Jim and Mari Anne, 1959
Hospice Care at Home Was the Comfort a Janesville Family Needed
When a little red Corvette pulled up to the Mercy Hospital dorm in February of 1958, nursing student Mari Anne Voss didn’t know who was behind the wheel. She had a blind date—set up by one of her patients—with one of his two eligible cousins. She just wasn’t sure which one it was!
To her amusement, she later learned that Jim “Bing” Warren had borrowed the Corvette from his brother, rather than drive his own Plymouth Fury that evening.
That first date led to a 66-year marriage. Jim and Mari Anne had four sons, and during their careers they made many community connections in Janesville and Milton, Wisconsin. Eventually, they learned about Agrace when Mari Anne’s mother was in our care, and Mari Anne later joined the fundraising committee for our Janesville facility.
Jim became an Agrace Hospice Care patient in June of this year, in the last days of his life. After a year of health issues, a serious infection had taken its toll on his body.
“The hospitalist told me he was not strong enough for rehab, and the social worker started to give me the names of nursing homes,” says Mari Anne. “I told her, ‘I’m not going to use a nursing home.’ She said, ‘You can’t care for him at home.’ I said, ‘I can.’”
“When she left, I picked up the phone and I called Agrace. And that same day, a nurse came from Agrace and she took the [medical] history and made an assessment. She said, ‘We’ll have everything at the house tomorrow when he’s discharged.’”
Jim and Mari Anne
‘I wanted to be with him all the time’
The “everything” Jim needed at home included a hospital bed, a wheelchair and a lift. Mari Anne says, “When we came in, it was all there.”
Having briefly trained as a nurse, Mari Anne wanted to care for Jim at home in his last days. “I could see him declining and I wanted to be with him all the time,” she explains. “At home, he could watch his birds—that was important to him. He also liked music, and I could have the music on as much as he wanted.” His favorites? Jim Brickman, George Winston, John Denver.
Mari Anne was equipped with the phone number to call Agrace’s Triage Team any time of day if she needed urgent help or had questions in between visits from Jim’s nurse case manager, Sara, social worker, Mariah, and certified nursing assistant, Katie. “That first night, I had to call,” she says. “[Triage] answered my questions about his anxiety medication, and immediately the next morning, Sara was there to follow up.
“Sara was as kind and gentle as can be. Mariah was the same. Katie came every day and she would bathe him. She never did anything rushed. If she was going to work on his arm, she made sure she had a blanket or a towel so his arm was comfortable. Jim was very hard of hearing and he didn’t have his hearing aids in. She would talk so quietly, but she would talk in his ear, so I knew he heard her. She gave excellent care.”
Sara, Katie and Mariah, Jim’s Agrace care team
A connection between Agrace and the family
What surprised Mari Anne about Agrace? “The kindness, not only to Jim, and not only to me, but when the kids were there. There was communication. There was a connection between Agrace and the family.”
She explains, “The care is not just for the patient. Honestly, I think the family, perhaps, gets more. You know you’re not alone. I think that’s the hardest thing—to be alone. You know there’s somebody within a phone call. And it never took anybody [from Agrace] very long to get there.
“I think it’s very important to let people know that the care Agrace gives is still A plus care, even though the Janesville facility doesn’t have inpatient care now. That’s a message the Janesville community needs to know.”
Janesville Votes Agrace Best of the Best
Thank you, Janesville! Agrace Hospice Care has been voted “Best Hospice” in the 2025 Janesville Gazette Best of the Best Awards! This honor shows that the Janesville community recognizes the quality care we continue to provide in patients’ homes, area long-term care facilities and anywhere else people call home—across Wisconsin.
Join Us for Race for Agrace–Janesville, October 18
Agrace Celebrates 25th Anniversary of our Madison Campus
The festive evening on our 15-acre wooded grounds featured live music, staff-led building tours and a silent auction of donated art, including custom-decorated butterflies. Donors purchased tickets so more than 50 staff members could attend for free. By the end of the evening, more than $120,000 was raised to honor and celebrate Agrace’s past, present and future.
Hank Gets His Wish for 100th Birthday Dream Flight 
Agrace Foundation staff coordinated the pre-flight program to honor Hank, who lived another month following his exciting adventure.
NEW! Thrift Home Store Offers Punch Card
