Back in 1953, Huntsville Hospital realized a wonderful gift from Charles Fletcher. Upon his death in 1943, Charles left all of the assets in his estate to his wife. She received the income from the trust for the rest of her life.
At Charles' wife's passing in 1953, in accordance with the terms of the trust, the Trustees transferred the assets of the estate to the City of Huntsville to be managed in trust for “the use, benefit, maintenance, and upkeep of The Huntsville Hospital.”
This arrangement continued until the fund was transferred to Huntsville Hospital Foundation in 1989, valuing at around $215,000.
Today, The Charles Fletcher fund has more than doubled in value, with a balance of around $420,000. The fund earns around $20,000 a year and continues to be used for a variety of purposes according to its original intent - for the benefit, maintenance, and upkeep of the hospital.
Most recently providing funds for the Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU), which cares for critically ill patients recovering from general, thoracic, trauma, vascular, orthopedic, gynecologic and obstetric surgeries.