At an employee awards banquet this fall, Lakeland HealthCare recognized North Berrien resi-dent Kathleen Walter for reaching an impressive milestone— she has worked for Community Hospital in Watervliet for half a century. On October 31, Kathy shared some oral history of her life and career with the museum. Kathleen Rolland was born at her grandfa-ther’s farm on Pier Road and was the third generation of her family to attend Hagar #6– Riverside School. She graduated fourth in the Class of 1959 from Ben-ton Harbor High School. While still a high school senior, she began working in the office at Mercy Hos-pital. “I wanted to be a doctor,” recalls Kathy, but she decided to enter the emerging professional field of nursing. She attended three full years of training at the Bronson Methodist Hospital School of Nursing in Kalamazoo, earning her diploma in August 1962.

She married Coloma native John Walter (a brother of NBHS

NORTH BERRIEN HISTORICAL SOCIETY

NEWSLETTER

Vol. V, No. 4 Hagar · Bainbridge · Coloma · Watervliet Winter 2013-14

300 Coloma Ave./ P.O. Box 207, Coloma, Michigan

Nurse Kathy Walter honored for 50 years at Watervliet hospital

Hagar Township residents approached NBHS earlier this year to request a selection of historic im-ages for the walls of their township hall. The town-ship recently spruced up its meeting space with fresh paint, a new Board meeting table, and a nice “Hagar Township” logo. With funding from the township and logistical support from the museum, a total of twenty-five framed historic postcards and photos were in-stalled this fall. The images all come from Hagar and show scenes of nature, roads, businesses, and resorts. One area displays six different photos of the rural schools in the township. To find the address and open hours for Hagar Township Hall, please visit www.hagartownship.org or call the museum.

Hagar Township Hall boasts new display of historic images

Continued on Page 4

North Berrien Historical Society Board of Directors

Scott Young President Bennet Leedy 1st Vice President Kandyce Hays 2nd Vice President Cindy Young Secretary Shirley Boone Treasurer Ray Mays Assistant Treasurer Marc Hettig Director Karin Miller Director Pauline Morris Director Sherry Polashak Director Tom Scheid Director Sally Williams Director

Staff Tracy Gierada Director / Curator Pauline Wendzel Director of Programs Sarah Cook Office Manager

300 Coloma Ave. Phone: (269) 468-3330 P.O. Box 207 Fax: (269) 468-4083 Coloma, MI 49038 www.NorthBerrienHistory.org info@NorthBerrienHistory.org

The mission of the North Berrien Historical Society is to preserve and distribute information regarding the history of North Berrien County.

We wish to promote, encourage learning, and disseminate knowledge of the area’s

cultural and architectural legacy.

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From the Director’s Desk By Tracy Gierada

While summer in Southwest Michigan is great, I love winter at the museum. Each year at our Holiday Open House, there is a feeling of warmth and happiness that practically makes the museum glow. I always enjoy the activities and interactions with many new and familiar visitors each year. It’s so much fun seeing everyone enjoy the trees, exhibits, crafts, and music. Thank you to the volunteers and sponsors that fill our events with excitement– their generosity spreads cheer and results in wonderful experiences for our community here at the museum. Please note the list of this year’s sponsors on the back page of this newsletter and help us tell those businesses and groups how much their contribution is appreciated! As the winter goes on past the holidays, we’ll continue to offer engaging programming. We look forward to kids activities on MLK Day and at our annual Victorian Valentines Party. Again we’ll be partnering with the Coastline Children’s Film Festival to present some wonderful historic films and two programs here at the museum. It will be a busy winter, as we work towards building a regional attraction with our exhibition Moving from Forest to Fruit Belt. The project has received grants from the Michigan Humanities Council and the Berrien Community Foundation, and I’m excited to involve our members and community in its development. Recently, the North Berrien Historical Society began our 2013 Annual Fund Drive by mailing a donation request letter to our members and friends. Your consideration of this appeal is appreciated as we plan some major facility improvements, including a new barn roof, in the coming year. Many have already responded and are listed on page 7 of this newsletter; additional donations received will be recognized in the next newsletter. Thank you— we sincerely appreciate and value whatever support you are able to give. On behalf of the Board of Directors and staff of NBHS, have a happy and peaceful holiday season!

