A SPECIALPUBLICATION

OF THE

MARSHALLTOWN’SNURSING TRADITION

past timesCentral Iowa’s monthly magazine dedicated to celebrating our history

MAY 2014

Inside...Mike Donahey: A history of two hospitals

Barb Scafferi:For the love of farming

Historical Society:A glimpse of the past

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This monthʼs Past Timessalutes Marshalltownʼs twonursing schools.

It is appropriate, as Mar-shalltown Medical & SurgicalCenter celebrates its 100thanniversary.

For years central Iowansknew the predecessors —the Evangelical DeaconessHospital and later Marshall-town Area Community Hospi-tal — had sponsored a nurs-ing school.

However, Michelle Rose-burrough, a volunteer with theHistorical Society of MarshallCounty discovered in societyarchives that St. ThomasMercy Hospital, commonlyknown as Mercy, also operat-ed a nursing school from1904 to 1948.

Over the years, the HSMChas become a repository forhospital and school archives,as residents and former stu-dents saw fit to donate.

But first one must start withthe townʼs two, yes two, hos-pitals.

The St. Thomas Mercy

Publisher ..............................Mike SchlesingerManaging Editor ..........................Abigail PelzerPast Times Writer.......................Mike DonaheyPast Times Columnists ................Barb Scafferi

................Marshall County Historical Society

past times

Past Times is a monthly magazine publishedby the Times-Republican, Marshalltown, with

offices located at 135 W. Main St.,Marshalltown, Iowa 50158. Past Times is

inserted into the Times-Republican monthly.For more information, please call or write:

Past Timesc/o Times-Republican

135 W. Main St.P.O. Box 1300

Marshalltown, IA 50158641-753-6611

All articles and information contained herein arethe property of the Times-Republican. Permis-sion for use or reproduction must have prior

approval in writing from the publisher.

munity Hospital Nov. 1, 1969and later, MMSC in 1985.

St. Thomas opened in1904 by the Sisters of Mercy,an order of Roman Catholicnuns, and was dedicated byArchbishop J.J. Keane ofDubuque.

The Evangelical Dea-coness Home and Hospitalopened in 1914. It was found-ed by the Rev. Karl Rest, apastor of the German Evan-gelical Friends Church,

He created the Evangeli-cal Deaconess Society. Theorganization was inspired tobuild the Evangelical Dea-coness Home and Hospital.

The hospital opened onSouth Third Avenue and MainStreet — at the edge of Mar-shalltownʼs east business dis-trict.

The influence of the reli-gious orders, which estab-lished both hospitals was sig-nificant, and could not beunderstated.

———Contact Mike Donahey at 641-753-6611 or

mdonahey@timesrepublican.com

Hospital opened on thetownʼs west side and servedcentral Iowa Catholics.

That site is now occupiedby the Embers, a senior hous-ing community.

The Evangelical Dea-coness Hospital and Mar-shalltown Area CommunityHospital — MMSCʼs prede-cessors — operated a sec-ond nursing school.

That school existed from1914 to 1986, and closed forgood with the graduatingclass of 1986.

Many of its graduates stillwork or reside in central Iowa.

Amateur historians will beat a loss to find a re-purposedhouse or building for eitherschool, because both con-ducted business within thewalls of the respective hospi-tals.

An exception were its dor-mitories.

Local historian Jay Carollosaid a St. Thomas dormitorywas in a house on the south-west corner of West Main andNorth13th Street, owned by

Mandy Abernathy of Mar-shalltown.

His statement was backedup by Pat Thompson, Mar-shall County Public HealthNurse, and a 1984 graduateof the MACH school.

The most recent MACHdorm was 9 N. 4th Ave., cur-rently home to Center Associ-ates and the SubstanceAbuse and Treatment Unit ofCentral Iowa, commonlyknown as SATUCI.

