On the corner of St. Joseph & Susan

When I was on the other side of the mountains, I took the opportunity to explore the lovely town that is Wenatchee.  It's a community where until fairly recently our Sisters have had a significant presence.

The Old St Anthony Hospital-
you can see St Anthony at the top!

In 1916 the sisters of St. Joseph of Peace were invited by Bishop O'Dea of Seattle to take over the Wenatchee General Hospital, which according to a historical document from the Washington Health Association was being sold by a "Miss Mary Maloney."  Take it over the Sisters did, running it as St. Antony Hospital until the mid 1970s.  This is a picture of the hospital built in 1921.  The old structure is now a home for mentally and physically disabled adults.  Some of my favorite Sisters spent time in ministry there, including Sister Monica Heeran who started there as a young Sister in the 1950s as a bookeeper before becoming and RN, a hospital administrator, and eventually CEO of our health system.  We sold the hospital to another local hospital in the 1970s, and it continues in operation at a new site as Central Washington Hospital.

In 1955, St. Joseph's Catholic School was opened in Wenatchee.  According to their website, that first year "four sisters of St. Joseph of Peace instructed a total of 230 students in grade one through four.  Since then, the school has taught more than 8,500 children!  The last Sister of St. Joseph of Peace left the school in the late 80s, but Sister Tonia stayed in Wenatchee until a few years ago, working with the diocese. I visited the site of St. Joseph school as well.  You could see our presence and charism just in the school sign, which includes a peace dove!


The neighbors probably thought I  was crazy, but I also took a picture of the street sign.  Because you see, much to my surprise and delight, St. Joseph's Catholic School is located at the corner of .... yup, you guessed it if you looked at the title of this blog post .... at the corner of St. Joseph Place and Susan Place!  How perfect!