Charleston, WV — The story of Davis Memorial Hospital School of Nursing in Elkins is featured in the Summer 2014 issue of Goldenseal magazine, now on sale. The article is titled “Proud to Have Been Called Nurses: Recalling Davis Memorial Hospital School of Nursing” and was written by author and former Tucker County sheriff Tom Felton of Parsons.
Davis Memorial Hospital was founded in 1903 by U.S. Senator Henry Gassaway Davis and was dedicated to his wife, Katherine. The hospital opened its school of nursing later that same year. The author states that up until 1937 students were required to live in hospital dormitories and were held to a strict code of conduct. Regulations included a daily 7:00 a.m. room inspection, a prohibition against chewing gum or wearing make-up, and an admonition to avoid singing or door slamming.
Felton interviewed several Elkins area nurses who received their training through Davis Memorial. Among them are Labrita (Leombruno) Howell, Anita (DeMotto) Goddin, Eliza (Shaver) Calain, Marie (Sycafoose) Cousin and Carol Isner. Collectively these woman worked nearly 200 years in nursing, most of it at Davis Memorial. Though the women agreed that modern nursing is plagued by an overabundance of bureaucracy and paperwork, they are each proud of their years in the nursing profession and grateful for the training they received at Davis Memorial.
Elsewhere in this issue are stories about the history of professional baseball in Charleston, boat and ship building in Point Pleasant, a daring 1945 train robbery in Campbells Creek, and a volunteer crime fighter in Wheeling named Moondog.
Goldenseal is West Virginia’s magazine of traditional life and is published quarterly by the West Virginia Division of Culture and History in Charleston. The magazine sells for $5.95 and is available in Elkins at Mainline Books, Blackwater Falls State Park at Davis or by calling (304)558-0220, ext. 134; on-line at www.wvculture.org/goldenseal.
The West Virginia Division of Culture and History is an agency within the West Virginia Department of Education and the Arts with Kay Goodwin, Secretary. The Division, led by Commissioner Randall Reid-Smith, brings together the past, present and future through programs and services focusing on archives and history, art, historic preservation and museums. The Division of Culture and History is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.