MACH sold its dormitory in1993 to Center Associatesand SATUCI, who moved inthe following year afterremodeling, according to BevWorden, Center Associatesbusiness manager.

The schools revealedmany interesting facts aboutthe origins of the two hospi-tals.

For many years, Marshall-town and central Iowa sup-ported two competing hospi-tals — Mercy and EvangelicalDeaconess.

They merged, becomingthe Marshalltown Area Com-

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Iowa 50459

MAY DAYSWhen we have written

about May baskets in pastyears, I have been gob-smacked that not all chil-dren experience that! Iheard from readers inPennsylvania, Michigan,and a few other states thatdo not observe that MayDay event.

As do many things,May baskets evolved overthe years from the ones Imade out of wallpapersamples — to cunninglycut construction paperwith photographs of mybaby granddaughter onthe side. By the time wemoved into town from thefarm, our personal choicewas white Styrofoam cupswith colorful pipe cleanerhandles. My childhoodMay baskets containedpopcorn and Momʼshomemade fudge (nocandy thermometerinvolved — the “done”method was determinedby a “softball in coldwater” — I wasted a lotthat way) — as well asdogtooth violets, purpleviolets, and DutchmanʼsBreeches picked along thestretch of dirt road about amile and a half from ourhouse — and from Wick-ershamʼs timber acrossthe road from our farm.Flash forward to our livingin town and the white Sty-rofoam cups. These werefilled with sugary candyorange slices, malted milkballs, and chocolate cov-ered peanuts purchasedfrom the candy counter atSpurgeons. We liked all ofthose very much. Howev-er, the ones the girlsreceived seemed to beprimarily popcorn andcorn candies. After thegirls outgrew the MayBasket event, I read thatthe tradition was initiallyobserved by friends givingfriends “flower plantings”on that day. For the nextfew years, I would go toEarl Mayʼs and choosecontainers of pansy plantsor African Violets. I then“gifted” several friends

with those on May 1.In my motherʼs school

days (early to mid-1920s),they would do somethingcalled a “Maypole” dance.I have seen it in moviesbut never in real life.

The next thing in Maythat we celebrated wasMotherʼs Day. Our familyrarely went “out” to eat, asrestaurants were tooexpensive. Mother alwaysstressed how muchcheaper she could makethe same items at home.For several years, motherprepared the dinner —and both of our grand-mothers were invited. Thiswas obviously not a breakfor mother. Finally came atime when dad pro-nounced that we were“going out” to eat. Mymother, both grandmoth-ers, my sister, and I weredadʼs “guests.” I remem-ber we went to the formerLloydʼs Restaurant on

Highway 30.We had a two hour wait tobe seated, but we finally

had our turn. It was mar-velous! By the mid-to-late1950s, there were a num-ber of nice restaurants inMarshalltown: Lloydʼs,Stoneʼs, Thunderbird andTallcorn, to name a few.Reservations became arequirement — and all ofthem were booked.

Between Easter andthe end of May, therewere baptisms, confirma-tions and graduations.

SENIOR SKIP DAYLa Moille Consolidated

School usually let out forthe summer in the third orfourth week in May. Thelast day of school, we hada school picnic with theparents bringing covereddishes for our lunch —and games played. It was

a fun, family conclusion tothe school year.

The year I was a sen-ior, our class — sevengirls, two boys — weredriven by chaperones toBagnall Dam down onLake of the Ozarks — forour “senior skip day” —which was actually three

days. We met other sen-iors there from othersmaller schools in Iowa— like ours. We hung outby the pool — or went tothe recreation center andplayed ping-pong andendlessly danced “the

SCAFFERI | 6

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CON-TRIBUTEDPHOTOS

Left, Barbʼsyoungestdaughter,Pamela, inher bap-tismalgown onEasterSunday in1971.Below, Bar-bara isshown ongraduationday fromhighschool inMay of1953.

