Proclamation, scholarship pay homage to woman who died of SUDEP
Two years after the death of a local woman to Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy, organizations around Butler have found ways to honor and memorialize her.
Molly Calvert, a resident of Butler, was a nurse and a swim instructor at Alameda Park pool. She died unexpectedly on May 8, 2023.
Butler County Commissioners issued a proclamation at their meeting on Wednesday, May 7, declaring May 8 an awareness day for the complication. Then, on Thursday, Vintage Coffeehouse, a coffee shop in Butler, hosted a fundraising event with proceeds going to a charity scholarship in her honor.
The proclamation was delivered by the commissioners, officially declaring “SUDEP Awareness Day” throughout the county in honor of Calvert. Calvert’s family attended the meeting and accepted the proclamation.
“Whereas ... most people with epilepsy live long and healthy lives, their increased risk of death compared to the population is a serious concern,” the proclamation said. “Being aware of SUDEP, learning more about it and discussing the risks are vital to lowering these risks.”
Calvert’s sister, Maggie Calvert, gave a short speech at the meeting talking about Molly Calvert and bringing awareness to the epilepsy complication.
“We’ve met a lot of other families bereaved like this, and they’ve all said the same thing: they didn’t know what SUDEP was before they lost their person,” Maggie Calvert said. “We’re working to try to change that and trying to say SUDEP more, trying to get more people involved in expanding that knowledge and just talking about what a wonderful person my sister was.”
On Wednesday, May 8, the second anniversary of Molly Calvert’s death, the coffeehouse served a custom drink, “Monarch Chai,” in memory of her. Proceeds from the drink are put in the scholarship fund.
“When she passed, we did a search on all of the drinks that she had got, and she was all over the place,” Vintage co-owner Peter Kupas said. “But she got more chai than anything else, so we created a chai for her.”
In addition to the drink, the shop also offered an informative card, sharing details on the scholarship, seizure first aid tips, a QR code to a digital memorial for Molly Calvert and a QR code for donations.
Kupas said they did a fundraiser for the first anniversary as well.
“Each year, Molly’s scholarship will help a student going to college to learn a helping profession … We hope that this scholarship raises awareness of SUDEP and epilepsy. We also hope that we can encourage everyone to be a little bit like Molly — to love fiercely and loudly, to care for others and to appreciate the little things in life,” the card said.
Those wishing to donate to the scholarship can do so via Molly Calvert’s Venmo account, found at https://venmo.com/u/Maggie-Calvert.
