The McCready Foundation in Crisfield, Maryland

Foundation board salutes two former members

The McCready Foundation board paid tribute in October (2009) to two former colleagues.

Left to right: John Samus, Arnold Torres, DeWayne Whittington, Charles Pinkerman

Left to right: John Samus, Arnold Torres, DeWayne Whittington, Charles Pinkerman

Dr. H. DeWayne Whittington of Marion and Dr. Arnold Torres of Pocomoke were recognized for their service during a ceremony prior to the governing board’s regularly scheduled monthly meeting. Their terms ended June 30.

Del. Page Elmore, representing the Somerset County legislative delegation, presented both men with official state-sanctioned resolutions formally acknowledging their contributions. The honorees also received mementoes as an expression of appreciation from McCready’s board and administration.

Torres was a board member for seven years and chairman from 2008 to 2009. Whittington, who was born at McCready eight years after it opened, served for 45 years and was chairman three times.

Whittington was the first African-American named to McCready’s board and prided himself on being an advocate for the integration of the hospital’s patient wards and staff, including the recruitment of minority physicians.

He joked about how board by-laws changes over the years enabled him to remain active as a board member for more than four decades, which Elmore called a remarkable achievement by “any standard.”

Torres played a leading role in the research and discussion that led to a decision by McCready’s board to build a new nursing home and expand services by offering an assisted living option.

Torres said he is heartened by McCready’s “new skyline” and predicted the new nursing home would lead to great things for the health-care facility’s future.

Dr. H. DeWayne Whittington, Ed.D.

Member, McCready Foundation board – 1964 to 2009
McCready Foundation board chairman – three terms

Dr. Whittington is a Crisfield native and a product of Somerset County schools.

EDUCATION: Morgan State; B.S.; Penn State, M.S.; Nova (University) Ed.D.

He currently serves on the Somerset County school board.

An educator in Maryland public schools for 40 years (now retired), the bulk of his time was spent in his native Somerset County, where he rose to become superintendent.

He was appointed to the McCready (hospital) Foundation board in 1964 and served continuously until 2009. His 45-year tenure made him among McCready’s longest-serving board members.

Dr. Whittington holds the distinction of being the first African-American to be appointed to the governing board of the healthcare facility where he was born, June 9, 1931. As an adult, he successfully lobbied the hospital to integrate its patient population in the 1960s.

He served as McCready board chairman three separate times and was co-chair of the building and grounds committee in the late 1970s when a new hospital was built to replace the original 1923 structure. He also chaired the board’s finance committee and played an active role in recruiting minority doctors to McCready’s medical staff.

Dr. Arnold L. Torres, Ph.D.

Member, McCready Foundation board – 2002 to 2009
McCready Foundation board chairman – 2008-09

Dr. Torres was the McCready (hospital) Foundation board chairman from July 2008 until June 2009. The year prior to that, he was first vice chair. He served as a McCready board member for seven years.

As chairman of the board’s Buildings and Grounds Committee, he was instrumental in guiding the organization in its decision to build a new Alice B. Tawes nursing home and assisted-living complex slated to open in 2010.

He current serves as chairman of the board of the Mar-Va Theater in Pocomoke City, where he resides.

Prior to his retirement in 2002, he was NASA’s senior manager at the Wallops Flight Facility for seven years.

He joined NASA as an atmospheric chemist, which required him to fly around the world on aircraft outfitted as laboratories for studying trace gases and their relevance to the chemistry of the atmosphere.

He holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of South Carolina and was a faculty member at Old Dominion University in Norfolk. He also completed two years of post-doctoral studies in atmospheric chemistry at Drexel University in Philadelphia.