Safe Haven - Regis College

16REGIS TODAYof poise in a classic cardigan,honey-colored hair brushing hershoulders, her blue eyes warmand direct as she speaks. Whenthe subject turns to Nick’s aspirationsin the hospitality field, Mollyteases, “You’re going to be a weddingplanner, Nick?”This gentle ribbing got its startyears ago when the two playedtogether on Bethany Hill School’sbasketball court, attended summercamps and participated in theyoung people’s nonviolence group.As they matured, Molly and Nickbecame leaders within the building.“The younger kids look up tothem,” says Sister Denise, adding,“I love that they are still so helpfulto each other.”Molly moved to Bethany HillSchool when she was five.Her mother, Kathy, wasinitially a resident in NewBeginnings, a program on theschool’s first floor for recoveringalcoholics and addicts. “She gotclean and sober, transitioned intoan apartment, and I moved inwith her,” says Molly.Soon after, her older sister andthree brothers followed. Molly’ssister is now 28 and her brothersare 26, 25, and 22.“Kathy wanted so much for herchildren,” affirms Sister Denise.“She had them when she wasyoung, one after the other, andthen she got sick.”Despite declining health,Kathy worked diligently to betterherself as a parent. She and herboyfriend, Bill Blake, attendedparenting classes. “We learned tolisten better, to discipline the kidsfairly and set limits,” recalls Bill,noting that Molly and Kathy oftenwent to classes together.Still, life was difficult for youngMolly, particularly after her biologicalfather died when she was11. “I was angry at the world,” shesays. Molly enrolled in Resiliencyfor Life at Framingham HighNick and Molly grew up together atBethany Hill School and have remainedstaunch allies through difficult times.School, a voluntary interventionand prevention program thatdevelops skills and confidence instudents who are at risk of academicfailure.Molly blossomed in the structuredprogram, graduating fromhigh school a full year early. Blakeexplains that Molly’s motivationto finish school was also fueled byKathy’s desire to see her daughtergraduate. “Kathy was verysick and we all knew she didn’thave long to live,” Blake says.Molly began taking classes atFramingham State College andher mother died six months later.Molly wears an elegant silvernecklace engraved with the words“my angel” around her neck. “Ithas my mom’s ashes in it,” saysMolly, gently touching the cylinderpendant. “One of her friends fromBethany made it for me.” Mollysays her mother was sick for aslong as she can remember. “Butshe never, ever gave up.”The Danforth siblings receivedemotional support from theBethany Sisters throughout theirmother’s illness. Molly remembershugging Sister Betsy Conway, CSJ,then program director for NewBeginnings and now the directorof spiritual life at Regis. “SisterBetsy and Sister Denise werealways with us. They drove us toand from the hospital. They werevery much a part of our family.”After her mother died, Mollycompleted her prerequisites atMassachusetts Bay CommunityCollege and was accepted intoRegis College’s School of Nursing.“I decided to pursue nursingafter my mother died. We kidsall took care of her so I knewwhat it entailed, and I appreciatedthe relationships she hadwith her nurses.” Molly says herfirst clinical rotation was at thehospital where her mother was apatient. “I’d been in those rooms,been on those floors.”Molly thinks she’d like tobecome a neonatal nurse and bepresent during the first precioushours of life, even if that life isprecarious. In the future, shehopes to enroll in Regis’s pediatricnurse practitioner program.Both Molly and Nick are eagerfor the next chapter in their lives.Nick, who will graduate in May,says he’d like to work for a Bostonhotel and buy a nice house anda new car. He imagines he’ll besingle for quite some time andwill be a favorite uncle to Molly’sfuture kids. Until then, the friendsrelax at Molly’s new apartment,do their homework together, anddream about the future.Sister Denise believes thatMolly, Nick, and Pauline areperfect examples of Bethany HillSchool’s mission. “They are incrediblepeople who are motivated todo well and make a difference,”she says with pride.As Bethany Hill School celebratesits 18th year with aSpring Gala in May, Sister Deniseremarks that friends often askher when she plans to retire. Sheglances toward the bathroom inthe children’s playroom where aplumber wrangles with a brokenpipe and then cocks her eartoward the hallway and a runawayrambunctious toddler, andadmits that she is just too busyto consider retirement.“A lot of miracles happen here,”she asserts. “I’m going to stayuntil the miracles stop.”