Courage, Determination, Cooperation
Built Griffin Memorial Hospital
Praise for the care given patients
and for the administration of the
Griffin Memorial Hospital is con
stantly heard today from patients
and the public generally.
There was a time, however, when
the need was great but there was
no such institution to care for the
sick in Kodiak and around the Is
land.
The formal beginning of the Grif
ifn Memorial Hospital occurred at
a public meeting held on January
17, 1937, at which time a commit
tee of three was appointed to pre
pare a petition and plan of pro
cedure for submission to the Gov
ernor. This first Committee was
composed of Mr. W. J. Erskine, Mr.
Robert M. Mills and Reverend C. R.
King. Mr. Mills left Kodiak shortly
after the initial meeting; his place
was taken by Mr. N. M. Chamber
lain, Superintendent of the Baptist
Mission.
Kodiak had for years been with
out hospital and medical facilities.
Isolated as it was, with infrequent
transportation especially in the
winter months, much suffering had
resulted and many lives had been
sacrificed due to inability (o care
properly for the sick and injured.
This situation had been repeatedly
called to the attention of Govern
ment and Territorial officials, but
it was not until the 1937 session
of the Legislature that a definite
step was taken toward securing a
hospital for Kodiak.
Acting upon the petition men
tioned above, the Legislature
passed an Act “to appropriate the
sum of $25,000 to assist in the con
struction and equipment of a hos
pital at Kodiak, Alaska.” During
the time this proposition was pend
ing, conferences were held in Ju
neau looking toward securing a
grant through the P. W. A. to cover
about 45% of the estimated cost of
the project. After many legal and
political entanglements, the sum
of $12,000 was allotted by the
W. P. A. This was quite a disap
pointment, as the Committee had
hoped to receive a P. W. A. grant
of $20,454.00. Local contributions
amounted to $5,015.50 which in
cluded donated services, and fur
ther grants . from the Territory
amounting in all to a grand total
of $58,315.50.
In March of 1939, work was sus
pended, funds having become ex
hausted. The Legislature appro
priated the sum of $15,000 for the
purchase of equipment. After many
discouraging delays, and with the
need of the hospital constantly
growing due to the increasing pop
ulation, a final effort was made by
the Trustees to secure funds to
complete the building and install
the equipment . . . Through the
cooperation of the Chamber of
Commerce, the donation of labor,
money and material by painters,
carpenters and plumbers who
agreed to work on a deferred pay
ment basis, the Hospital was suf
ficiently complete on November 15,
1940, so that it was opened on that
date. The books showed a cash bal
ance for operating expenses of $1,
429.02, and a deficit on construc
tion and equipment of $5,294.22.
This brief account of the building
of the hospital cannot begin to por
tray the courage and determination
with which the members of the
Board of Trustees attacked their
problems, and carried through with
their plans. To duplicate the build
ing today would cost at least six
times the amount they had to work
with.
Many people have asked how the
hospital received its name. Under
the original act of the Legislature
providing for its construction, it
was designated as the Kodiak Hos
pital. Shortly after construction
was commenced, the Honorable E.
W. Griffin, Secretary of the Ter
ritory and Acting Governor in the
absence of Governor Troy, died
suddenly in Juneau. Due to the
long previous residence of Mr. Grif
fin in Kodiak, and to the particular
interest he had taken for a number
of years in securing a hospital for
the benefit of the residents of this
area, the 1939 Legislature in ses
sion shortly after his demise, en
acted a bill designating that the
name be changed to Griffin Me
morial Hospital, as a monument
to his memory and as a recognition
for his faithful service to the Ter
ritory.
The first staff consisted of an
Administrator, who was a regis
tered nurse and devoted part of her
time to bedside nursing; two other
nurses, two nurses’ assistants, and
a cook.
The first Medical Director was
Doctor A. Holmes Johnson, now
partially retired. The City of Ko
diak has been very fortunate to
have the services of a man who is
outstandingly fitted to maintain the
high standard desired in any hos
pital. Dr. Johnson had then been
in Kodiak for two and a half years.
On November 15, 1940, the Grif
fin Memorial Hospital was opened.
