…Helen Wood Hall, and the original Strong Memorial building were both built at that time, and were connected by an underground tunnel which was very handy during the harsh Rochester winters.
There is also an alumni level of giving named for your aunt, the Grace L. Reid Society, for alumni who donate $250 annually to the school. As soon as I saw her name, I knew it sounded familiar.
After graduating, I worked at Strong Memorial. The patient units had long hallways and tall ceilings, rather like the hospital in the old TV show St. Elsewhere.
In the early 1970s, the nursing faculty were a rather arrogant lot, sad to say, who were very impressed with themselves, and often came across as “I know something you don’t know, and I’m not going to share it with you.” They weren’t very nurturing. In 2023, I attended our class’s 50th reunion, and this faculty attitude was a frequent topic of discussion among the few of us who were there. We all had the same feeling, and several tales to tell.
Here is one of my own stories about how cold-hearted the faculty often were. I applied to the school’s pediatric nurse practitioner program after working at Strong for about a year. I had graduated in the top 10% of my class, been the evening shift charge nurse on the very busy pediatric unit where I worked, and been approached about working in the pediatric ICU the medical center was planning to open. I was surprised when I was not accepted to the program, and really shocked by how I was notified. My application was simply mailed back to me with REJECT stamped across it in bright red letters. No polite cover letter with gentle generic words like, “Due to limited class size, we are not able to accept someone with your fine qualifications at this time but encourage you to re-apply for the next class,” etc etc. I confess I have never been able to forgive that rude and callous response. I’m going to guess your aunt would not have approved of that approach.
For that reason, I have very seldom made any alumni donations.
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