organization above all else,” McCary said of his 14-1/2 years of working with Summy.
Gracious. Encouraging. Helpful. “The pillar of historical information” at Stevens. Those are ways Polly Junkermier-Poole, executive director of ancillary and support services, describes JoLynn Summy. “She had this knack of making people feel welcome, whether you were bringing good or bad news to the administration.”
Among Summy’s responsibilities was coordinating the visiting-physician program for doctors from Hekinan, Japan. Dr. Saiji Yoshi and his wife traveled from Japan for Summy’s retirement party Jan. 5 to present her with a scrapbook bearing 17 years of memories of the partnership.
One of Summy’s favorite jobs at Stevens was working with the hospital foundation, the fund-raising arm that was dissolved about three years ago.
“She’s been one of the loyal ones forever and ever. She was definitely an asset to the hospital and foundation,” observed Anne Sola, a founder of the hospital auxiliary and wife of Dr. Olav Sola, a founder of Stevens Hospital.
“We … will miss her … but are very happy for her new opportunities … in sunny weather,” said Dr. John Todd, Stevens CEO.
Summy said she wants to “get into volunteer fund raising, like for Indian children” in Arizona. Unlike her husband, she isn’t a golfer, and says she’s looking forward to working on crafts such as cigar-box purses and jewelry.
“I have so many memories of wonderful people I’ve worked with over the years,” she said. “Stevens is who I am. It helped form me.”
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