The endowed scholarship supports nursing students from Chicago Public Schools.
Walter (Bud) Hodgkinson C鈥�48鈥檚 first date with his beloved late wife, Audrey, involved a submarine.
Specifically, the German U-505 submarine on display at Chicago鈥檚 Museum of Science and Industry, which was being moved from Lake Michigan to the South Side museum one chilly spring day in 1954.
鈥淲e met at a sunrise service at Isaacson Chapel,鈥� he recalled. 鈥淎nd afterward, I asked her if she wanted to go watch the sub cross Lake Shore Drive. And she said 鈥楽ure.鈥欌��
It was just the beginning of a whirlwind romance that spanned more than 65 years. To honor his late wife, Bud and his family have endowed North Park with the Audrey G. Hodgkinson Endowed Nursing Scholarship, to be awarded annually to a nursing student who enrolls from a Chicago Public School. The fund has increased more than 2.5 times the $25,000 minimum needed to endow a scholarship. Audrey, who graduated with a nursing degree, and worked on the first open heart surgery at Swedish Covenant Hospital in the late 1950s, loved being a nurse and seeing others pursue the career.
One of the greatest parts of Audrey鈥檚 legacy, Bud said, was her advocacy for teenage mothers. She helped establish a day care for single mothers at Ravenswood Covenant Church, where Bud and Audrey worshipped (Bud has been a member for 93 years), so the young women could attend high school.
Audrey and Bud got engaged after just four months of dating, when Audrey鈥檚 roommate moved out and she suddenly found herself without an apartment.
鈥淚 said, 鈥榳ell, we might as well just get married then, and you can live with me,鈥欌�� Bud said. 鈥淎nd she said 鈥榶es.鈥欌��
Audrey and Bud went on to lead a life of service to God, with Audrey serving as a nurse at Covenant Harbor Bible Camp and on the Women鈥檚 Board of Swedish Covenant Hospital. Along the way, they had three children, Lisa C鈥� 78, Donald C鈥�83, and Philip; nine grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.