A confirmation picture from Redeemer Lutheran Church in Marshalltown submit-ted by Jean Russell Larson. From left pictured are Dorothy Fricke, Jean Larson,Bill Fricke, and Laverne Lepley in their confirmation gowns with the Rev. Iltenstanding in back.

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By MIKE DONAHEY

TIMES-REPUBLICAN

“No hospitals or nurs-es here 50 years ago,”read the headline frompage 41 of the June 6,1949 “Fifty Years ofProgress in Marshall-town” a special editionpublished by the Times-Republican. 

The publicationmarked the purchase ofthe paper by D.W. Norrisand associates in 1899,including significant

advances in Marshall-townʼs commerce overthat time.

However, five yearswould pass before Mar-shalltonians could proud-ly counter the “no hospi-tals or nurses” claim.

In 1904 the St.Thomas Mercy Hospitaland its nursing schoolopened for business.

Joining them in 1914was the Evangelical Dea-coness

Hospital and its schoolfor nurses.

For 82 years theschools endeavored toeducate women, andlater, a few men in a bur-geoning health care field,all within the walls of theirrespective hospitals.

Of the two hospitalsand two schools only oneremains — the Marshall-town Medical and Surgi-cal Center, which evolvedfrom the EvangelicalDeaconess Hospital.

First to end wasMercyʼs nursing school in1948.

Next was Mercy Hos-pital in the 1960s (itsname had been changedfrom St. Thomas Mercypreviously) when itmerged with the Mar-shalltown Area Commu-nity Hospital, which hadchanged its name fromEvangelical Deaconess.

And in 1986, after 72years of educating nurs-ing students and sendingthem out worldwide, theEvangelical/MarshalltownCommunity School ofNursing graduated its last

lass. Neither nursing school

could have existed with-out a hospital. And theinspiration to build thehospitals were faithbased, generated from aRoman Catholic orderand German EvangelicalFriends Church.

Credit the Sisters ofMercy from Dubuque, forputting Marshalltown onthe map in the healthcare business.

Times-Republicanarchives reported their

efforts began on Jan. 14,1902, when the orderannounced plans to con-duct a fund drive for theconstruction of a hospitalat West State and North13th streets.

On April 10 that year,it was reported the hospi-tal would be built thatsummer at a cost of$25,000 and on July 23,revealed the hospitalwould be constructed.

Ground was brokenSept. 1,1902 and the cor-nerstone laid Oct. 22. It

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

The class of 1946 from St. Thomas Mercy hospital school of nursing received diplomas during a June 3, 1946 commencement exercise at St. Maryschool auditorium in Marshalltown. Shown from left are: Rt. Rev. Msgr. A.P. Meyer, Rev. W. Zeigler, Marcella Benda, Adeline Ward, Helene Townsend,Evelyn Sevcik, Mary Ellen Kjormos, Lois McCormack, Netha Mae Green, Irene Staebler, Betty Grabenbauer, Alice Newby, Ina Mae Claude, DoloresJaeger, Nola Benson, Marjorie Colby, Tomiko Sutow and Rev. Pius Leabel.

Nursing TraditionNursing Tradition

was completed Oct. 29,1903.

Saint Thomas MercyHospital School for Nurs-es offered a three-yearcourse. Its graduates wereeligible to take the stateexamination, which uponreceiving passing grades,entitled them the R.N.designation.

A spacious, well fur-nished apartment wasprovided for students inthe hospital building atone time.

Later, students wouldlive in a rooming housenear the hospital.

Students were instruct-ed to provide two pairs ofwhite oxfords with whiteheel, four white slips, (12inches from the floor) toi-

lette articles, and a watchwith a second handamong other items.

Anatomy and Physiolo-gy, Chemistry, NursingArts I and Microbiology,among others, were partof the first semestercourse work.

“When the student hasacquired sufficient knowl-edge and skill in practice,she spends two hours aday on the floors underskilled supervision apply-ing what she has learned,”according to the studenthandbook.

