Today (September 28th) marks the 125 year anniversary of Manitowoc’s oldest hospital, Froedtert Holy Family Memorial.
Over that time, the hospital has been helping keep Manitowoc residents healthy while also keeping God at the center of it all.
Sister Kay Klackner with the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity explained to Seehafer News that the city of Manitowoc, which was founded roughly 25 years prior, was starting to grow, with shipbuilding becoming a big focus.
That is when the community realized they were in desperate need of local healthcare.
Spring 1898: Ground was broken for the new hospital.
“So they came to us, the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity, even though, from a material perspective, we were a rather young congregation, still having debt to build our own buildings,” Sister Kay explained. “But because the need was great, the leadership of the community says we will work together and have a hospital.”
In 1886, Manitowoc County deeded over four and a half lots to the Sisters, and in the Spring of 1898, ground was officially broken on the hospital.
Bishop Frederick Katzer from the Diocese of Green Bay was on hand on September 28th of that year to officially dedicate the 45-bed facility.
Sister Kay tells us the hospital was vital to the growing community.
“If you were rich, you could afford to have the doctor or the health care people come to your home. If you were not, you were kind of on your own,” she noted. “So that’s that’s really who we were serving when we started the hospital.”
Some of the Sisters at Holy Family Hospital in 1909 included
from left: Sisters Hilary Hautzinger, Magdalen Moorman,
Daniel Engelbert, Benedicta Stick, Patrick Rankin, Victima Bichler
and Marcella Schroeder.
In 1900, the hospital, which was named Holy Family Hospital at the time, was also named a U.S. Marine hospital, meaning if a sailor became sick, Manitowoc was the place for them to go.
Sister Clarence Hennessy wrote in her diary at the time that the sisters would give them “three good meals a day, broth in the forenoon, and lunch in the afternoon.”
It was not all smooth sailing however, as in July of that year, the hospital was struck by lightning.
Sister Clarence wrote, “The steeple was broken as there was also a hole in the roof. The lights were all out of order. Everybody got a shock, but nobody was hurt.”
She maintained a sense of humor during the ordeal, however, noting, “Sister Walburga was standing on a chair closing a window. She fell backwards and said: ‘I am dead. I am dead.’ Never mind your tongue is still wagging.”
While Christianity has remained at the center of everything they do, HFM’s survival through the early years was entirely dependent on the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity.
Sister Kay explained, “Part of how Holy Family was able to exist is that there were enough sisters that actually did everything. Every department that they had at that time, which of course, wasn’t as complex as it is today.”
While the community relied on the hospital for their healthcare, Sister Kay also notes that the Sisters played a vital role in helping the community in other ways.
“We had the vegetable gardens, and the community went through the times of need that people didn’t have what they needed, including food,” she noted. “Often, there were people at the door. The sisters would feed and take care of the railroad when passed, and the guys would jump off the boxcars, and they were there to get their coffee and get their meals.”
June 2: Ground was broken for the “1949” wing.
When the Great Depression began, Sister Clerence Hennesy wrote in her diary that the hospital didn’t feel the pressure the same as the community.
She wrote, “The sisters always had enough for the patients, themselves, and anyone needing help.”
In 1947, Holy Family Hospital was thriving, and were able to begin construction on an expansion project known as the “1949 wing”, which was dedicated in March of 1949.
Several parts of Wisconsin history are directly linked to HFM, including in November of 1951, the Holy Family School of Nursing became the first accredited three year program in the state.
The school would remain open for 56 years, ceasing operations in 1976 having graduated 871 nurses throughout the 56 years of operation, including Sister Kay’s mother.
In fact, she told Seehafer News, “Myself and all of my siblings were born at Holy Family, so Holy Family has a very special place in my heart.”
Vietnamese refugees Diem and Huong Nguyen welcome their son,
Hung Victor Ninh Nguyen, born at Holy Family Hospital and believed to
be the first child born of Vietnamese refugee parents in Wisconsin on
Oct. 14, 1975.
Additionally, in 1975, Vietnamese refugees Diem and Huong Nguyen moved to Manitowoc and gave birth to their son Hung Victor Nihn Wguyen, who is believed to be the first child born of Vietnamese refugee parents in Wisconsin.
Sister Kay’s family also played a role in that historic moment.
“Talk about connections,” she said. “My parents were some of the sponsorship to help them be here in the United States, but at that time they were coming here and needed the support to be able to establish their lives here in our country.”
Speaking of family, one family has been a major part of HFM history.
Kathy Endries is a part of three generations of nurses and medical workers at the hospital. Endries tells us it started back in 1953 when her mother Eleanor Weina enrolled at the School of Nursing.
Eleanor worked for Holy Family Memorial until 1998, when she retired. Since then, eight members of her family have, in some way, worked at Holy Family Memorial, with some still working there to this day.
Kathy says her mom taught her an important lesson: be committed to the job you do.
She said that while Eleanor didn’t force anyone into the medical field, “I think we just saw it all and we just all decide that that’s where we wanted to go with our life. I mean, out of my mom, three of us became RNs, and Ellie became CNAs. And, it’s just the caring that we saw instilled in us to do this as a career.”
She also said that they are very proud of their family’s history working at HFM.
“Besides the nursing part, we have a brother who went into being a doctor,” she revealed. “So, we got so much from my mom being a nurse. I mean she instilled medical on all of us.”
Kathy’s daughters now work at HFM while Ellie Meinnert’s daughter is going to medical school.
Endries and Meinnert also said it’s special being a part of a family of nurses and medical workers because it bonds them together.
“You grow up different in a nursing family because my mom had to work most holidays, so holidays were not on holidays,” she stated. “We did everything whenever. As we all became nurses, we could discuss all that stuff.”
But what does the future hold for HFM?
The biggest change in recent years was the collaboration between Holy Family Memorial and Froedtert and the Medical College of Wisconsin, which went into effect in March of 2021.
Since then, Manitowoc’s oldest hospital has received the American College of Cardiology’s National Cardiovascular Data Registry (NCDR) Chest Pain-MI Registry Platinum Performance Achievement Award for the sixth time and entered into a preferred provider agreement with Sharon S. Richardson Community Hospice.
Those who wish to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the hospital are invited to stop by the atrium at 2:00 this afternoon (September 28th).
Bishop David Ricken will also lead a mass at 4:00 p.m.
