The Citizens of Patrick-1962
By Beverly Belcher Woody
Every time that I drive by our vacant hospital on Route 58, my heart is filled with sadness and frustration. R. J. Reynolds-Patrick Memorial Hospital (to me, that will always be its’ name) has been the setting for some of the most important events in my life, some happy and some sad. I was born at the hospital in April of 1965. When we would visit someone at the hospital, Daddy would say, “There is the tree that I almost ran into when you were born. I could not take my eyes off you and almost walked right into that tree; look how you and that tree have grown!” In 1986, my son was born there, and I was in the same room (17) that my mother was in when she gave birth to me. The hospital was where I sat and cried with my grandfather who had just received his cancer diagnosis and where my great grandfather died one July night in 1976. R. J. Reynolds-Patrick Memorial Hospital has been a witness to the Circle of Life to so many families in Patrick County.
Between 1885 and 1890, Dr. Richard S. Martin established the first hospital in Patrick County. He named it “Mother’s Home” and the sanatorium served the community until it burned in 1914. In 1922, Dr. George Divers opened Divers’ Hospital on the original site of “Mother’s Home” and ran the infirmary until his death only three short years later. Dr. John D. Powell used the grand brick building for a clinic for several years until it later became the Blue Ridge Nursing Home.
Dr. Waller Curtis Akers, a native of Floyd County, graduated at the top of the class of 1912 at the Medical College of Virginia. He began his practice at Dr. Martin’s Sanatorium and after it burned, he treated patients at the Divers’ Hospital once it opened. After Dr. Divers death in 1925, Dr. Akers purchased the old Moir homeplace on Blue Ridge Street and opened the Stuart Hospital. The old brick home had enough space for seven or eight patients but within two years, it was necessary to construct an addition; this increased the capacity to twenty-two beds. Dr. Akers died in March of 1959 and from that time forward, Dr. William Nash Thompson, Sr. and Dr. Edwin T. McNamee, Jr. rented the facility on a month-to-month basis.
The citizens of Patrick County realized how desperately the community needed a hospital and mobilized into an effort that gained national recognition! In thirty-nine days, with the pledges of local factory workers, business owners, and school children, the hospital campaign raised $636,629 which was 212 percent of the $300,000 goal!
A victory dinner was held at Fairystone State Park to celebrate the amazing success of the fundraising campaign. Commonwealth’s Attorney, Martin “Fill” Clark called it “the greatest achievement of our time.” The amount that had been raised was a closely guarded secret until the night of the celebration, but with the announcement by each committee chairman, the excitement grew!
Hugh A. White, the chairman of the Initial Gifts committee, announced pledges of $156,500. Judge John D. Hooker, chairman of the industry and foundations committee, reported donations of $110,494. Attorney Lawrence Burton and Circuit Court Clerk, D.G. Hanby, co-chairman of the Special Gifts committee, announced contributions of $114,044, followed by Hugh A. White, Jr. reporting $129,981 from industrial employees, Tom Alexander reporting $18,512 from business employees, Reverend Grant Miller reporting $13,733 from school employees, and Fred Olinger reporting $6,175 from local club organizations. William C. Baughan and Charles Mills turned in a total of $87,190 from general solicitations.
Construction began on the 37-bed, $800,000 facility in June of 1961. Frith Construction Company of Collinsville was the contractor and J. Coates Carter of Martinsville was the architect. Lester Lamb was the first hospital administrator.
The R. J. Reynolds-Patrick Memorial Hospital was officially dedicated on Saturday, November 24th, 1962. The speakers were Governor Albertis Harrison, Jr., State Senators William F. Stone and Landon Wyatt, Representative William Tuck, and Patrick County Delegate Robert L. Clark. Frank Netherland played the organ, Margaret Witt sang the “Star Spangled Banner,” Revered Robert Mann, pastor of Stuart Baptist Church delivered the invocation, and Reverend W. R. Livermon, pastor of Patrick Springs Methodist Church gave the benediction.
Virginia Governor Albertis Harrison, Jr. said that the Patrick residents performed magnificently in raising funds for the hospital. He noted that the major share of funding for the hospital came from “the inspired citizenry of Patrick County” and “the truly great thing about the successful effort by a community to create its own improvements is that it tends to feed upon itself and generates still more advancements.”
One of the most touching stories about funding the hospital comes from Jimi Mitchell, my former art teacher at Stuart Elementary School. He recently shared with me that when he was a student in Mrs. Mott Martin’s class, the students were collecting pennies, nickels, and dimes to help pay for the hospital. These selfless students were also skipping the noonday meal and donating their lunch and ice cream money! Mr. Mitchell also shared the following about what Mrs. Martin’s class accomplished that year. “If an individual or group donated $100 or more, their names were included in the gold book that stayed in the lobby. Our 7th grade homeroom, encouraged by Mrs. Martin, set a goal to do this and did it! We felt very possessive of that place!”
Joanne Shirley recalled that local factory workers volunteered to have weekly deductions for the hospital taken out of their paychecks at United Elastic, Pannills, and other industries. This was a very generous act, considering the minimum wage in 1962 was $1.15 per hour.
By 1966, it was evident that the hospital needed another expansion. Nancy Susan Reynolds, daughter of tobacco magnate and Patrick County native R. J. Reynolds, donated $120,000 to the new addition, bringing the total hospital contributions from the Reynolds family to $315,000. The new construction brought the total bed space to 59 beds, including a new coronary care unit.
How sad that the hospital now sits silent; it certainly isn’t because there is no need. I keep praying that someday very soon, all those factory workers and schoolchildren’s sacrifices won’t be for naught and the hospital can again serve the community that gave it life.
(Thank you to Jimi Mitchell, Joanne Shirley, The Enterprise, and Danville Bee for information for this column. Woody may be reached at rockcastlecreek1@gmail.com)
