The Patrons
William and Audrey Mennen wanted to honor Dr. Paul Tocchet (right) by donating the funds for construction of two new patient rooms.Giving thanks for an old-fashioned doctor
William G. Mennen was feeling a little under the weather. In fact, he was feeling downright lousy. Still, his wife Audrey was more concerned than he was. So she dragged him by the ear, he says, to visit the family doctor, Dr. Paul Tocchet.
Dr. Tocchet quickly appraised the situation and admitted Mennen to the hospital, where he diagnosed a gallstone that had shut down Mennen’s pancreatic function. In another 24 hours, as Mennen tells it, he might have “bought the farm.”
Sometime later, it was Tocchet who once again made an early diagnosis, this time cancer. It was that early detection, Mennen believes, that contributed to a quick remission.
After some 20 years of this kind of medical care, the Mennens are feeling pretty grateful. Not merely a thank-you-note kind of gratitude, not just a pay-your-bill-on-time sort of appreciation, but something a little bigger, a little more dramatic, a little more lasting.
Instead, the Mennens made a mutual decision to make a donation to fund the construction of two patient rooms in Community Hospital’s new Forest Pavilion, rooms that will be formally dedicated in honor of Dr. Tocchet.
“Dr. Tocchet has taken wonderful, really fine care of us,” says Mennen, 91. “Like the old family doctor, he cares. He takes care of things right away. And if he doesn’t know the answer, he says so and finds someone who does. I like that about him.
“When a doctor saves your neck a couple of times, you feel a little thank you is due. But we didn’t want to just say it; we wanted to show our appreciation to him. We don’t like to donate in memory of people because they don’t get the thank you. We thought it would be more fun to honor our good doctor.”
The Mennens, who enjoyed a partial-year home on the Monterey Peninsula for 25 years before moving here fulltime 10 years ago, say they depend on Community Hospital for their general and future health. “We take care of them,” he says, “and they take care of us.”