North Berrien History Blog: NorthBerrienHistory.Blogspot.com

Twitter: Twitter.com/NBerrienHistory

Connect with NBHS Online!

Facebook: Facebook.com/NorthBerrienHistory

A glimpse of our 2013 Photo Contest Exhibit. Thanks to the F. S. Upton Foundation and Cindy Young at Brick

School Gallery for providing our new beautiful frames!

Thurs., Dec. 5, 5:30-7pm

Holiday Lights & Delights Fundraiser. Treat someone and support the museum at this delightful evening event! Enjoy seasonal drinks, appetizers, and desserts, and live music, while enjoying our décor brilliantly lit in the evening dark. $5 Admission.

Friday-Sunday, December 6-8

Holiday Open House. Save the dates for our very popular annual holiday festivities at the museum, with beautiful trees, gingerbread house making and other crafts, live music, Santa & Mrs. Claus, a Cookie Walk, and more. Free Admission. See the flyer for full details!

Friday, January 17,

1-3pm

Winter Drop-in Hands-on History. While schools are on break for Martin Luther King Day, the museum will offer a drop-in craft and activity time at the museum. Free.

Tuesday, January 21,

7pm

Barn Exhibit Development Meeting. In April 2014 we will open the permanent exhibit Moving from Forest to Fruit Belt in the museum’s Nichols-Beverly Barn. At this meeting we will review the plan and organize volunteer teams for producing the new exhibit. All are welcome, especially locals with agricultural history knowledge, local farm materials, and handyman skills. Please RSVP to the museum at 468-3330. See the “Curator’s Corner” on page 5 for more details.

January 31 - February 9

2014 Coastline Children’s Film Festival. Fantastic films for all ages will screen at ten locations, including the Loma Theatre, with special programs at the North Berrien Historical Museum. Please see Page 5 for more details.

Saturday, February 8,

1-3pm

Victorian Valentines Party. Bring your family to the museum for festive crafts, games, and refreshments. View our collection of historic valentines and find inspiration to create your own valentines to take home. Suggested Donation $3/person.

Tuesday,

February 18, 7pm

Film Screening & Discussion: Tale of Two Cities. This PBS mini-documentary explores the histories of St. Joseph and Benton Harbor, especially their transformations in the last century and relationship to one another. The film was produced by WKAR at Michigan State University for the series Michigan At Risk. This program will include the film screening (30 min.), popcorn and punch, and a group discussion about the relationship between the Twin Cities and all of Berrien County.

Thursday, February 20,

5:30-7pm

Book Discussion: A Stronger Kinship: One Town’s Extraordinary Story of Hope & Faith. Held at Coloma Public Library in partnership with the Book Club. In A Stronger Kinship, historian Anna-Lisa Cox documents the history of Covert, Michigan, a town with integrated schools, churches, and families while the Jim Crow era ruled elsewhere. Their stories will appear in the new Smithsonian Museum of African-American History opening in 2015.

Page 3

Mark your Calendars! All events are at the North Berrien Historical

Museum unless otherwise noted.

Page 4

member Kathleen Walter) and began at Community Hospital on October 1, 1963. It was not Kathy’s first time at the hospital. On Mother’s Day 1950, her family was in an auto acci-dent. She remembers riding in the ambulance, then a converted hearse. Community Hospital had just got-ten its start in 1948-49, in a fifty-year-old former resi-dence. No elevator had yet been installed, so patients (including her mother) had to be carried on a gurney by hand up the stairs. Staying overnight in a down-stairs private room, Kathy recalls an old fireplace in the space. With additions to the hospital in the late 1950s and early ‘60s, the old home later became the administrative area, while most medical care took place in the new additions. Kathy says that there has always been a strong culture of “patient first” at Community Hospital. She recalls one memorable incident caring for about 20 kids who came in with severe food poisoning from the same church picnic. Another time, a patient slipped out the back door in his hospital gown to go have a beer down the street, and had to be brought back. Be-ing in a small community, notes Kathy, meant that the hospital staff often saw neighbors, friends, and fam-ily. Her own grandmother was a patient after a stroke, before passing away at the hospital. Over fifty years, Mrs. Walter has kept up with tremendous changes in the medical field. Before dis-posable syringes, she and other nurses had to both sterilize and sharpen the needles for glass syringes. Before disposable rubber gloves, she was trained to wash, dry, inspect, and sterilize her gloves by hand. In nursing school, Kathy learned the old-fashioned

