Community Projects Commemorate 100th Anniversary

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CENTENNIAL BOOK
When did residents of our local communities decide to purchase Overlook Hospital and operate it as a nonprofit organization? What is the significance of the nautical flags flying near the main parking garage? How did the Auxiliary get started? What famous princess attended the hospital’s Diamond Jubilee?

The answers to these and many other questions about the origins and growth of Overlook Hospital can be found in a soon-to-be-published book, entitled Overlook Hospital 1906-2006: A Century of Caring and Innovation. It is one of several commemorative projects and events developed by the committee planning Overlook’s
Centennial Celebration this year.

“This has been a fascinating process,” comments Lynne Olivo, a resident of Summit and supporter of Overlook, who is co-chairing the book committee with Connie Williams, director of corporate and foundation relations. “With the help of local historians, such as Ted Olcott, who authored 20th Century Summit for the city’s centennial in 1999; members of the Lawrence Family, whose namesake Dr. William H. Lawrence, Jr. founded Overlook; and staff members and volunteers who have a long association with hospital we have managed to piece together a rather educational and entertaining history of Overlook.”

The book chronicles the founding and history of Overlook through each decade. It includes a timeline of significant events, historic photos, interview excerpts from people in the community who have had a long association with Overlook, medical milestones achieved during each decade, and a glimpse at what was occurring in the community at that time period.

For more than a year, book committee members have been poring over fragile old scrapbooks, archived hospital records, weathered photos and newspaper articles in an attempt to document key facts and events surrounding Overlook’s beginnings through its present day status as one of the region’s leading health care providers.

“What was clear to us from the very beginning was how much the community needed this hospital and helped it to thrive,” observes Olivo. “The Women’s Auxiliary, for example, played a major role in keeping the hospital functioning during the war years. And each time the hospital experienced growing pains, members of the community rallied with major fundraising campaigns. They simply refused to let it falter.”

Committee members also uncovered some humorous and quirky stories that they felt were worth documenting. For example, they read about one of Dr. Lawrence’s early experiences making a house call. He was awakened one night by a man knocking at the door, who requested he see the man’s sick wife out in the countryside. Dr. Lawrence hitched up his horse and set out with the man, who gave directions. When they reached the man’s house, Dr. Lawrence inquired about the sick wife, and the man replied that there was no sick wife; it was cheaper to get a ride from a doctor making a house call than to hire a horse and buggy from a livery stable. Besides, the man explained, no one else would come out at that time of night.

Aside from documented accounts of the hospital’s history, the Book Committee recorded and transcribed interviews with former staff members and community residents who have a long association with Overlook. Excerpts from these interviews are interspersed throughout the book and offer anecdotal insight into the hospital and the community from an eyewitness’ perspective at that time.

“Helen and Bruce Bensley, Mary Burke, Betsy Potter, Marie Tansey, Emily Ridgway, Tip Kenyon, Dr. Henry Liss, who serves on the book committee, and others graciously shared their memories of Overlook’s early years,” says Olivo.

The book committee plans to print 7,000 copies of the centennial book and distribute it within the hospital and at events throughout the year.

CENTENNIAL LIFE GARDEN
The Centennial Life Garden will include bricks that can be inscribed with messages to celebrate a special occasion such as Mother’s Day, Father’s Day or the birth of a child.

The garden is set to open this fall and will be located across from the main entrance of the renovated lobby.

Patty McGeehan, director of annual giving for the Overlook Hospital Foundation and Centennial Brick co-chair notes that a personalized brick is also a nice way for new parents to pay tribute to the physicians and medical staff involved in the birth of their child.

“It really is a great way to commemorate any special event, be it a birthday or anniversary or other significant event,” she says. McGeehan chairs the committee along with Courtney Zanelli.

“The Overlook family of physicians, employees, volunteers and medical staff are enthusiastically supporting the project,” McGeehan says. “In addition, this project really offers the community an opportunity to connect with the hospital.”

The inscribed bricks will make the garden a more personal space, says McGeehan. “It is a unique way for people to become involved and it will be a beautiful space.”

McGeehan says that the Centennial Life Garden fits well with the Centennial themes of community involvement and making a lasting impression.

Orders received by June 30 will be installed for the Centennial Garden dedication planned for the fall.

In addition to the bricks, there will a limited number of plaques available for benches in the garden.

For more information, contact the Overlook Hospital Foundation at 908-522-2840.

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