On May 3, a group ofnurses — some retiredand others active in theirprofession — from theAlumni Association ofEvangelical & Community

School of Nursing, held itsannual spring banquet atthe Best WesternRegency Inn in Marshall-town.

President Pat Thomp-son, class of 1984,presided.

Importantly, the associ-ation announced it hadraised money and award-ed three $1,000 scholar-ships so that MarshalltownCommunity College nurs-ing students could contin-ue their education.

The ECNS graduated1,230 nurses, with its firstclass in 1917 and last in1986.

Like its Catholic coun-terpart, the ECNS startedwhen a church — the Ger-man Evangelical Friends

Church — founded a hos-pital and jointly opened aschool of nursing.

The Rev. Karl Restfounded the EvangelicalDeaconess Society InMarshalltown on March30, 1913.

The Deaconess systemof service, which originat-ed in Germany, wasadopted in America byGerman Evangelical insti-tutions in 1849.

When consecrated,deaconesses promised alifetime of religious serv-ice, melded with profes-sions such as nursing.

The local society initial-ly consecrated 12 dea-conesses, the last in1940.

The society selected a180 by 180 foot lot at 2 S.Third Ave., which stoodthe Wood Sanitarium, for-merly the home of H.E.J.Boardman, a prominentattorney. The societywould construct a newhospital building on thesouth side of the Board-man house. Constructionstarted July 25, 1913 andthe cornerstone laid Aug.25.

The 1914 school hand-book requested the stu-dents to bring a Bible,three gingham dresses,six large aprons of thor-oughly bleached Indian-head cotton, a good sup-ply of clothing, (all

marked) and shoes withrubber or quiet soles.Teeth were to be “fixed”before coming to school.Deaconesses directed theschool from 1914 to 1955.MMSC staff nurses or oth-ers served as directorsuntil it closed in 1986. Thedecision to close theschool was made in 1984.Administrators cited theincreased cost to the hos-pital for maintenance andmanagement.

The former dorm nowoccupied by Center Asso-ciates and SATUCI maybe the only overt physicalreminder of the school,but the alumni banquetproved their are sharedmemories of helping oth-ers and saving countlesslives.

“We are very proud ofthe school and felt wereceived an excellent edu-cation,” said Thompson.

Esther Helfer, 101,class of 1933, and Char-lotte Applegate, 95, classof 1940 reside in Marshall-town and proudly carry themantel of their profession.

“I am living at BickfordCottage,” said Helfer. “Iwill always considermyself a nurse eventhough I have not prac-ticed in many years. Ikeep a happy, positiveoutlook on life and try tohelp people to see thebright side ...”

Applegate 95, wasrecently featured in the T-R, as she recounted herexperiences as a WorldWar II army nurse in Col-orado, Kansas and Eng-land.

Applegate helped Alliedtroops prepare for theinvasion of Normandy,among other accomplish-ments.

The late Eva Shipman,a Marshalltown native,wrote a pledge and creedupon graduating from theEvangelical school in1929:

“Reverently do I pledgemyself to the whole-heart-ed service of those whosecare is entrusted to thishospital.

To that end, I will everstrive for skill in the fulfill-ment of my duties holdingsecret whatsoever I maylearn touching upon thelives of the sick.

I acknowledge the dig-nity of the cure of diseaseand the safeguarding ofhealth, in which no act ismenial or inglorious.

“I will walk in uprightfaithfulness and obedi-ence to those underwhose quittance I am towork, and I pray forpatience, kindliness andunderstanding in the holyministry to broken bodies.”

———Contact Mike Donahey at 641-753-

6611 or mdonahey@timesrepublican.com

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CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Shown is a Evangelical Deaconess school of nursing dormitory in Mar-shalltown, 1936.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

From left are Eva Shipman, Marshalltown, Freida Iben, Cedar Rapids, andGertrude Heronimus, Holland. All were members of the Evangelical Deaconesshospital class of 1929.

