A Bi-County Ladies' Auxiliary was organized by Mrs.
Bessie B. Anderson whose husband had died after delayed surgery
following a trip by train to Baltimore. The ladies held
bazaars, served a luncheon at Kiptopeke each year and conducted
annual membership campaigns. They also helped impress
the need for a hospital on the minds of the public.
In 1922 the General Assembly enacted a law permitting
boards of supervisors to contribute funds toward World War
I memorials. All requests for more than $500 had to be accompanied by
the signatures of at least one-fourth of the qualified voters.
The ladies got the signatures requesting $ 1 5,000
from each county. Dr. John W. Bowdoin who served on the
Accomack Board of Supervisors for more than thirty years and
whose ancestors lived at Bowdoin Hungars, near Eastville,
favored the plan for a bi-county hospital and helped dispel
the idea that each county could have its own. Each county
appropriated $15,000.
A new hospital required the sponsorship of one already
in operation. Finding one to sponsor a community hospital
on the Eastern Shore required more than one trial. Johnston-
Willis Hospital, Richmond, signed a five-year contract with
the Northampton-Accomack Memorial Hospital and agreed
to send two surgeons and an internal medicine specialist when
the building was completed and equipped.
Northampton- Accomack Memorial Hospital was opened
with appropriate ceremonies on August 17, 1928. General
Hugh S. Gumming, Surgeon General, United States Public
Health Service, was the principal speaker. John E. Nottingham
(later Circuit Court Judge), president of the Board of
Trustees, made the presentation speech. Hon. G. Walter
Mapp made the acceptance speech in which he said, "Generations
yet to come will voice their gratitude for this labor of
love and service." The Pennsylvania Railroad Band
furnished the music.
The original staff consisted of Dr. Don Daniel and Dr.
William Carey Henderson, surgeons, and Dr. John R. Hamilton,
internal medicine specialist. These doctors had rooms in
the hospital and got their meals from the kitchen which was
under their supervision. Dr. Daniel was recalled to head the
surgery department of Johnston- Willis, and Dr. Harry Lee
Denoon came in his place. The first superintendent of nurses
was Miss Margaret Walkley.
The first Board of Trustees was: Mrs. Bessie B. Anderson,
F. B. Bell, Dr. J. W. Bowdoin, Mrs. Elizabeth P.
Costin, Mrs. G. W. Curtis, E. V. Downes, Dr. E. W. P.
Downing, W. P. Godwin, Ben T. Gunter, Dr. G. W. Holland,
Dr. S. S. Kellam, Mrs. G. Walter Mapp, J. Brooks
Mapp, Mrs. J. S. Mills, John E. Nottingham, Dr. John W.
Robertson, James S. Rogers, Dr. W. J. Sturgis, Mrs. Jane
Ames Taylor, J. C. Walker, Judge N. B. Wescott, M. Smith
Wilson and Mrs. Henry A. Wise.
Physicians on the Shore were given the privilege of using
the hospital for maternity cases. Dr. W. J. Sturgis not only
saw his dream of a hospital on the Shore come true but he
enjoyed its benefits for more than thirty years. He practiced
as a family physician until his death in 1959. One of his
sons joined the surgical staff of the hospital after World War
II.
Later on, The Northampton-Accomack Memorial Hospital got a
new wing through a small local fund and $116,000 as a Government
grant during World War II. This was secured
through Congressman S. Otis Bland, a college roommate of
Dr. W. J. Sturgis. The use of the hospital by the Chincoteague
Naval Air Station, Fort John Custis and the Coast
Guard justified the government grant for the two-story wing.
After the war a nurses' home was built and appropriately
named the Bessie B. Anderson Memorial Nurses' Home. A
Government grant and a local fund drive made this possible.
Local funds helped remodel the original building for needed
extra space. The imposing porch with high steps and large
dormic columns was converted into sun porches for patients,
and the space beneath was utilized to good advantage. The
hospital is a living memorial to those who lost their lives in
both World Wars.
Have not found much on the school, but this is some
history on the woman behind the name along with the
nearby hospital before it was moved and renamed.
The hospital used to sit next door facing Rogers Dr.
Please remember to place the cache back as you found it!!