Couple’s bequest leaves legacy of love and generosity

Theresa Pagano wept as she stood before the Legacy Wall during her first visit to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital® in the spring of 2025. The tears came not just from the awe of the moment, but from the ache of missing her husband, Louis.

Louis passed away in the summer of 2024 due to cancer. It had been on the New York couple’s bucket list to visit St. Jude one day, but Louis’s declining health made travel difficult.

After Louis passed Theresa decided to make the trip alone, her first Danny Thomas–St. Jude Society event, an annual gathering for supporters who have included St. Jude in their will or estate plans.

She was determined her late husband of 27 years would be there in spirit. At the Legacy Wall, she posed in front of their names inscribed on the wall and held up a photo of the two of them — smiling, arms wrapped around each other.  

It was her way of saying, “We’re here. Together.”

“Louis loved St. Jude so much,” Theresa recalled. “When we were dating, we discovered we both supported St. Jude. That connection deepened our bond and made our commitment to the children even stronger.”

Louis’ love for St. Jude lives on. Lou — as everyone called him — a Marine Corps veteran and butcher by trade, left a gift in his will to support the mission he believed in so deeply. Theresa sent the check to St. Jude after his passing in July 2024.

Theresa has also included St. Jude in her will, ensuring that their shared generosity continues to bring hope to children and families for generations to come. 

Her support of St. Jude is generational. Growing up in New York, Theresa saw her mother give to St. Jude, she recalls, like “clockwork.”

“She started a life for us of giving,” Theresa said.

As an adult and a single mother, Theresa began giving to St. Jude and later became a Partner in Hope, contributing monthly just like her mother. When she married Louis, her second husband, the couple decided to revise their wills and leave a legacy to St. Jude.

Now retired after a career in sales, Theresa — in her early 70s — spends time with her daughter, Heather, and other family and friends. During her visit to St. Jude, she made a new friend, Cheryl, at the donor event. 

The two have a lot in common: both are widows, and both love St. Jude — especially the fact that families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food, so they can focus on helping their child live.

Next year, the two friends are planning a return visit to attend the Danny Thomas–St. Jude Society event, but before that the two fast friends are planning a trip to New York to see Broadway shows.

“You know, coming to St. Jude was just an eye-opening experience,” Theresa said. “There was so much hope. You can just feel it everywhere you go.”