During Derby week and its plethora of activities, many of us forget there is almost something greater than the famed Kentucky Derby. The National Day of Prayer, which takes place each year on the first Thursday of May, is foundational to our country, our relationship with God and our own healing during our darkest hours.
This is the sacred day that goes back to our forefathers, reinstated by Abraham Lincoln during the bloody Civil War. It is something I personally cherish, and something the Signature Family celebrates big time!
With our partner, Terry Taylor from Interfaith Paths to Peace, we collectively brought the majority of major religions together consisting of nearly a dozen faiths on one stage to hear their customs, their respective prayers of heritage and God’s voice through humanity’s filter.
As we watched the crowds grow, witnessing many of our residents joyfully engaging, each leader walked to the podium, adjusted the microphone, and just let beautiful prayers roll out of them…under the theme of “One Connected Voice!” It always makes me proud to be a Signature stakeholder!
We had 80 other communities who were celebrating with us on our live broadcast while hosting their own version of what becomes a therapeutic celebration at many levels. Remember, we are blessed to serve more than 14,000 stakeholders and over 30,000 residents and families annually in a very tough business that leaves minimal room for error or margin.
Here are the highlights that made my soul jump with joy…
The Buddhist chants, paving the way for His Holiness’ visit; a lyrical rendition of Psalm 23 by a Jewish rabbi that made you see David’s harp; a Muslim prayer of peace and understanding that the crowd hung to because of the recent Boston Marathon tragedy; and several Christian prayers of hope and forgiveness from many sources. This was followed by private prayers from our Signature Prayer Chain and stakeholders, attached to soaring balloons that started to cover our beautiful skies.
You can’t miss next year’s celebration, but this year it was about a Native American spiritual leader who used water as God’s nourishment and natural gift to us as the power of life, and something he holds sacred every time the perfect substance hits his lips. Sacred and pure, water fuels our physical existence and makes up the majority of our physiological composition – and is something many fail to appreciate, or celebrate.
But without it, humanity never exists and God’s natural laws create just enough through the design of our universe to fuel 7 billion people, and recycle back into each of us.
Now that is one connected voice to ponder…I know my team will never see a bottle of water the same ever again!
Losing a Great One is Never Easy!
Prior to COVID, I think we all felt like we spent more time with work, work partners and peers than our own families. Was it good or bad? For me, I worked with some of the most talented people in the country, so I loved it. And obviously I love my family too! I had the blessing to work with a friend, brother, Savant, Mensa member, and so much more for nearly a decade and a half – Stephen Stocksdale. To say he was talented with an amazing range is honestly a great understatement in a world full of the opposite. Stephen did so much intellectually, professionally, and personally that for the first three years of working with him, I assumed it “all could not be true”. But time and time again I learned the opposite was true. He served our mission-based organization in every role (field leader, controller, administrator, VP, strategy, consultant, start-ups, etc.) and whatever else we asked of him. Despite having more professional success himself, he just wanted to help us grow in all ways.

One day 5 ½ years ago, Stephen was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and we grieved with him as you would expect. But he was a determined guy and decided to not just learn all he could about cancer, but to master it. He decided there had to be a path he could carve out for himself that no doctor had considered, or he would locate new research that would help him beat it. With a scientific mind and unparalleled IQ, he found a clinical trial he was approved to get in. This trial’s treatment regimen was so potent, and Stephen was the only one that survived. He learned about transfusions, blood structures, and cancer interventions. Cancer kicked his ass often, but he always beat it back up and won again!
We cheered, prayed, and cried often over the past years, but learned three great lessons from Stephen that we all cherish today:
- “Be a Lifelong Learner” because we can always master new things and age is just a number, but lifelong learners never get old. Stephen mastered EMT services, police work, cancer research, hospital administration, heart transplant programs, high level statistical methods, travel, long term care, teaching, and many other degrees, certifications, and accomplishments over 65 years, so let’s all keep Learning and keep growing!
- “Never Give Up” because we grow everyone around us in our struggles and sufferings in ways that impact everyone around us and Stephen knew that and wanted us to get stronger, be more grateful and relearn presence, which we all did! When he came back home, he rarely missed a day at the office and taught all of us new things daily up until the moment he passed last week.
- “GOD IS SO REAL” Stephen had historical expertise on religions, studied theological premises, and had a metaphysical outlook, but in this battle, he felt like he met the Lord and had to share it with all of us. He knew he beat something that is nearly unbeatable, and he wanted time to share his story, his walk, and his private time with the Lord. He watched prayer groups with people he barely knew praying 24/7 that he receives a miracle, and he did receive one that he could share with all of us.

Our organization is going through a very painful time as a mid-size nursing home organization that has stakeholders who worked under unbelievable stress and pressure for so long and had to endure seeing some of our residents pass away. We have lost half of our team, and we are still trying to rebuild stronger and better. I think after serving through the pandemic for 2 ½ years and struggling with how to bring it all back together in this changing workplace and overworked healthcare system, and after suffering so much pulsating unknowns for so long, it was Stephen who gave us the best reason to not look back. He taught us to enjoy the struggle as something that can deepen us all and stay prayerful that God is with us during times like these. We need to rebuild and have new passion as learners, which Stephen demonstrated everyday making our lift just a little easier. And lastly, when you beat cancer four times and die from something else, how could we ever give up? It’s time for us to just “STOCKSDALE IT” and grow by learning, fighting harder and believing in our purpose!


Stephen’s office will remain untouched for now because when he left work on Monday with his ambitious assignments on his wall, we never knew we would not see him again. However, we can certainly feel his presence and we are all better people for his amazing lessons that he taught us until his last hour!