Legacy of kindness
Scholarship named for St. Xavier graduate, Christ Medical Center nurse killed in 2018
For Eddie Isadore, there are a series of dates that are forever etched into his brain.
■ Jan. 6, 2007 — the day he met Renee Shereyk, a nurse at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, when he went to the nurses’ station to find some tape to hang cards for a friend’s father.
■ Jan. 12, 2007 — The first time he took her on a date, dinner and a movie.
■ July 30— Her birthday.
■ Oct. 8, 2007— The day they were engaged.
■ Dec. 6, 2008 — The day they were married and she became Renee Isadore.
■ June 24, 2018 — The day she was shot to death, at the age of 43, the victim of a murder-suicide outside of an Orland Park restaurant.
Following that fateful day, Isadore said he struggled to get back to work with the Chicago Police Department. He initially filed a lawsuit against the killer’s estate. And there still is not a day that goes by where he is not pained by the loss of his wife.
“I miss her terribly,” he said. “I really do.”
But Isadore ultimately decided what he really wanted is to see Renee remembered for her passions and kindness rather than what happened to her.
So, in the 2 ½ years since, Isadore has dedicated her birthday to “paying it forward” alongside a team of nurses who worked with his wife on the 7West floor at the hospital. And alongside Renee’s friend Linda Vahl, Isadore is working with St. Xavier University in Chicago’s Mount Greenwood neighborhood to launch a nursing scholarship in her memory, guided by the prospect of turning a tragedy into something that can help others.
“I get to make something that bad into something good if we can help another person,” Isadore said. “Renee was always about helping someone else.”
The university officially announced in November that the Renee Isadore ’06Memorial Scholarship is to provide financial support to a student enrolled in the School of Nursing and Health Sciences, starting in spring 2021.
“We knew we had to do something significant to keep her memory alive,” Vahl said.
Erin Mueller, associate vice president for university advancement, said the university is honored to be able to help.
“They were committed to finding a way to honor Renee and her passion for nursing and to bring some good into the world in Renee’s memory,” Mueller said. “Renee always knew she wanted to be a nurse. It was a calling for her. Eddie and Linda wanted to be able to support an aspiring nurse who was passionate about caring for others, just like Renee.”
Isadore said he and Vahl first met with people at St. Xavier in spring 2019, having already collected some money on Facebook. He said Renee loved the nursing program, whichwas close both to their home in Mount Greenwood and the hospital where she had lined up a job even before graduation.
“She liked her teachers, professors,” Isadore said. “I have a very soft spot in my heart for nursing and that college.”
They were told that to make an endowment work, they would need to raise $25,000 in 16 months.
“We reached that goal within a year,” Isadore said.
Vahl said people gave whatever they could to help, which she sees as a strong testament to the kind of person Renee was.
“Nobody disliked her,” Vahl said. “She was a happy, selfless person. Nursing really suited her.”
Isadore said the new goal is $50,000 to be able to expand the endowment. Mueller explained that the intent is to award the scholarship annually to a full-time, degree-seeking undergraduate who is majoring in nursing and in good academic standing.
Preference is being given to those who demonstrate financial need. As the endowment grows, the award amounts will, too.
“We would like to see the endowment continue to grow so that can help more students,” Mueller said.
Renee knew she wanted to be a nurse since high school, when she attended Reavis in Burbank, her family said.
Her positive personality lent itself to being a compassionate caregiver, Isadore said. She had a knack for calming people and regularly received compliments about herwork.
“If you met Renee once, you’d have fallen in love with her, and she loved to take care of people,” Isadore said. “When a nurse had a bad day, they’d call upon Renee to take over for that patient all the time.”
Isadore said he wants to see others able to follow their passions for nursing the way Renee did. It will be a lasting legacy for his late wife.
“Theway she passed away, I can’t even get the words for it,” Vahl said. “We had to set the record straight.”
Mueller said now, more than ever, there is a need for well-educated health care workers, and this scholarship will help get at least one more out there.
“In the midst of this global pandemic, we see just how critical nurses are to the health and well-being of our nation ,” she said .“When families cannot bet herein the hospital room with their loved ones, it is the nurses who are providing the compassion and human touch that is so comforting to families. That is exactly where Renee would have been.”
Mueller said it is a wonderful way to honor a university alumna.
“Renee Isadore lived the core values of Saint Xavier through her compassion, integrity, excellence and continuous service to the greater good,” she said. “Now, Renee’s legacy will support the next generation of SXU nursing students who will go onto live the SXU mission of serving compassionately daily.”
On Renee’s birthday, Isadore joins the nurses of 7W for a day of donations, starting at the Ronald McDonald House in Oak Lawn. They also visit a women’s shelter, halfway house and food depository. When they are done, they typically celebrate theway Renee would have.
“Renee loved margaritas,” Isadore said. “I’d take them out for food and margaritas. I have to give them the credit for doing something wonderful. That’s a rewarding day for me.”