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Summer is almosthere. Many will be takingvacations that will takethem to sites in Iowa andthe United States to visitwhere their ancestorslived. Some may visit his-torical societies whichcontain many interestingartifacts that give us anidea of what it was like forour forbearers. In manycases, they instigated thekind of lives that we havetoday.

For those that come to

Marshalltown, we havemuch to offer: The muse-um at 202 E. Church St.,the Susie Sower House,the Taylor #4 School andthe Binford House. Andonly a few miles away inHaverhill is the renownEdel blacksmith shop.Those sites gives us aglimpse into the past,showing how the peopleof Marshall County livedin the early days. Displaysat the museum also helpus understand, and form a

bond with those who havegone before us.

Also in the museum isthe Marshall CountyGenealogical ResearchLibrary. This library is ajoint venture of the Histori-cal Society of MarshallCounty and the CentralIowa Genealogical Socie-ty. Some of the researchitems include: naturaliza-tion and immigrationrecords that include famil-iar Marshalltown names,cemetery records, sur-

name files, family histo-ries, an obituary collec-tion, a funeral card collec-tion, Marshall Countyhome information, Mar-shalltown High Schoolannuals, city directories,civil war books and theextensive Gallentine fami-ly records. Whether one istraveling to Marshalltownfor a visit to research yourpast, or just looking forsomething to do on arainy day, visit the muse-um and visit the past.

Historical trivia

Q: Who was Marshalltown’slargest employer in 1886?

A: The Iowa Central Railway employed morethan 550 persons in its machine shops anddivision headquarters, more than triple thenumber employed by Brittain Packing Co. orthe Marshalltown Buggy Co., each havingapproximately 150 workers. The Chicago andNorthwestern Transportation Company report-ed 200 employees in 1984.

Over the years, folkshave expressed them-selves in the vernacular ofthe times — as well as thearea in which they live.When I was a child, “nice”women in particular didnot use “cursing” or“unseemly” words orphrases. See if any ofthese sound familiar to

you: “Between me, you,and the gate post ...” —“Great Caesarʼs ghost!” —“Oh, my stars andgarters!” — “For Petey-eyed sake!” — “You arebehaving like wild Indi-ans!” — Well, I swan!” —“Iʼll be a monkeyʼsuncle!”— “I am bamfoo-zled.” — “Up a creek with-

out a paddle.” — “Landsakes alive!”

FOR THE LOVE OFFARMING

In my scrapbook dated1946, was a clipping fromthe Times-Republican ofmy father with the head-

Bunny Hop” and “theHokey-Pokey.” On ourway back, we took a tourof the Missouri capitol inJefferson City.

Since our junior classconsisted of six boys, our“junior-senior prom” wasactually dinner at LloydʼsRestaurant followed by amovie at the Strand The-atre: “Aaron Slick fromPunkin Crick.”

How very different theschools and activities arefor todayʼs young people!

SCRAP-BOOKINGI donʼt suppose anyone

under the age of 20 keepsa “scrapbook” any more. Itwas a “big thing” when Iwas young. My first scrap-book was given to mewhen I was seven years ofage by my uncle Vernonʼsfiancée, Marie Case.Uncle Vernon was away inthe South Pacific in World

War II. They got marriedwhen he came home onleave — finally — in 1945.Their wedding — alongwith other weddings ofother friends and relativesare among the clippings inthat first scrapbook. Thegrooms — for the mostpart were in uniform. Imade up a “key” for myscrapbook clippings: I.K.T.meant “I Know Them;”D.K.T. meant “I DonʼtKnow Them” but thoughtthe story was interesting.”Other labels penciled inon the pages next to theclippings included:“unusual,” “int.” (for “inter-esting”), “mysterious,” and“strange.” My friendKathrynʼs sisters tore pic-tures from movie maga-zines of their favorite starsand put them in theirscrapbooks. My daughters(next generation) put cer-tificates of achievementand other special awardsin their scrapbooks, inaddition to programs frommusic concerts, ticket

stubs from movies, ormemorabilia from concertsand special events.Unique and speciallymade invitations to birth-day parties also wereadhered to those scrap-book pages. What didYOU scrapbook?

