Well, they say I am a blogger now. I guess I'll give it a try. It sure doesn't have the bells and whistle of my iPad. I am hoping some of you will chose to join me in remembering St.A's. I can tell you that I never imagined myself as turning 70, until it was thrown upon me. Now I must consider myself lucky, since so many of us have died. I was in Sue Brandt's wedding. I talked to Meg Weaver every-time I flew through Minneapolis, but about 20 years ago I quit flying Northwest. Now they are both dead and I wonder why we got so far apart. Of course we didn't have the tools we have today. There was no unlimited talking on the telephones and it was costly if you were talkative. Also, I was never good at writing letters and mailing them. There are so many tools today, its hard to keep up, but lets give it a try.
I think it is important to try and remember the past. We can share that with those who will be our future. We have seen so many changes in the last 50 years in everything, but we're here to talk about nursing. I sometimes recollect St. A's and say it was like being in a convent for 3 years. Our lives had a few restrictions, especially in year one.
I have no clue where my year book is. I discarded boxes of unopened books during my a refi, so it may be in a landfill somewhere. If anyone has your year book and would be willing to have the picture inside the cover of the school scanned, I would like to use it on the blog. I would be willing to reimburse if there is a cost. Respond to this post if you are willing to do this.
I remember the lab in the basement where we started to learn nursing skills. I remember the dummies lying on hospital beds. What did we do to them? When did we practice on each other? Do you remember when we went to the wards? It seems that at first all we could do was enemas and I remember a teacher saying if one more of us talked about enema results over lunch, she wouldn't let us eat.
I remember Sister Delores and I forget the name of her associate. I remember they stole a lot of money from the school and disappeared. Then Mrs Tobin arrived. Do you remember her name? Of course it would help to have a yearbook.
I'll sign of for now and see who is interested in responding. I think we can have lots of fun remembering.
Is Sister Delores's associate Ms Lavosik? That name jumped into my brain from somewhere. They say its easier to remember the past than the present. Ha!
ReplyDeleteHer name was Marion Wacek
DeleteHow could I forget Marion Wacek. At least the ending sounded the same.
DeleteI have been on the computer for hours each day, trying to learn about blogging. I'm having a blast. But I'm not all that computer literate, so there is a learning curve. I'm writing this trying to fix a problem Carolyn sent me.
ReplyDeleteI heard she gave the 'profit' she stole to Fr, Juvenal. Remember how intimidating she could be? She told a few of us that are eyes looked like "black hole in a burnt blanket. I often have wondered if she had to sign out the Paregoric she gave to us on a narc sheet??
ReplyDeleteI don't remember Fr. Juvenal. I wonder how much they absconded with? I do remember how intimidating she was. I sure that was on purpose, to keep us in line, so to say. I never received any Paregoric, that I remember. Did you mean her eyes or our eyes. I imagine the building held 30-40 per floor. Can you imagine being in charge of 120 teenagers and twenty year olds? What a nightmare.
DeleteI don't remember how many of us graduated? I think it was close to 30.
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ReplyDeleteI think there were exactly 33 of us... That was 50 years ago! I still feel 25, in my head. The body sings another tune. I smiled as the request for someone to lead the singing of the St. A's songs. I believe it started "Angels of mercy we are bound to be... I'll never forget my discomfort as trying to sing a song from Sound of Music and missing one oof the first few notes!! NEVER again.
ReplyDeleteThat singing, I failed to mention was in front of the student body of St. A's at a welcome event for freshman.
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ReplyDeleteI think we're still alone here in this BlogSpot. But some bright spot might be the two 'esting' messages we see.
ReplyDeleteHere's welcoming Judy McDermott once you get here!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Shirley for starting this blog. I hope more will get involved. I got all choked up reading your comments about Sue Brandt and Meg Weaver. It is so sad to think of the old classmates who are gone. My years at St. A's were some of the most important of my life and even though it was rigorous at times, we survived.
ReplyDeleteAbout the number of us that graduated: do you remember that we were the first class to spend the entire 3 years on the 3rd floor of the dorm? That was because we had a phenomenally low drop out rate and the class stayed so large only the 3rd floor would accommodate us. And Marion Wacek tried her best to drum some of us out. I was never under her radar but I remember how she hounded some of us that she regarded as less than perfect nursing material. Cudos to those who suffered her barbs and still hung in there!
Regarding all the Euchre games: I hadn't played for years either but about 6 or 7 years ago Dwight and I got invited to join a Euchre group of 6 couples in Cullman, AL. He had to learn and I had to have a refresher course but we did join. Met once a month for years and had the best times and made some good friends. Interestingly enough, almost everyone in the group was a Yankee! Euchre is NOT a southern card game!