For a time, operation was uncomp
licated, but as years went by, it
was apparent that a more business
like arrangement would be neces
sary in order to insure the most
economic operation possible. With
this end in view, a group of busi
ness men called on Rt. Rev. Mon
signor Conway, Chaplain at Fort
Greely, in inquire as to ways and
means of obtaining the services of
a group of Sisters to manage the
hospital. They were referred to
Bishop Crimont of Juneau, who in
turn contacted Monsignor G. Edgar
Gallant, then in New York, with
the admonition “Do not return
without Sisters for the Kodiak hos
pital.”
In view of the dearth of Sisters
throughout the country, this
seemed likely to be an interminable
assignment. However, his first re
quest, made to the Gery Nuns of
■the Sacred Heart at Philadelphia,
to his great surprise was granted.
Five Sisters left Philadelphia on
October 4, 1944. Some little delay
occurred in Juneau while certain
legal technicalities were untangled,
hut at last the little group left for
Kodiak to take over the duties of
hospital work. The first Superior
was Sister Mary Monica; Sister St.
Hilary took over the office; Sister
John Bercbmans X-ray, Operating
Room, and general duty nurse; Sis
ter Madeline of the Sacred Heart,
general duty; and Sister Mary Leo,
who managed the kitchen tempor
arily.
During the seventeen years of
the Sisters’ administration, many
changes have taken place both in
the City of Kodiak and in the hos
pital. The population of Kodiak has
increased tremendously. Many new
and attractive homes have been
built, school facilities have in
creased, new residential districts
have been opened. In the hospital,
a laboratory has been added, a cool
room built on the end of the build
ing, grounds landscaped, furniture
replaced and new equipment
added.
Twice the Sisters have met with
crises, and twice have the people
of Kodiak and the officials and em
ployees at the Naval Station re
sponded magnificently. The first
time was when the water system
of the city failed during sub-zero
weather. For three weeks the Fire
Department at the Navy Station
kept a pumping station operating
outside the hospital, pumping tanks
of water brought in from Buskin '
Lake. For trwenty-one days they
kept a man on duty around the
clock to check on the gasoline
heater which kept the water from
freezing in the tank.
The second time was in 1959,
when the hospital operated at a
deficit of over $14,000.00. The Ad
visory Council immediately opened
a drive for funds; a total of more
than $15,000.00 was received—at
least twice as much as had been -
hoped for or expected.
The future both of Kodiak and
its hospital looks promising. While
no building project is planned for
the immediate future, there is al
ways hope that someday, some
how, a larger and more adequite
building will arise to care for the
sick and injured of Kadiak and its
environs.
More Roaring 40s
(Continued From Page 6)
plete decoration for advertising on
the Club Liquor Store; a very at
tractive red, white and blue color
scheme was used when paint was
applied to the new Kodiak Garage,
and Emil Knudsen’s Apartment is
glistening with a new coat of alum
inum gloss. Clark’s Card Room
changed it’s exterior from that
muchly discussed “yellow” to a
soft-.hued brown. All the painters
hereabouts have been really busy
this last week.
On September 20th a beautiful
set of twin girls were born to Mr.
and Mrs. A1 Garan at the Naval Air
Station Hospital. Mr. Garan is
dredge captain with the Naval
Base contractors, and has been
busy lately passing out the “El
Ropos” in double doses for this
special “double” event.
These are the first twins to be
born at the N. A. S.
December 31,1940
Julia Fadaoff and Earl Komm
were joined in holy wedlock on
December 26 by Commissioner
Naughton. Witnesses were Mr. and
Mrs. Irving Palmer.
On December 23, Mildred Reedy
and Sixten Norberg became man
and wife in the Commissioner’s of
fice. Anna and H. H. Norberg were
the attendants.
Around About — “Well, lads and
lassies, I was really double-crossed
last week — After Sherlock
Holmesing Wilton and Dagmar for
nearly two months, they up and
did it, the last night of publication
of the Kodiak Mirror. They very
definitely used that residential fire
as a smoke-screen for their marital
proclivities. Well, the best of luck,
anyway, Mr. and Mrs. Wilton
White.”
Last week, Dagmar Hansen,
daughter of Mrs. Thelma Hansen
of Kodiak, became the bride of
Wilton T. White, son of Mrs. Ben
Kraft, in a marriage ceremony per
formed by Fr. C. R. King of the
Russian Orthodox Church. Attend
ants to the principals of the wed
ding were Helen and R. C. King.
