Good Samaritan in Mount Vernon gets surprise gift

MOUNT VERNON, Ill. — The Good Samaritan Regional Health Center Foundation has received a $730,000 gift that was more than 40 years in the making.

The Southern Illinoisan (http://bit.ly/v9B7L4 ) reports it came from the estate of a Mount Vernon businessman who died in 1970.

Hubert J. Schlafly Sr. willed the money before he died, but it stayed in a trust until his son died last spring at the age of 91.

Good Samaritan Regional Health Center Foundation official Bruce Flanigan calls the gift “a blessing.”

They plan to put the money toward a $236 million construction project on the health center’s campus on Mount Vernon’s southwest side.