Thirty Years of Compassion: How Gilchrist Center Towson Helped Joyce Live Her Final Moments with Peace

Thirty years ago, Gilchrist Center Towson opened its doors with a simple but profound purpose: to ensure that no one facing the end of life would have to face it alone.

Since welcoming its first patients in 1996, the center has helped thousands of Maryland families experience expert hospice care delivered with compassion, dignity, and peace. As Gilchrist Center Towson celebrates its 30th anniversary, it also celebrates the countless lives that have been forever touched within its walls.

For Doug Dunlap, Gilchrist became much more than a hospice provider. It became the place where his wife, Joyce, spent her final hours surrounded by family, music, comfort, and love.

A Life Filled with Music, Dance, and Compassion

Long before she became a hospice patient, Joyce Ann Theresa Dunlap devoted her life to caring for others. Born in Baltimore, Joyce attended The Catholic High School of Baltimore, where her love of music, theater, and dance flourished. A member of the school’s dance company, she performed in productions including Brigadoon, Carnival, Company, Promises, Promises, and Fiddler on the Roof. Although performing was one of her greatest passions, Joyce found another calling: nursing.

Doug admits he also had another reason for stopping by. He had heard from both his mother and grandmother what a kind and compassionate nurse Joyce was, and he was eager to meet her for himself. During his 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. Baltimore County Police shift, Doug and his cadet partner parked their patrol car outside the hospital while Doug visited his grandfather for more than two hours. As he stepped off the elevator onto the seventh floor, he bumped into a nurse pushing a medication cart. It was Joyce. She mistakenly assumed Doug had come to guard a prisoner on the unit, but instead the two struck up a conversation. Before long, Doug had asked Joyce to accompany him to a dance the very next evening. He still remembers his first impression of her. “She was so beautiful,” he says.

After graduating from St. Joseph’s Hospital School of Nursing in 1973, Joyce worked as a registered nurse at St. Joseph’s Hospital. Nursing also introduced her to the love of her life. In 1975, while caring for Doug’s grandfather at St. Joseph’s Hospital, Joyce met a young Baltimore County police officer who had stopped by during his shift to visit him.

The couple married in 1977 and spent the next 45 years building a life together. Joyce continued caring for patients at St. Joseph’s Hospital for 21 years before retiring after Doug joined the FBI to stay home and raise their two sons, Christopher and Nicholas, a role Doug says was her “dream job.” In the years that followed, they delighted in becoming grandparents to Davy and Leighton, who adored their beloved “TuTu.”

Choosing How to Live

Joyce’s cancer journey began shortly after the birth of Nicholas. During a routine postpartum appointment, doctors unexpectedly discovered breast cancer. Joyce often said Nicholas had saved her life because, had she not been pregnant, the cancer likely would have gone undetected much longer. Over the next several decades, Joyce endured surgeries, treatments, scans, and periods of remission before the cancer returned again. Through every setback, she faced her diagnosis with remarkable grace while leaning on the love of her family and her faith in the Lord.

Eventually, after years of fighting, treatment was no longer focused on a cure. As a nurse, Joyce understood exactly what hospice meant. Choosing hospice wasn’t giving up. It was choosing how she wanted to spend the time she had left. “I could actually see the change in Joyce after she chose hospice,” Doug recalls. “She stopped worrying about the scans and the injections. She didn’t have to think about all of that anymore. She could just live her life.”

With Gilchrist’s support, Joyce spent her remaining time focused on what mattered most: family. Their son Christopher, daughter-in-law Jessica, and granddaughters traveled from California to spend precious time with Joyce, Doug, and Nicholas. Even amid the uncertainty, they found reasons to laugh. Joyce had three wigs, and one afternoon she put one on while Christopher and little Davy each wore wigs of their own. The joyful photo of all three smiling together became one of Doug’s favorite family memories.

That August, the family made another decision that would become especially meaningful. Rather than taking their usual beach vacation, everyone stayed home because Joyce wasn’t well enough to travel. Instead, they spent uninterrupted time together, creating memories Doug now treasures just as much as any vacation. Looking back, Doug realizes those photographs were taken just a week and a half before Joyce died. “They were such special memories,” he says. “Looking at those pictures now means everything.”

