Carmel philanthropist supports Montage Health lab services

Local philanthropist honors late husband and exceptional healthcare with $500,000 donation

Carmel resident Flo Snyder-Speck remembers the moment in 1958 when she returned from a girls’ trip to Hawaii, turned on the television, and learned that the Brooklyn Dodgers were relocating to Los Angeles. Seizing the opportunity, she quickly picked up the phone and secured a job with the team, becoming their first female employee.

Her remarkable experience inspired her book, Lady in the Locker Room: Madcap Memoirs of the Early LA Dodgers, where she recounts how a young woman with no knowledge of baseball found herself working for a Major League Baseball team.

After leaving the Dodgers in 1968, she became a public information officer for California’s Department of Justice, which took her to Sacramento. Meanwhile, Dale Speck, a high-ranking officer with the Los Angeles Police Department, was recruited by legendary California Attorney General Evelle Younger to head the department’s Division of Law Enforcement.

“During the first staff meeting Dale and I both attended,” Snyder-Speck says, “we looked across the room at each other and there was an instant connection. That night we had dinner together at Frank Fat’s famous restaurant. From then on, there was nobody else for me.”

In July 2018, Dale, who ended his justice career as Deputy Attorney General before going into private practice, died in the Carmel community where he and Snyder-Speck retired. He was 92.

Supporting high-quality healthcare in Monterey County

In gratitude for what Snyder-Speck calls “the constant, compassionate, and quality care” her husband received at Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula, she recently donated $500,000 to Montage Health Foundation to support the Laboratory Services department’s “continued excellence.”

“We were so grateful that, no matter what happened, the hospital was always there to take care of Dale,” she says. “In fact, we were in that lab so often, we joked they should have a plaque for us.”

Now they will. Snyder-Speck says she made her donation to honor her husband and support the facility that honored him.

Upgrading Montage Health's phlebotomy services

“When I heard Flo wanted to recognize the laboratory staff, I knew she was talking about our phlebotomists,” says Cheryl Gindhart-Moore, Montage Health’s director of Laboratory Services. “In a lab, a lot happens behind the scenes. A very important part are the phlebotomists, who need to be very kind and patient and do everything correctly.”

Gindhart-Moore has chosen, through Snyder-Speck’s generosity, to recognize her phlebotomists by upgrading to state-of-the-art blood draw chairs for patients, which will be installed in Laboratory Services facilities throughout Montage Health, enhancing patient safety and comfort and providing consistency for phlebotomists.

Blood-draw carts that are wheeled to patient rooms are also getting a major upgrade, which will again set a new standard of world-class equipment for Montage Health’s phlebotomists and patients.

Enhancing Monterey County healthcare with philanthropy

“Philanthropic gifts like Flo’s are crucial to driving innovation and ensuring the highest quality of care at Montage Health,” says Michele Melicia Young, director of Montage Health Foundation. “They empower us to continuously enhance our services and provide exceptional care. Flo’s generosity will leave a legacy, particularly in our Laboratory Services department, and support our ongoing commitment to compassionate, top-tier patient care.”