Devotion to the Blessed Virgin on the Front Line

During this time of the Corona-19 virus and, like many of our members in the medical field, I am on the front line as director of Emergency Services at Navarro Regional Hospital in Corsicana, Texas. I have a devotion to Our Lady, the Virgin Mary that goes back to my youth, having first visited Lourdes on my 12^th birthday in 1968. My second visit was in 1980 on the occasion of my parents’ 25^th wedding anniversary. My most recent trip was with the annual Order of Malta pilgrimage in 2019.

As a common theme with this devotion to Our Lady, I always wear something blue. I wear a blue face mask at the hospital, carry a blue Rosary. My birthstone is a blue sapphire.

I attended Loyola High School, then Loyola Marymount University, and graduated from UCLA medical school in 1982. Since then, I have worked full-time in emergency medicine, beginning at St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood, California.

I married Susanne Duffy, RN, during my residency in 1987 at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in San Pedro, California. We have three children: Andrea Marie, and Caroline Anne, both graduates of Ursuline Academy, and Alexander Alfonso, a graduate of Jesuit High School. We have one granddaughter, Madeline Marie. My parents just celebrated their 65^th wedding anniversary.

Every day at work, in addition to wearing a blue face mask, I pin an Order of Malta rosette on my white coat.