Some quick tidbits that I remember:
1. Not being allowed to leave the building in shorts and squirming around in the car changing into and out of shorts to come and go.
2. Being allowed to linger in the foyer with our boyfriends until the very last minute but having to step over the threshold into the lobby by the stroke of whatever hour we had to be in by. And Marion Wacek or Sister Bridget hanging around checking out our behaviour and whether or not we stepped over that line in time. Dwight got in Sister Bridget's good graces by attending rosary one nt. in the living room or whatever that room was called. (He says actually he got trapped into her good graces.)
3. Mercyville: A group of us went out to Eileen's on a Friday nt. and got bombed. First time for me and Vodka was the culprit. To this day I can't stand Vodka. Mary McKean and I were roommates and I don't know which of us was in the worst shape. We drove back to RI the next day for a dance and we both had splitting headaches, or at least I did. We didn't actually drive, the guys picked us up. I guess we had a senior prom or something? Anyone remember? I have pictures of Dwight and I in formal attire with a corsage and the whole bit. Also my sister and her boyfriend. She was in the class two years behind me and they put her in the room on the second floor directly under mine.
4. Coming and going at night thru the tunnel over to the hospital and sneaking in and out that way when we weren't supposed to be gone. Also the propping of the back door on the first floor that required co-conspirators to prop it at the correct time.
5. That dumb phone booth in the hallway that we had to share and were not supposed to use after lights out but some of us did. I can remember laying on the floor in there with my legs propped up on the wall talking to Dwight for hours. Guess it was true love, we're still together and had our 50th this week on the 2nd. What was the time limit for talking? 20 minutes? Can't remember.
6. Having to endure study hall in the library in the evenings if we got below a certain grade on tests. I didn't spend much time there but considered it a real punishment.
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ReplyDeleteWill make that all for now. By the way, Shirley, you know why it was so cheap, slave labor from the students! But that didn't hurt us either. We were better nurses for it. I worked a lot on weekends and holidays. I remember after I graduated I calculated that all those extra shifts probably gave me about an extra years worth of experience.
ReplyDeleteAnother note: we did have yellow stripes for our caps and I think one was added for each year. Then black when we graduated. I agree with you that capes would have been much cooler than those blazers.
Oh, I just have to add this: remember the 12 inch rule? Uniform hems had to be 12 inches from the floor. And Wacek would check yours with a ruler if her eagle eye detected a hemming infringement and punishment would ensue if you failed the test!
Sue Brandt, Mary Ellen Trollen and I went out through the tunnel once, Never proved the back door. Didn't have a boyfriend in training, so I never had the need. Hope others will respond and let us know it they used these measures. Since no boyfriend I didn't have to spend hours in the phone booth. Actually I thought it didn't have a booth.
ReplyDeleteI remember my uniforms were the longest because I think I was so intimidated by Wacek I had my mom hem the uniforms with my belt off. Did't have the heart to have them redone. In the picture I posted, can't even imagine long sleeves.
I remember the library. Don't remember being subjected to library punishment. I don't remember the shorts thing either, but home was 15-20 minutes away. Probably went right home on weekends and changed into shorts.
Gosh, what a prude I was!! I never snuck out, either via the tunnel or a propped open back door. I was too much of a chicken to do that. Plus... one needed a boyfriend, which I had none back then. I think I was too shy to manage a BF!! This is fun to share memories. Come on classmates--hop on board!!
ReplyDeleteI know darn well I wasn't the only one going out through that tunnel and the back door. I could name some other's, for sure. Fes up classmates!
ReplyDeleteMemory: Linda Day and I stayed roommates for the whole 3 years. Thanks to her for putting up with me. We passed up a chance once to move to a bigger room - our's was right across the hall from the bathrm. And only a few doors from the lounge. Need I say more.
Memory: The day John Kennedy was shot. We were having class downstairs with Mrs.???, the blonde RN. Actually, I think her name was Mrs. Brooks. Marion Wacek came in the room to tell us. Can still remember the chill that came over me and the stunned silence in the room.
Memory: the chubby old nun who stole pillows out of the patient rooms and hid them in a locked closet!
Memory: Mr. Rouch who was our nutrition instructor and the hospital dietician. He was always trying to please us with the menu choices. Remember how he had the kitchen staff put out food for us in the kitchen and the frig for those working nights?
I remember liking the food at St .A's. I had many firsts on trying food there. My mom was too busy to cook and really did not excel at it, so our/her repertoire was limited. The chubby nun who confiscated pillows was probably Sister Rita? Was she also head of another department?
ReplyDeleteI think you are right about her name being Sister Rita. I can still see her toddling down the hall clutching pillows in her arms and unlocking a closet to stash them in.