way of caring for heart attack patients, manually checking and administering medicine. But soon car-diac units were introduced, using technology to more precisely monitor the condition of the patient’s heart. Kathy has transitioned to the new computer-based care system EPIC and has taken continuing education credits to stay up-to-speed on medical advances, as required to maintain a nursing license. When the new hospital was constructed off Red Arrow Highway in 1976, the hospital was truly ensured a future. They went from one to three Oper-ating Rooms, among other updates. Kathy most re-members that the move gave the staff much needed space and “things at your fingertips”. She is pleased to see the major new investments that Lakeland HealthCare has brought in since acquiring Commu-nity Hospital in 2010. Kathy notes that Community Hospital is des-ignated a “rural healthcare facility”. Insurance com-panies will actually pay more to encourage people to seek and receive care in a rural facility. “Over the years, we were considered the band aid station out here...” Kathy said, “but what we did was very good, even if it may not have been everything.” She recalls that one evening, a man had been stabbed and his heart was pierced by the knife tip. The staff worked feverishly to repair the heart while a supply of blood was pumped in, and he survived. “We like to think… we can do heart surgery if we really have to, we can save lives,” said Kathy.

By Tracy Gierada

This is what Community Hospital looked like when Kathy Walter started as a Nurse there in 1963. The house was

built in 1894 for one of the original owners of the Watervliet Paper Mill. It was later the Hotel Riverview

and, starting in 1940, Mrs. Mary Cannell’s nursing home. North Berrien Historical Society 9998.09.24.

A meeting of the Community Hospital Board of Directors, which met for the first time in January

1949. North Berrien Historical Society 9998.10.90.

Continued from Page 1

Page 5

“Moving from Forest to Fruit Belt” is the title and theme for the exhibit we are now planning in the Nichols-Beverly Barn. The changes will make our lumbering and agricultural artifacts more relatable to visitors and more engaging for the elementary stu-dents who visit the museum each year. Opening in April 2014, we aim to produce a unique historical attraction that will draw new visitors from throughout our region. All are welcome to an Exhibit Development Meeting on Tuesday, January 21 at 7pm. (Please RSVP to the museum at 468-3330). At this meeting an overview will be presented, final edits planned, and volunteer project teams will be organized for pro-ducing the new exhibit. We especially seek the input of locals with agricultural history knowledge, family farm materials, and handyman or artistic skills.

Curator’s Corner By Tracy Gierada

Applications Due Jan. 10 for Youth Museum Program

NBHS is thrilled to again partner with the Coatline Children’s Film Festival to help bring some fantastic family experiences to North Berrien. The CCFF screens exceptional films at ten venues from Michigan City to South Haven. Admission is free or $1 suggested donation. The tentative schedule for the 2014 CCFF in Coloma is as follows:

Sunday, February 2 1:00 to 2:15pm - Loma Theatre Steamboat Bill, Jr. w/ Buster Keaton (1928) - 70 min. 2:30 to 4pm Sound History Workshop - North Berrien Museum FREE; Ages 6+; Pre-registration is required, please call 468-3330 to register.

Wednesday, February 5 5:30 to 6:45pm - Loma Theatre Young Filmmaker’s Competition Shorts Polish Animated Shorts: A Little Western (1960) - 5 min. 30 sec. The Little Quartet (1965) - 7 min.

Saturday, February 8 3:30 to 4:15pm Pre-screening Ice Cream Break - North Berrien Historical Museum; FREE; Ages 6+; RSVP is required, call 468-3330 to register. 4:30 to 5:30pm - Loma Theatre Grandma’s Boy w/ Harold Lloyd (1922) - 60 min.

