Las Vegas Sun

June 3, 2012

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ASK VEGAS VIC:

Nuns gave hospital name, not life

Image

Courtesy St. Rose de Lima

St. Rose de Lima Hospital in Henderson is dedicated in 1947.

Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Hey, Vic,

I heard that the St. Rose hospitals in Henderson were started by nuns who happened to stop here while traveling cross-country. It sounds apocryphal. Is it true?

•••

The war surplus ad could have read something like this:

One hospital in Henderson, Nev., almost free to a caring owner. Must assume $300,000 in debt, pay $1 a year for 25 years.

In 1947, seven Adrian Dominican sisters, after months of deliberation, traveled from Michigan to Southern Nevada to purchase the Basic Magnesium Hospital. (It was founded to serve employees supporting the war effort at Basic Magnesium Inc.)

The sisters made the move after months of deliberation. But that doesn’t mean they were entirely prepared.

They arrived at night at the hospital on Boulder Highway. The next morning, one of the nuns, Sister Angelita, recalled looking outside and seeing “nothing but sage brush ... If somebody would have said, ‘Go home,’ I would have gladly walked back.”

She didn’t, of course. The nuns renamed the hospital St. Rose de Lima, and 61 years later Southern Nevada has three St. Rose hospitals.

Questions for Vegas Vic should be sent to page8@lasvegassun.com.

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