Lower Cape Fear LifeCare recently held a dedication ceremony to formally name its Wilmington garden the John T. Dees, M.D. and Mrs. Jenny Dees Heritage Garden.
 
“Our garden is one with a purpose,” Gwen Whitely, the hospice group’s president and CEO, said in a news release. “Although the garden certainly is a place of beauty and offers comfort and solace to families and visitors at our adjacent hospice care center, the tributes and memorials within, given in honor and memory of a loved one, help ensure that anyone in our community who needs care receives it, regardless of their ability to pay.”
 
Jenny Dees left a legacy gift to the organization.
 
John Dees, a well-known Pender County physician who practiced in Burgaw for 40 years and served on the N.C. Medical Board, died in 2003.
 
A Veterans Memorial Garden also is being planned and designed as an addition to the space, Whitely said.