Nov. 21, 2007, marked the 60^th year of health care in a hospital setting that began with the opening of St. John Hospital and is continued today by Huron Regional Medical Center. As part of the celebration, we asked for readers' memories of the early days of health care in Huron. We hope you enjoy this sampling of the recollections we received. Thank you for your support as we continue the tradition of delivering compassionate, state-of-the-art health care and exceeding customer expectations that started with the Fransciscan Sisters in 1947.

A Boy Named John
On Nov. 23, 1947, Marian Weber and her husband Dan, who lived on a farm northeast of Yale, S.D., realized the time had come for their third child to arrive.

The weather had turned stormy and the company that was visiting that day had recently left to beat the storm. Marian and Dan drove into Yale and left their 2- and 4-year-old daughters with Marian's sister, Lois Beck. They then took a friend's more reliable car, a coupe loaded with cement blocks in the trunk for added traction, and headed to the hospital in Huron in the ever-worsening weather.

A blizzard was raging and the roads were getting extremely hard to manage. When they got to the new hospital, they couldn't find the door because of the weather conditions and because the new facility was unfamiliar to them. They drove around the building a couple of times before finally finding the entrance.

Around 7:30 or 8:00 p.m., Marian delivered a healthy baby boy, the first boy delivered in the new hospital. Marian and Dan had planned to name the infant Jeff, but because he was the first baby boy born at the new St. John Hospital, they decided to name him John Jeffrey Weber instead.

Today, Marian lives in Clark, S.D. Her husband passed away in the mid 1970s. Her son John, who goes by the nickname Jeff, lives and ranches with his wife Johny in Timber Lake, S.D. Jeff raises beef cattle and rents bulls in western South Dakota. They have two grown children, Amanda and Shane. Just like HRMC, he also celebrated 60 years in
November 2007.

Do You Remember When?
Special Delivery Picture Evokes Special Memories
The picture of the first newborns being carried from Sprague Hospital to the newly constructed St. John Hospital evoked memories for several Well One Connection readers, including:

• Eugene Burdick was born on Nov. 16, 1947, at Sprague Hospital to Elnora and the late Steve Burdick of Redfield. The nuns carried him into St. John on Nov. 21, 1947. Elnora recalls that the new moms were transported in hearses at that time instead of ambulances.
  
  
• On Nov. 17, 1947, Linda Esther Webster was born at Sprague Hospital to Marjorie and Merritt Webster of Alpena. She was moved to the new hospital during a snowstorm when she was just six days old. Linda later attended St. John School of Nursing and became an oncology nurse.
  
  
• William and Alice Lyon of Huron became proud parents to a son, Bruce, on Nov. 18, 1947. Alice also remembers being transported with another patient by hearse to St. John Hospital. "When they put us in the back of that hearse, we joked that was the last place we wanted to be riding," Alice said laughing. "But we made it OK, and I was happily reunited with Bruce in the new maternity unit on the third floor of St. John."

• On Feb. 5, 1947, Phil and Phyllis Testerman of Wessington became the proud parents of a baby boy delivered by Dr. William Saxton at Sprague Hospital. Phyllis, who now lives in Miller, remembers her son soon associated Dr. Saxton with a needle and subsequent shot, and therefore, did not appreciate him!
  
  
• Pat (Potter) Landstrom of Huron recalls her first trip to St. John Hospital in the summer of 1948. "Dr. Howard Saylor Sr. operated on my diverted septum with a chisel and hammer. He gave me laughing gas, so I talked through the whole procedure," Mrs. Landstrom writes. "His nurse, Verna Kuhlman, ordered the student nurse in attendance to observe what Dr. Saylor was doing. The student took one look at me and fainted. I thought it was hilarious at the time … but not so funny when the anesthetic wore off!"
  
  
• Vivian Jones of Lake Preston remembers when her oldest son was born at St. John on March 19, 1949. She and her husband, Charles, farmed near Wessington and sold a tank wagon full of shelled corn to pay for the delivery and her 12-day hospital stay. "My doctor was Dr. W. Saxton, and thanks to him and the Fransciscan Sisters, I had very good care," Vivian recounted. The Jones' three other children, two more boys and a girl, were also born at St. John Hospital.
  
  

• Charlene Hofer, who currently works in HRMC's purchasing department, remembers her first salary increase. She began work as a tray aide in St. John's dietary department in September 1961 earning 55 cents per hour. One year later in 1962, her pay was increased to 66 cents per hour, earning her approximately $115 per month. In the notice accompanying the increase, the Fransciscan Sisters shared this blessing: "May God continue to bless you in the fine work you are doing to help your fellow man."

Congratulations Trivia Winners
Special thanks to everyone who entered HRMC's 60th Anniversary trivia contest. Congratulations to the following HRMC flashlight winners whose names were randomly drawn from the correct entries received. Darlene Boe, Wolsey Susan Fenski, Sioux Falls Deb Kopplin, Tulare Marlus Lemke, Huron Judy North, Huron