MOTHER, MAY I?

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from the historical societyHistorical Society of Marshall County

752-4328 | 909 N 3rd Ave., Marshalltown

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Florian Wilcox, Barbʼs father, is shown terracing his La Moille are farmland in 1946.

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line: “Florian Wilcox Ter-racing His Entire Farm;He Predicts End of HeavyLoss of Topsoil.” It wasan innovative step. Theimprovement was part ofa farm plan prepared bythe U.S. Soil Conserva-tion Service. Dad had aplan, which was devel-oped, at his request. Afterweeks of surveying andpaperwork, he was free totake it or leave it. Hechose to take it. He did 80acres the first year anddid another 80 acres thefollowing year. The long-range advantage was tohalt the loss of topsoil inhis sloping fields. It was aforward-looking plan andwas consistent with dadʼslove of the land and howto best preserve it. Iremember him workingwith the Soil ConservationDepartment for years.

O DAYS OF SPRINGThis was one of those

“endless winter” years—and each of us foundways to distract our win-ter-weary minds. Forthose of us on Facebook,we increased our timecommunicating. On onesuch foray, I saw a photoof a handful of baby bun-nies. The poster referredto them as a “fluffle ofbunnies.” That got methinking about thosegroup names — once weget past a “flock of chick-ens” or a “herd of cows.”

Sometimes there wasmore than one groupname. However, some ofmy favorites were: “amurder of crows” — “askulk of foxes” — “a shiv-er of sharks” — “a pande-monium of parrots” —and my two politicalfavorites: “a congress ofbaboons” and “a parlia-ment of owls.”

CHICKS FOR EASTEROne year, when my

cousins were little, theirgrandparents gave themcute, fluffy baby chicks forEaster. They wereadorable! Then suddenlythe chicks grew — intochickens. Since the familylived in town, and werenot planning to go in tothe chicken and egg busi-ness — nor could theymanage to see the chick-ens as Sunday dinner —they asked my parents ifthey could come to ourfarm to live. Mom and dadalready had chickens —so two or three more wasnot a problem. However,one of those preciousbaby chicks (who the chil-dren had named “Pickle”),grew up into the meanestrooster on the farm. Ourmost famous memory ofPickle was the day heattacked a fellow with acoal hod on his way togathering cobs for thecookstove. The fellowswung that coal hod and“cold-cocked” old Picklewho must have seenstars. Both survived theencounter and Pickleʼsreign of terror lasted for

years. No one had theheart to make him in tostew after he had sur-vived so much.

AND OTHER STORIESJean Russell Larson

presents eight delightful“chimney-corner” talesthat have been passeddown in her Norwegianfamily: tales of maidensand misers, of smelly oldgoats and greedy princes.Jean grew up hearing thestories from her great-grandmother, who immi-grated to America fromNorway. The book is“Norwegian Folk Tales” ofAnthon and Gurina John-son and is published byPenfield Books. Jean is apersonal friend and oneof the “balcony” people inmy life. I am so excitedabout her new book!

WHY ARE WE HERE?This is a question to

contemplate on a day inMay. A note from myfriend, Barb Ellcey, sumsit up for me very well: “Icontinue to enjoy yourarticles. It keeps me andothers connected to thepast, and I hope givesyoung people incentive tocarry on to keep Marshall-town a great place tolive.” This has beenaffirmed to me in notes,letters, and emails and Iappreciate it very much.Enjoy your May days.

———If you would like to send a

response or comment to me viaemail, you may do so at doyoure-memberbarbara@hotmail.com.

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Scafferi

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