Coastline Children’s Film Festival returns to Loma Theatre

Our spray rig was refurbished recently by Lucas Hettig and Marc Hettig. They created a hand-turned crank to attach to the power takeoff, which moves the

pistons in the rig when turned. The spray rig was used in the orchards of Johnson Farms in Coloma and will be featured in our renovated exhibit in the Nichols-

Beverly Barn. Many thanks to Marc and Lucas!

Students in Grades 7-9 are invited to apply to participate in our Youth Museum Program, which offers hands-on training and volunteer experiences in the museum. The program will meet after school, every other Wednesday, January through April. Ap-plications can be obtained by contacting or stopping in the museum, and are due back by January 10. NBHS is now planning to offer a new “Student Internship” opportunity in the Summer of 2014. This will be a self-driven program where high school or college stu-dents undertake inde-pendent projects deal-ing with the collections and programs here at the North Berrien His-torical Museum.

Page 6

Following a busy summer we have kept the momentum going with an equally busy fall. A little cold weather and early snow did not stop us from put-ting on some wonderful programs. We held several more programs to comple-ment our traveling exhibit Journey Stories. Our Bain-bridge Township Cemeteries Tour was a wonderful success, with over 40 attendees. We appreciate the support of the Berrien County Genealogical Society in prepar-ing and promoting the tour. On September 14 Family Trains Day started at the museum with a brief talk on our local train his-tory. We then headed over to view the new historical marker in Coloma and one of Michi-gan’s largest outdoor garden rail-roads at the Southwestern Michi-gan Garden Railroad Club. Thanks to John and Linda Piehl for helping organize this event! Our monthly third-Tuesday program on September 17 was an intriguing Overseas Veterans Panel Discussion pre-sented with Lest We Forget. Lo-cal veterans shared a wide array of stories from their military ser-vice abroad, and took questions from a captivated audience. Speakers included Jimmy Butt and Willis Bouma who both fought in WWII, Gust Anton who served in the Korean War and Don Alsbro who served in the Vietnam War. The North Berrien His-torical Society’s Annual Dinner and Meeting were held on Tues-day, October 15. We started off the night with an appetizing meal catered by The Friendly Tavern. Once everyone was full, we started our Annual Meeting with 50 people in attendance. Officers Scott Young and Shirley Boone were elected to begin new terms on our Board of Directors, and we lis-tened to a brief review of the NBHS annual report and five-year Strategic Plan. Following the meeting the audience was in for a treat with a program by the popular local band Deep Fried Pickle Pro-ject. Daniel Daniel and Alan Selvidge delighted us with their ener-getic, vintage and sometimes humorous musical performance. They informed us of the history of Jug Band and Roots music and also integrated stories of the songs they were singing. A special addition

Fall 2013 was as busy as ever with NBHS programs

Above: The Deep Fried Pickle Project gave us a highly entertaining program at our Annual Meeting, featuring some beloved roots music songs from the 1920s-30s. Left, Top to Bottom: 1. Watervliet native and World War Two veteran Willis Bouma presents his overseas stories at the museum in uniform. 2. Programs Director Pauline Wendzel presents our tour of St. Paul’s Cemetery on Sept. 5. The tour also visited New Hope and Byers/ Bainbridge cemeteries. 3. NBHS Member Will Nich-ols is interviewed by Youth In-tern member Billy Coleman III. Their interview covered Mr. Nichols’ career in local agricul-ture, to help in preparations for our new exhibit project. 4. Fifth grade students from Countryside Academy pose dur-ing their tour of the Smithsonian traveling exhibit Journey Stories here at the museum.

Page 7

Individual ($15)

I may like to Volunteer

Additional tax-deductible contribution: $________

Name

Address

City, State, ZIP

Phone

New Member

Renewing Member

Total Amount Enclosed: $________ Send your completed form along with your check to:

North Berrien Historical Society P.O. Box 207, Coloma, MI 49038

Family Donor ($50)

Student ($8)

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E-mail

North Berrien Historical Society Membership Form

Benefits include: Quarterly Newsletter, Advance invite to special events, and Members-only opportunities

Please check desired annual membership level.