DeleteRemember Dr. Cunningham who was our student physician? I had to see him because I was still taking penicillin at that time for a teenage case of Rheumatic Fever.
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ReplyDeleteAh, good memories. I used to need pills for allergies and needed to walk to Dr Cunninham's office for the script or in those days the pills.
ReplyDeleteI remember Mr Rouch. I always thought he and one of the instructors were seeing each other. They acted funny around each other, like furtive looks etc. Sure didn't know about the refrigerator with free foods for nights. I'm surprised we didn't go over when we weren't working. Maybe some did.
The day Kennedy was shot was like Sept. 11. A day in infamy. I remember standing in my dorm room listening to the radio in shock. It was Thanksgiving week. At home I saw Ruby shot when it happened. And how could anyone forget Jackie!
What was the name of the nice priest from St. Ambrose that taught us a few classes? The only ones, by the way, that qualified for college credits. He was the only one of our teachers that had a college degree rather than a nursing degree. Several of our classmates went to work at St. Anthony's when they graduated? Remember who? I went to work at the R.I. Tuberculosis Sanitarium and worked there for a year until Dwight enlisted in the army. He spent 3 yrs. in the military but we were so fortunate, he drew Germany as his overseas assignment so he never served in Vietnam. Something we have always been so thankful for.
ReplyDeleteThe priest who came to teach our academic classes was Father Hines. He was actually a pastor in Charlotte, IA. My brother told me he was not on faculty at St. Ambrose at the time Bob Edwards was going there. I clarify which Bob, as I am married to a Bob. I think Jo Copeland is correct in that he was the only one on St. Anthony's staff who had a degree.
ReplyDeleteI remember Miss Sandra Henry. I sort of thought she had a degree of some sort as she was so intellectual about things.... it was my perception anyway. For some reason I remember she graduated St' A's in 1944--the year most of us were born!
I found out that only the credits from Father Hines classes would qualify to transfer when I looked into getting my BS degree. Did not know he was not on the faculty at St. Ambrose. In any event, he was the only one that the classes would qualify. (For a grand total of 12 credit hours!) It was going to take several years and cost $10,000 to get that BS in the Quad Cities from St. Ambrose. At the time I was working at Mercy and St. Lukes in Davenport and they were only paying BS nurses $1000 PER YEAR more than diploma nurses. My dad encouraged me to think about going to Palmer and when I looked into that, Palmer accepted my diploma RN for the entire 2 yrs. of premed that was required to get into Palmer. I decided that was the way to go for me. At that time, BS nurses were mostly paper pushers anyway and that wasn't my thing - I enjoyed actually taking care of patients. So I made the choice to go into Chiropractic. I never regretted it. Loved being my own boss and making my own decisions as to how to take care of my patients. I specialized in children and women. Dwight and I practiced together for over 35 years and it worked for us.
ReplyDeleteCan't picture Miss Henry at the moment. Maybe I didn't have any classes with her. What did she teach?
I of course worked at St.A's, because of my scholarship. Me and Judy Sheridan worked in OB. Mary Ellen Trollan, Sue Brandt and Carol Jecklin all worked at St.'s and they had 2 apartments in a house a block from the hospital. Meg Weaver and Donna Wilfong lived together close to the hospital and worked there. Susie Fritz worked there. I'll write Susie because she did med /surg and I never left the OB floor during a shift. I didn't even know there was a TB sanitarium in Rock Island. It was '73 or 74' when I went back to school. Tell me I wasn't shocked about the 12 credits. I also had to pass tests on OB, Peds, Medical, Surgical and Psych.
ReplyDeleteThought maybe I had better put an update on the blog. Dwight and I were in an auto accident in upstate NY on Aug. 17th. We totaled our Jeep and are very sore from chest wall injuries from the seat belts. But thankfully no one else was involved and we are going to be ok. Managed to drive the RV back here to AL and we are at our son's recuperating and going through the process of dealing with the ins. company and deciding on a new vehicle. Dwight asked if I wanted to come up for the reunion since we are back here but I checked and the registration deadline is past so that won't work. Shirley, I think I got that email to you that you requested.
ReplyDeleteI am sorry to learn about the accident. As you say, thank God for no worse. Please call Trinity and explain the circumstances of why you were late. I am sure they will accommodate, especially since you are one of the Golden Oldies!! Take care!!
ReplyDeleteCarolyn and Jo When you have time, please comment on "Why I became a nurse "and "Embarrassing moments". I'm going to take my iPad and computer to the meetings at the reunion and try to entice people to join. I also want them to comment about the reunion itself. If I get no response, I could ask the Moline grads, but it wouldn't be the same. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteThis is Shirley posting anonymously to see if it works.
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