A Little Monkey Business
Denver, CO - As one would imagine, some funny situations took place over the nearly five decades that Sister Roberta was at Mount Saint Vincent. Perhaps one of the funniest stories involved an unusual donation.
Sister Jean was being trained to manage the front desk. Sister Frances instructed her to never refuse a donation because that was Mount Saint Vincent’s policy. “The thought was if we couldn’t use whatever was being donated, then we’d find someone else who could,” Sister Roberta said.
One day, a man brought in a live monkey in a brass cage. He placed the cage on the desk and said he wanted to donate it to the orphanage. “Doing as she was instructed, Sister Jean thanked the man and accepted his donation,” Sister Roberta said. “I’m pretty sure that was when our donation acceptance policy was slightly revised.”
What happened to the little monkey? With our dear Sister Roberta now gone, we may never know. It will remain just another mystery about Mount Saint Vincent.
SCL Health is a faith-based, nonprofit healthcare organization dedicated to improving the health of the people and communities we serve. Founded by the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth in 1864, our health network provides comprehensive, coordinated care through eight hospitals, more than 180 physician clinics, home health, hospice, mental health, and safety-net services in Colorado and the Montana Wyoming region.