Memberships Donations

Thank you for your support!

was their exceptional guest singer, Alan’s wife, Becky Selvidge. Many old favorite tunes from days past were enjoyed at the gathering. The snow had melted and the rain held off for our free Halloween Cemetery Tours on Saturday, October 26. Dark skies and howling wind added nicely to the spooky element of our Coloma and Wa-tervliet city cemetery tours, where we highlight im-portant people from our towns as well as some inter-esting stories for Halloween. In spite of the cold and rainy weather the Co-loma Cemetery tours in late October for the 4th grade classes at Coloma Elementary School were a success. This is now an annual tour and the students seem to really respond well to it. They learn about many prominent citizens from Coloma as well as the town’s unique history. In other education news, with the start of school we were excited to have a few classes tour the Journey Stories traveling exhibit. For the first time Countryside Academy 5th graders visited the mu-seum. They were able to tour the exhibit, partake in a scavenger hunt, and receive a lesson from Anna Pe-gler-Gordon, a visiting professor from MSU. Waterv-liet North Elementary School 3rd grade was also able to come in for a tour of Journey Stories and a scavenger hunt. On October 29 our Potawatomi trunk was used by a group of home school students visiting the museum. They learned about local Native Ameri-cans and made their own craft project to take home.

Alma Arent Bill & Martha Beverly James Keech Richard Beam David Kliss Emma Morlock Rita Lynch George & Maggie Richter Lori Carlson Marty & Joanne Strebeck Janet Blair Alton & Millie Wendzel Penny Hanks Charles & Mary Adams Marge DuVernay James & Katherine Mann Darlene Getz Robin & Ed Mileski Joyce Kolenko Kathleen Walter Charles Miller Norma & Doug Somers Janice Carter Reid Richard & Adeline Grau Lorna van Komen

Jean Fannin Lori Carlson William Hansen Robert Jackson Edwin Taylor Claudia Jackson Jolyn Taylor Clare Horneij Eileen Healy Pat Valenti Pauline Morris Mary Adams Jerry Puckett Carole Sternaman Rita Lynch Joyce Kolenko Marge DuVernay Milt Stibal Robin Mileski Linda Stibal Katherine Mann Jean Christensen Penny Hanks John Nelson Rhonya LeVeque Barbara Nelson Jean Chandler Ted & Nora Kamberos

Thank you to our Holiday Lights & Delights Fundraiser Sponsors: Harding’s The wHAIRhouse Salon D.W. Hammond Chocolates Back on the Rack Mill Creek Charlie’s Handmade Treasures Chemical Bank Bob’s Barn Bakery & Market

A Special Thanks to George & Maggie Richter

Hagar · Bainbridge · Coloma · Watervliet www.NorthBerrienHistory.org

NONPROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE

PAID

Watervliet, MI Permit No. 29

—–—————

Newsletter - Winter 2013-14

P.O. Box 207, Coloma, MI 49038 Temp-Return Service Requested

Featuring Christmas Trees by

SW MI Scroll Saw Club Cottage of the Four Seasons

Randy’s BP Edgewater Bank Chemical Bank

Honor Credit Union Coloma Lioness Club Mill Creek Charlie’s

Back on the Rack Handmade Treasures

Keith & Marsha Hammond North Berrien Creative Artists Guild

Faith Lutheran Church Tall Timbers Tree Farm The wHAIRhouse Salon

Lakeland Community Hospital Auxiliary The Friendly Tavern

Coloma Class of 2014 Watervliet District Library

Greg Orchards/ Coloma Frozen Foods Magg’s Rags

Rite Aid Ellinee Bait & Tackle

December 5 Holiday Lights &

Delights Fundraiser

Enjoy an evening with local holiday treats and music by

Becky & Les Burford. $5 Admission

December 6 - 8 Holiday Open House & Favorite Tree Contest

Free Admission, Santa’s

Workshop crafts, Gingerbread House decorating, Live music,

Santa & Mrs. Claus, Cookie Walk