By Anne W. Semmes
After fifty years of coming together annually since the close of their School of Nursing at Greenwich Hospital in 1975, where they were inspired for a lifetime with “helping others,” the members of the School of Nursing Alumnae Association had lunch together for the last time last Saturday at the Milbrook Club in Greenwich. Some of the 88 attendees had traveled from the west coast, from Florida, and other sites in the Northeast, to say hello and goodbye.
These nurses, some in their 90s’s, would share their nostalgia for those three-nursing school-learning years in Greenwich, departing as graduates from those elegant front doors of the Benedict Building that stood at the present site of Greenwich Hospital on Perryridge Road. Surely Commodore Elias C. Benedict, who had donated in 1917 those hospital building funds that included the School of Nursing, in memory of his wife, Sara Hart Benedict, would be proud of having hosted all those graduates.
“Classes were small,” recalls Sue Martin, from the Class of 1961. Entering in their late teens to graduate ages of 19 or 20 and having lived together 24-hours a day while in training, “Everyone bonded with each other” becoming “friends for years.” Martin had followed her mother, a graduate from Class 1937. She would then serve at Greenwich Hospital for over 50 years. She managed to continue nursing whilst having five children. “I worked when the kids were sleeping, 11 p.m. to 7 or 10:30 to 8.”
“We had 35 or 36 in my class,” tells Alumni board member Carole McIvor of Greenwich of her Class of 1963. “We had real hands-on care as a student nurse. We would have maybe three or four patients to take care of. We worked 3 to 11 shifts. We worked night shifts.” Three months in “medical surgical, three months in maternity, three months in the operating room, three months in the emergency room pediatrics.” Add time at Hartford’s Institute of Living “for our psych nursing. And that was very interesting.”
But by 1975, says McIvor, the numbers of students in a class had shrunk to 20. “More people started getting interested in getting their bachelor’s degree in science or in nursing… Nursing today has changed a great deal.” Having to work with all the “new machinery is very different. In my day, you talked to your patient, and your patient got back rubs three times a day after their morning bath in the afternoon and before bed. Nowadays, no one knows what a back rub is.” She had learned, “The best thing about being a nurse is caring for others.”
Sylvia Gordon, a Greenwich resident of 60 years had come from Port Chester to graduate in the Class of 1951 at the School of Nursing, “I worked until 1999, including school nursing in Eastern Jr. High.” Her take on her nursing experience? “Being a nurse is like being a mother.” Of her four kids, one became a chiropractor and another a doctor.
Alum Evelyn Franco of the Class of 1957 will soon turn 89 but continues to volunteer in the Greenwich Hospital Emergency Room. She has served in the Hospital the longest time,
“When we graduated in 1963,” notes McIvor, “a majority of the nurses at Greenwich Hospital were Greenwich Hospital School of Nursing graduates. Most of us stayed on at least a year or more, and many are still in Greenwich in doctor’s offices, one or two still at the hospital.” McIvor would work for then marry Greenwich obstetrician, Dr. Arthur Prangley until his death.
Often says McIvor, the nurse graduates would return to their hometowns, “get married and move elsewhere across the country.” As did her class roommate, Margarita “Quita” Serrell, the daughter of Greenwich Dr. Howard Serrell “who was chief of staff years ago.”
This annual Alumnae luncheon has honored each year the oldest class graduates, with this year three oldest nurses present: Theresa Lombardi from the Class of 49, Sylvia Gordon, from Class 51, Mimi Troy from Class 1952, and Eleanor Orrico, Class of 1955. The alum from the last Class of 1975, Judy Comp was unable to come from North Carolina to attend but her message was read by Alum Secretary Sue Connolly – Class of 1964. “My heart broke as many did when they announced it was the closure of the Greenwich Hospital School of Nursing. It was such a good program. I graduated with confidence in my nursing knowledge as well as my skills.”
Alum President Cappy Gentile, Class of 1961, then shared with the group some of her memories of those earlier nursing school days. “They used to have dances. They had bake sales at the Hospital in the entryway. We also made donations to the Hospital.” And the Alumnae Association has become known for its donations. “Our donations have been varied. We donated to Greenwich Hospital Social Services. Neighbor to Neighbor, Kids in Crisis, the River House, Campership of Greenwich, offering camp scholarships for needy kids. And we will continue with what’s left in our treasury that will be donated as well.”
And over the years Gentile added were those impressive Dawn dePreta Scholarship Funds given to nurses’ daughters and granddaughters. “Dawn was president of the Alumni for quite a few years, and she unfortunately has passed away.” Gentile then listed a number of those awardees receiving those “honor award scholarships.” She noted, “Some of them were awarded them for two years in a row, and we were happy to do it. And the resumes these gals sent were very touching and they’re very qualified. It was wonderful. I think they’re all going to be great nurses.”
Next up at the podium was Alum Linda McManus, Class of 1972, to introduce herself as “part of the Connecticut Nurse Honors Guard. (Not present was another from the Class of 71 is Carol Banasik.). “We are a group of volunteer nurses who will attend any nurse in the state of Connecticut. When you die, we will go either to the funeral home, the cemetery, or the church, and we will do a tribute for you. Just like the military has a tribute and firemen and policemen do. We go and we wear our caps, our cape, whites, and the white shoes. It truly is a very moving tribute…There is no charge for this service. (It’s online as Connecticut Nurse Honors Society).” And if you know anyone who would benefit from services, we’d be happy to be there.”
As the 50th celebration came to an end it was the words of Alum Pat Ford of the Class of 1966 that reverberated. She had traveled from Edmonds, Washington, to attend this very last Greenwich Hospital School of Nursing Alumnae Association Luncheon. What her nursing career had meant most to her had been shared by many others present. “It’s the biggest cliché in the world – its helping people.”
