Women Volunteers Help New Moms
Lending a helping hand -- and a few blankets -- to the maternity ward at Hackley Hospital was the Junior League of the hospital auxiliary.
In the 1940s, a Junior League of high school age volunteers was formed as a separate unit of the Auxiliary with its own officers and activities. Its adviser was appointed by the president of the board from the Senior Auxiliary. Its project was the nursery and children's ward. Gifts included a sun porch, isolation bassinette, incubator, warming table, sterilizers, blankets, curtains and favors for patient trays.
The Women's Auxiliary of Hackley Hospital has drawn on the volunteer work of thousands of area women since its founding in 1924. It has had many distinguished leaders, perhaps none more noteworthy than its first president Nellie Chisholm.
In addition to overseeing the Women's Auxiliary at Hackley, Chisholm served as chairwoman of the Muskegon County Health Unit, division chairwoman of the Community Chest, and on the boards of the Red Cross and the Muskegon County Sanatorium. Like many of the "founding mothers" of Hackley Hospital, she was a charter member of the Quadrangle Club.
Chisholm was born in 1870 on a farm outside Montague, and began teaching in 1885 when she was only 15. A few years later, she enrolled at the state Normal School in Ypsilanti, now known as Eastern Michigan University. There, she met her husband-to-be John Chisholm, and after she taught in northern Michigan, they settled in the White Lake area. She was named principal of Montague High School in1900.
Chisholm was a trailblazer in politics; she was the first woman to hold elected office in Muskegon County. In 1907, she ran for County Commissioner of Schools and defeated her three male opponents. She served in that post for 28 years, leaving in 1935. She also was a major force in the formation of the Muskegon County PTA, and was active in PTA activities at all levels.
Not one to retire at age 65 when she had to give up her post with the county, Chisholm became a journalist. She accepted the invitation from The Chronicle to become White Lake correspondent, and this position lasted for 23 years. She filed her last story June 20, 1958 when she was 88.
In many ways, Chisholm's tenacity and years of service were typical of the dozens of women who have had leadership roles in the Women's Auxiliary and the thousands who have worked with them. Kate Nellis also served as president of the Auxiliary, and her service to Hackley began on the afternoon of the hospital's dedication ceremonies, Nov. 17, 1904. She sang as part of the exercises. She continued to volunteer in the Auxiliary, and upon her death she gave the hospital a bequest of $250,000, in addition to generous gifts throughout her lifetime.
Reprinted with permission from the Muskegon Chronicle