A Peaceful Transition

As Joyce grew weaker, Gilchrist’s hospice team gently prepared the family for what lay ahead while ensuring she remained comfortable. One conversation has stayed with Doug ever since. Jessica, one of Joyce’s hospice nurses, looked at the family and said, “I can guarantee your journey will not be painful.” “Those words brought us so much comfort,” Doug says. “As a husband, that’s exactly what you need to hear.”

When a room became available at Gilchrist Center Towson, Joyce was admitted for the final stage of her journey. Doug had visited friends at the center over the years, but experiencing it as Joyce’s husband was entirely different. “I knew what to expect to some degree from visiting people here,” he says. “But when it’s your own wife, it’s different.”

From the moment Joyce arrived, Doug felt reassured. The nurses anticipated her needs before he had to ask, carefully managed her symptoms, answered every question with patience, and gave him the freedom to simply be her husband instead of her caregiver. At Gilchrist Center Towson, Joyce was surrounded by the people and moments that mattered most. Doug stayed by her bedside. Two Catholic priests visited to celebrate the Sacrament of the Sick and pray with her, offering spiritual comfort.

An hour before Joyce passed, Doug’s sister and niece spent time visiting with her. Then, as the room grew quiet and it was just the two of them, Doug held his cell phone to Joyce’s ear and played Josh Groban’s version of “What I Did for Love,” from A Chorus Line, one of the musicals they had loved throughout their marriage. As the music played, Joyce peacefully slipped away. “When I realized she wasn’t breathing, I called the nurse,” Doug says softly. “That was Joyce’s sunset. She kissed the day goodbye.” The lyrics to “What I Did for Love” were later printed on Joyce’s prayer cards, making the song an enduring reminder of the love they shared throughout their 45 years of marriage.

When Doug reflects on hospice, the first thing he talks about isn’t medicine or procedures. It’s dignity. “You get tired of all the medical interventions,” he says. “With hospice, you never lose your dignity. If anything, you regain it.” Looking back, he remains profoundly grateful for the care Joyce received, both at home and during her stay at Gilchrist Center Towson. “I’ll always be thankful,” he says. “The care we received was priceless.”

Love Never Ends

Joyce’s life may have ended, but Doug’s relationship with Gilchrist did not. “The service from Gilchrist was fantastic,” Doug says. “That’s why I always do Steps of Hope.” Each year, Doug honors Joyce’s memory by participating in Steps of Hope, Gilchrist’s annual walk that brings people together to find healing in nature and to honor the loved ones they have lost. He has also found healing through Gilchrist’s grief support programs, including the annual holiday ornament workshop, where families gather to create keepsakes honoring loved ones during the holiday season. Those opportunities to remember Joyce while connecting with others who understand loss have become an important part of his healing.

Joyce’s legacy also lives on through her lifelong love of dance. This past February, The Catholic High School of Baltimore dedicated its dance studio in her honor, recognizing the lasting impact she had on generations of students and celebrating the passion for the performing arts that remained with her throughout her life. Doug proudly attended alongside family, friends, and students as they celebrated the woman who had inspired so many.

Thirty Years of Compassion

For three decades, Gilchrist Center Towson has walked alongside families during some of life’s most difficult moments, providing expert medical care, emotional support, and compassionate guidance every step of the way.

For Doug, those 30 years are represented by moments he will carry with him forever: family gathered around Joyce’s bedside, the familiar melody of her favorite song filling the room, the reassuring presence of nurses who anticipated every need, and the peace of knowing the woman he loved was cared for with extraordinary compassion until the very end.

That is the legacy of Gilchrist Center Towson. For 30 years, its mission has remained the same: helping patients live each day as fully and comfortably as possible while surrounding families with the support they need most.

Today, Doug gives back through philanthropic support so other families can experience the same compassionate care that meant so much to Joyce and their family. Donations to Gilchrist help ensure that every patient receives expert hospice care regardless of their ability to pay while also supporting grief counseling, pediatric programs, music therapy, veteran services, volunteer programs, and many other services that extend beyond hospice care.