Hospice patient leaves $5.6m to health agency

Former Wellesley resident Joan Batchelder, who died of cancer in 2010, left $5.6 million to the nonprofit organization. The bequest is by far the largest in its 56-year-history, said Cynthia Maher, chief executive officer of the Wayland-based agency.

“This is a huge gift for us,’’ Maher said. “This gives us some breathing room to do some careful thinking about what the future holds and how we can position ourselves. It’s invaluable coming at this particular time.’’

Parmenter, founded in 1954, is an independent, nonprofit health care agency providing services in Acton, Concord, Framingham, Hudson, Lincoln, Marlborough, Maynard, Natick, Needham, Newton, Stow, Sudbury, Waltham, Wayland, Wellesley, and Weston. Core services include home health care/visiting nurses, hospice, community education, clinics, and a food pantry.

The agency has an annual budget of about $4 million, with most of its revenue coming from fees for services. Maher said the agency bills insurance companies in most cases, but it provides many services that are either underfunded or not funded at all. To make up the difference, the agency raises about $600,000 each year. Typical gifts run from $25 to a few thousand; none have come close to Batchelder’s bequest, she said.

Stuart Hamilton, the president of the agency’s board of trustees, said the agency relies on fund-raising and endowments to make ends meet.

“Historically, we typically run an operating loss,’’ Hamilton said. “The cost of delivering health care to the patient is not fully reimbursed and there is more competition. It’s becoming more difficult to balance the books.’’

The agency was started using a gift from John Maynard Parmenter. Parmenter’s ancestor, John Parmenter, immigrated to Boston from England in 1639, eventually becoming a founder of Sudbury Plantation, according to Parmenter’s website.

John Maynard Parmenter, born in Wayland in 1831, was a cattle farmer who made wise investments and had amassed an estate valued at $1.5 million at the time of his death in 1923. In his will, Parmenter made substantial bequests to civic, religious, and educational institutions and reserved $220,000 in trust to establish a hospital in Wayland. The trustees of his estate deemed a community health center would be the most appropriate use of the funds and in 1954 established Parmenter Health Center in Wayland.

“The agency has been a vibrant health care resource in the community for those years and this gift will ensure that it continues to be a vital resource for many years to come,’’ Maher said.

Maher said Batchelder, who fought cancer for 20 years, received hospice care from Parmenter at the end. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in the mid-1980s. The disease went into remission, then returned about five years before her death. She was 66.

“She was a person who believed strongly that if you have wealth, you should give it to organizations that do good,’’ said Maher, who knew Batchelder for 30 years. “She also understood the impact that size of a gift would be to a small organization like ours. It makes a huge difference.’’

Batchelder was considered a pioneer in the financial services field in Boston, an occupation dominated by men. She retired from MFS Investment Management in Boston in 2001, having ascended the ranks of the company’s bond division.

According to her obituary that appeared in The Boston Globe on June 18, 2010, those who knew her recalled her wit, kindness, and generosity.

“Her sense of humor and love for life were just infectious,’’ said a nephew, William Barton of Concord. “Growing up, my brothers and I were the luckiest kids anybody could ever know because she was the embodiment of the Auntie Mame. She didn’t have kids of her own, so she showered affection on us.’’

Jennifer Fenn Lefferts can be reached at jflefferts@yahoo.com.