Hospital Association
Annual Meet Tonight
A change in the meeting place
for those planning to attend the
Valley Hospital Association an
nual meeting tonight, was an
nounced this week.
The meeting will be held in the
Palmer School Cafeteria and will
begin at 7:30 p.m.
Three important items will be
considered tonight, including the
retirement of hospital bonds;
changing the cost of memberships
and election of three new mem
bers to the board of directors.
All residents df the Valley are
invited to attend the meeting. If
membership in the association
has not yet been purchased, it
may be acquired from board
members who will be present at
the meeting. Only those qualif
ied members may vote on the is
sues to be decided.
Any of those attending the
meeting who wish to inspect the
new Valley Presbyterian Hospital
will be taken on a conducted
tour of the new hospital by board
members following the meeting.
As soon as possible following
the election, board members will
get together and elect new offi
cers of the association.
PRESBYTERY ANNUAL
MEET OPENS TONIGHT
Tonight the annual meeting of
the Yukon Presbytery of the
Presbyterian Church, U. S. A.
will open in Palmer and continue
through Sunday, March 7. The
opening meeting will be called to
order at 8 p.m. tonight in the
United Protestant Church. Daily
meetings will begin at 8:45 a.m.
on Friday and Saturday.
Ministers and laymen from all
Presbyterian Churches and Mis
sion stations in the interior of
Alaska will attend. Dr. J. Earl
Jackman, secretary for work in
Alaska for the Board of National
Missions will be present from
New York. His assistant, Dr. R.
Rolland Armstrong of Juneau will
also be present.
Miss Elsie Penfield of the New
York office of the National Mis
sion Board will represent the wo
men of the Presbyterian Church
who raised more than $232,000 for
the new Valley Presbyterian Hos
pital and will be present during
the dedication of the new hos
pital March 6, one of the high
lights of the meeting.
, Mies Penfield will also be the
speaker at meetings of the Pres
byterial, the women’s work of
the Presbyterian Church, which
will be meeting Friday and Sat
urday at the United Protestant
Church. All women in the Pal
mer-Anchorage area are invited
to participate in the Presbyterial
meetings which will begin at 9:00
a.m. on Friday and Saturday.
Friday evening a popular meet
ing of the Presbytery will be held
beginning at 8 p.m. The service
will mark the observance of the
World Day of Prayer. All persons
of the community are invited to
attend the Friday night meeting.
The closing service of the
Presbytery will be held in An
chorage on Sunday evening at
the Faith Presbyterian Church at
8 p.m. Dr. J. Earl Jackman will
be speaker of the evening.
Hospitality and meals are be
ing provided to the delegates by
church members of the United
Protestant Church. Approximate
ly 50 delegates are expected to
be present for the four-day meet
ing. —
FISHING LICENSE SALES
CONTINUE TO CLIMB
Fresh-water fishing continued
its upward trend of popularity
during the year ended June 30,
1953, according to a recent report
made by John L. Farley, director
of the Fish and Wildlife Service.
Alaska reported the sale of
54,732 fishing licenses, which
brought in a revenue of $102,347.
Resident licenses numbered 36,
277; non-resident, 18,505. In the
previous year only 43,495 fish
ing licenses were sold, bringing
in but $74,938. One-half of the
revenue received from fishing
and hunting license sales in Alas
ka is required by law to go into
“miscellaneous receipts” of the
United States Treasury; the re
mainder is credited to the Terri
torial school fund.
TO FEATURE VALLEY
PRODUCE ON CHAMBER
LUNCHEON MENU
Members of the Matanuska
Valley Chamber of Commerce
will hold a buffet luncheon
Saturday noon from 12 o’clock
noon until 1:3,0 p.m. for mem
bers of the Anchorage Cham
ber of Commerce and the Yu
kon Presbytery, all of whom
are expected in Palmer for the
hospital dedication to be held
in the afternoon.
The luncheon will include
a variety of Matanuska Valley
products, featuring baked Ma
tanuska potatoes and barbe
qued beef.
Especially invited to the
luncheon are all dairy pro
duce farmers of the Matanus
ka Valley.
Entire Family
(Continued from page 1)
brother of Nicholas, Sr., who also
drove to Alaska in May of 1952
from Woodbourne, N. Y.
The family hopes to eliminate
the many mispronunciations and
misspellings that their name has
received over a period of years,
by shortening and simplifying
their name.
The name Sims was chosen as
a dirivtive of the original family
name of Simatovich which was
mistakenly changed to Snemato
vich many years ago when a
member of the family received his
naturalization papers.
The entire family reside at
Sterling Avenue in Palmer.
New Hospital
(Continued from page 1)
built in the center of the com
munity, occupied for the first
time on November 29, 1935. The
frame building served the area
until its destruction by fire in
1946.
