2021-22 BTC Calendar: Allen and Joan Scearce Hogge

As her husband, Allen, built his gynecology practice in Suffolk, Virginia, Joan Scearce Hogge (’68) raised their children, tending especially to Marcus, who had been diagnosed with an incurable genetic disease. “I didn’t get out a whole lot,” she says. “It’s a lonely road to walk.” Finding no respite care in the area, the Hogges and their minister started Edmarc, which today serves an average of 75 families daily as the oldest freestanding children’s hospice in the country. These JMU scholarship donors soon headed to UC Berkeley, where Allen trained in genetics and Joan earned an M.S. in genetic counseling. “I counseled many parents in the same situation Allen and I were in.” Healing others continued in Pennsylvania, where the couple collaborated on research papers. Joan also earned her divinity degree to become a minister and initiated the Pediatric Palliative Care Coalition. Now retired, the Hogges say, “We are now giving back so that others will have the opportunities we were given.”