The newlyweds will make their
home in Kodiak, in their own resi
dence on Brooklyn Avenue. The
groom is emplyed at O. Kraft. &
Son department store.
A very beautiful hand-worked
table scarf is being displayed at
O. Kraft & Son in the ladies’ de
partment. This piece of handiwork
was done by Arch-Priest Gerasim
Schmaltz, who made a present of
it to Mrs. Kraft.
The design worked out in light
blue, dark blue and orange colored
wool thread is very attractive, and
bespeaks of much pains-taking en
deavor.
Cheechako Or Sourdough - Easy to Tell
It Was All In How You Liked Your Eggs
Symbolic, perhaps, of the Roar
ng ’40s in Kodiak could be the egg.
There is probably nothing as
nnocent as a new laid egg, but
,heir kind and condition when they
'eached here in those days, was
mything but innocent. Here is a
Doem taken from a Mirror adver
iser in those days which will give
^ou some idea of what we mean!
Today’s eggs are very high,
5o be careful of the eggs you buy!
rhe Erskine eggs are fresh as
Kodiak rain!
you can positively eat them with
no pain!
rhere’s none left over from the
last boat.
Phey are so fresh they can’t help
but float.
Phe freshest and best egg money
can buy
Phe Erskine Egg—Hy—Hy—Hy—
Uvt
--«/ •
50c a dozen
The lowly egg — the barnyard
product expelled from a chicken
—is a mainstay to many, a loath
some object to others.
You have no doubt read the book
‘The Egg And I”—this little piece
pould well be called “The Kodiak
Egg And I”, a horse of another
:rolor, or should I say, an egg of
mother yolk—pretty “fowl” any
way.
Many of the people who came to
Kodiak in the early war years suf
fered reactions that were entirely
divorced from their previous ex
periences with eggs. Many of them
came from farms and cities adja
cent to farms, where an egg was
“guaranteed not over three days
old.” They didn’t need an intro
duction to the chicken that laid it,
nor did they have to be an eye
witness of the event, to realize the
egg was fresh when they broke the
shell.
Not so in Kodiak in those days.
They were convinced when they
broke the shell of their first egg
here, they couldn’t possibly be in
troduced to the chicken that laid
it—for they were sure it was long
gone from this world.
They reasoned, and rightly so,
that no self-respecting chicken of
he present generation could pos
sibly have laid an egg with that
i”'" —— ■■
pungent smell and sharp taste.
The truth of the matter was that
the egg, in the process of being
transported to the far north, was
subject to ignoble treatment, such
as lying next to a boiler room
aboard ship, or on a wharf basking
in the warm sun prior to being put
aboard the ship, and then lying in
a warehouse upon arrival.
It must be discouraging to a
chicken to have his noble product
subjected to such treatment. For
the chicken has been quoted ns
saying: "What’s the use? Yesterday
an egg, tomorrow a feather duster.”
I’d like to hear him quoted on the
egg in question.
It was a problem faced by mer
chants—hence the Erkine ad. Sub
sequent ads made it clear that the
eggs they sold didn’t include a
chicken walking out when you
broke the shell.
But this is only one side of the
picture.
Old-timers had grown accus
tomed to vintage eggs. There is the
story told of an old-timer who g*>t
up before his wife and decided to
cook his own breakfast. He reached
into the refrigerator and took ort
two eggs from a bag. He broke
them into the pan, got a whiff of
them, and threw them out, mutter
ing some mild profanity as he d»i
90. He took two more, and the same
thing was repeated, only his mut
terings became louder, and his pro
fanity more choice. He broke t.vo
more, and this time bis muttering j
became a burst of loud profanity.
His wife in the meantime had
been listening to all this. She called
from the bedroom to find out what,
was the matter. Upon being told
she came storming into the kitchen,
and asked her husband where he
got the eggs. “Out of that bag,” v.';r,
the reply. “Why you old tooil,” she
said. “Those are fresh eggs
there’re the ones you like.” She
had gotten the fresh ones from
someone who raised chickens. To
the old-timer, they had neither the
look nor the tangy odor he was ac
customed to.
But there were many of us in
those days who didn’t share the ohi
timers enthusiasm for time-tested
(Continued on Page 10)
*m the Water”
$1.49 6-pk.
Room Temp. I
_______________ 1
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