Shortly after the fire the Alas
ka Mission of the Seventh Day 1
Adventists, who had taken over j
hospital operations in September |
of 1942, found it was not possible j
to carry on medical work in the j
Valley.
Residents, now faced without a j
hospital, formed the Valley Hos
pital Association and raised $13,- 1
'300 through public subscription :
md the sale of bonds. The group
subsequently purchased a five
room frame cottage from the Ma
tanuska Valley Farmers Co-oper
ating Association. The building
was used to house the business
office, clinic, labratory, X-ray and
lark room, and a combination op
erating-delivery room. From this
initial purchase grew the pres
ent hodge-podge of quonset huts
which were later added to serve
as a maternity ward, men’s ward,
and women’s ward.
Although the frame structure
was of sound construction, the
quonset huts were in poor condi
tion and during rainy seasons,
bucket bridgades were a neces
sity. Difficulty in heating the
quonsets confronted the hospital
staff and board each winter.
Realizing the need for adequate
hospital facilities the hospital as
sociation approached several
groups. In 1950 the Board of Na
tional Missions of the Presbyteri
an Church offered to cooperate
in the operation of the hospital
and do what they could to assist
in securing funds for a new hos
pital.
In 1952 women of the Presby
terian Church set a goal of $150
000 to be raised for the new hos
pital in Palmer. The drive was
spear-headed by Miss Elsie Pen
field and from her name the slo
gan “Pennies for Palmer” came
about. Literature based on the
slogan was put out by the Board
of Missions and money was rais
ed all across the country, as well
as in the territory. The success
pi the campaign is attested in the
final figure of $232,536 which was
turned over to the hospital. Ad
ded to‘'the territorial appropria
tion of $107,500 and local con
tributions of $15,000, the total
Was thatched by Federal Hill-Bur
ton funds of $344,000, making a
total of $700,000 available.
£
DEDICATION CEREMONY
Valley Presbyterian Hospital
A
Palmer, Alaska
March 6, 1954 — 1:30 P. M.
INVOCATION
.The Rev. Brian H. Cleworth
Hospital Chaplain
WORDS OF WELCOME
.Mrs. George E. Smith
President, Board of Directors
Valley Hospital Association
INTRODUCTION OF BOARD OF DIRECTORS, VALLEY HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION
Mr. George E. Smith ... President
Mr. Harlow Hodgson..Vice President
Rev. Brian H. Cleworth ... Secretary
Mr. Simon J. Newcomb... Treasurer
Mrs. Priscilla Bacon Mr. Jasper Skok Mr. Hugh Johnson
Mrs. Rivera Hiber Dr. R. Rolland Armstrong Mr. Max Sherrod
INTRODUCTION OF PAST BOARD MEMBERS
MUSICAL NUMBERS .Palmer High School Choral Group
Miss Lois Thompson, Director
SPONSORING AGENCIES
The Women of the Presbyterian Church, U. S. A......Miss Elsie R. Penfield
Mrs. Lowell Puckett Mrs. Cecil C. Land Secretary of Women’s Work
Yukon Presbyterial Washington Synodical Board of National Missions
Local Contributing Groups .Mr. Hugh Johnson
Local Funds Drive
The Territorial Department of Health. Dr. C. Earl Albrecht
Territorial Commissioner of Health
The United States Public Health Service .*,.Dr. Edward T. Blomquist
Medical Director, Arctic Health Research Center
REMARKS
The Architect ...Mr. Edwin B. Crittenden
Anchorage, Alaska
The Contractor ...-..Mr. C. R. Foss
General Contractor
The Hospital Board .Mr. Harlow Hodgson
Chairman, New Construction Committee
WORDS OF GREETING . Mr. Donald McKechnie
Mayor City of Palmer
WORDS OF GREETING .The Honorable B. Frank Heintzleman
Governor of Alaska
DEDICATORY PRAYER .AND BENEDICTION-.Dr. R. Rolland Armstrong
Member of Board of Directors
FOLLOWING THE FORMAL DEDICATION CEREMONY, ALL GUESTS ARE INVITED TO
LOOK THROUGH THE HOSPITAL
i:innimiii!iinuiiii)»»iinmiHiiiiHiiirn
rTirnnimnirmiTTHi!Tn:i:n!HH!inrrc
*
An Invitation to tke Residents
of tke Matanuska Valley
YOU, OUR FRIENDS AND SUPPORTERS, ARE INVITED TO ATTEND THE
DEDICATION CEREMONIES OF THE NEW VALLEY PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL
ON SATURDAY AFTERNOON, MARCH 6TH, 1954 AT 1:30 P.M.
FOLLOWING THE FORMAL CEREMONY YOU ARE INVITED TO THE OPEN
HOUSE OF THE HOSPITAL
Valley Hospital Association, Inc.
THE BOARD OF NATIONAL MISSIONS
OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, U.S.A.
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