The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-05-19

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 The i20.bed hospital Of 1909 was sufilcient unto the day. Water bury was rapidly becoming con- ecious of growing pains. In another year the census man was to pro- claim q population beyond the TO- 900 mark. For Waterbury that was quite an honor. For the Catholic religious of the city 1t was but one more indication of the need of their fulfilling more expeditions ly ono phase of their mission cure the sick, make tho lame to walk, administer to the dying.
 City Appreciativc
 Faith and courage went into every brick of the old st. Mary's. As tho final day of dedication neared these feelings mounted, They were buoyed by sincere appreciation from the city at large, one that made possible the immediate equip ping of every available bit of room within the walls of the new insti- tution. This confidence from with- out, plus the devotion of the Sis- ters of st. Joseph to the new duty to which they were called in Wa terbury, and Divine Providence's s constant watch over this new sanc- tuary for the sick, today reaches Q new rung in the upward climb which we oil hope to make.
 Those early years were trying ones, but happy with all for patient, for physician, and certainly for at- tendant. But tho World War and its following cpidemics proved the anadequacy of the building for the task that was now at hand. Ex- pansion was urgently needed, but It was some years before 1t could be attempted and in a manner desired.
 Community Spirit
 Tie inspiration that had been Monaignor William Slocum's was community wide by 1920 and mani- tested itself in Q generous oit- pouring of funds that St. Marys might stretch out to meet the fast- growing populace of Waterbury.
 whereas 1t was priestly inspira- ton mainly responsible for the first phases of St. Mary's physi- cal growth, and civic devotion and rcsp0nsibilltyAthc second, 1t certain ly can be written today that this further adventure of providing ade- uuatO and complete hospitaliSation stems from the dynamic but ever- gracious superintendent, Mother Mary Sacred Heart, As one per. sonality has more or less stood out in each successive chapter Of the hospitals history, so docs hers to- day emerge as dominant In this new step forward, despite her re- ticence to accept credit, her innate modosty, and her complete dcsire to rcmain--juSt q worker.
 History Made
 Countless stories are written into the growth of St. Mary's Hospital Every corridor could tell It's own There arc Sagas Of courage or a nurses devotion, Of Q physician's gentleness, of Q surgeons skill, A little sister In her white habit or an lnterne checking the chart; an orderly pacing a corridor, the nurse alipping quietly from room to room, the happy laugh of the convalescent mingled with the sob of the father less: the call to surgery, the in- creased tempo Of aiding hands within emergency, All these ana more, too, are written on the walls of thls as they are on all such in- stitutions. ,-
 Life and death keep a rendezvous the one beckoning, the other open Ing Q door. ,.
 Much might certainly be writ. ten of tho drive and force that Waterbury laymen put Into the campaign to raise some $6000o0 that might be used to build the central wing of the hospital back In the period from l92o-22, More could certainly be written into the splendid efforts now afoot to pro vide the necessary $3b0,00o with which this latest addition will be financed.
 Sisters Responsible
 The capable Sisters of St. Jo- geph through whose divinely-guid- cd hands st. Mary's has been raised to the highest rating for hospitals in the country certainly are the inner.spring around which revolve SO many other precise and delicate