OS2 Elizabeth Fenerty, right, wipes away a tear at her stepfather’s bedside at St. Luke’s Hospice House in Lower Saucon Township, after reenlisting in the Navy during a special ceremony there Thursday.
There were more moist eyes than usual at St. Luke’s Hospice House in Lower Saucon Township Thursday, and not for all the usual reasons tears flow there.
A special, bittersweet reenlistment ceremony was held inside a resident’s room at the hospice for his stepdaughter, who is returning to serve in the U.S. Navy at Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Patuxent River, Maryland.
Lieutenant Commander Otto Piedmont presented Mark Price of Hellertown with a special acknowledgment of his support for his stepdaughter OS2 Elizabeth Fenerty’s service in the U.S. Navy.
Operations Specialist Second Class (OS2) Elizabeth Fenerty was re-enlisted by her commanding officers from the base, who offered to drive four hours to the hospice so the ceremony could be performed at her stepfather Mark Price’s bedside.
“They were very accommodating,” Fenerty said of the effort that was made so her stepfather could be a witness to the special milestone.
Price, of Hellertown, has been a resident at the hospice for a week, said his wife and Elizabeth’s mom, Cyndi.
“My wonderful daughter wanted the ceremony with her stepdad,” she said, and that was what she had. Mark Price wore a “Proud Navy Dad” t-shirt during the ceremony, which was also attended by friends of the family and hospice staff.
Lieutenant Commander (LCDR) Otto Piedmont, who is Fenerty’s commanding officer, said he and a small cadre of other uniformed Navy men and women came all the way to the Saucon Valley to conduct the ceremony simply because “we’re family.”
“What I’ve always tried to enforce is family,” he said. “This is just what you do.”
Fenerty, who is originally from Royersford and whose grandfather served in the Navy, said she will be able to return to visit her stepdad in hospice when she needs to.
Mark Price of Hellertown wore a “Proud Navy Dad” t-shirt for his stepdaughter Elizabeth Fenerty’s U.S. Navy reenlistment ceremony conducted at his bedside in St. Luke’s Hospice House in Lower Saucon Township Thursday.
