A group from the Waikato Hospital nursing class of 1964, including two from Waipā, recently celebrated their 60th reunion.
Lynette Aish (nee Gardiner) and Paula Butterworth (nee Houghton) of Cambridge joined Putāruru’s Judy Osborne (nee Udy) and Diane Hishon (nee Hillary from Morrinsville) on a tour of the hospital to see how things had changed since they trained there.
And there to greet them was chief Nursing and Midwifery officer Sue Hayward, who lives in Cambridge.
Ryburn Nurses’ Home, Waikato Hospital 1964: Back row, from left, Anne Reid, Anne Stephenson, Robyn Brunton, Bronwyn Harries, Leslie Mackie, Jenny Hepburn, Penny Taylor, Judy Park, Coral Malcolm, Kathy Dawes, Isobel Oates, Jill McLaughlin, Vicky Tarrant, Marilyn Hannah, Diane Hillary, Vera Pound, Esther Williams, Margaret Salmons.
Third row, Pamela Bruton, Jenny Coates, Margaret Wilson, Paula Houghton, Sue Hadley, Marilyn Reeve, Caryle Platt, Alison Howard, Leila Rolston, Annette Meakin, Margaret White, Lynley Taylor, Barbara Roke, Anne Brakenrig, Hilary Hammond, Joleen Jackson, Lois Cullen.
Second row, Marion Nairn, Judy Duncan, Robbie Walters, Dee Allen, Leonie Robertson, Mary Corskie, Betty Luke, Robyn Lynd, Jenny Taylor, Val Collett, Alison Scott, Rose May, Anne Symons, Lyn Ingham, Lois Erhorn, Merlyn Savill, Esther Gardiner, Judy Udy, Jean Corin, Jenny Nicholls, Lynette Gardiner.
Front Row Heather Harvey, Jean Tait, Raewyn Cossar, Kathy Newton, Miss McPherson (Dietician), Staff Nurse Bowden, Sister McLeod, Sister Washbourne, Sister Summers, Sister Mather, Liz Lowe, Anne Cameron, Diane Quinn, Anne Dickinson, Mary Evison, Diane Bellamy.
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Judy now lives in Hamilton and reminisced about the old Emergency Department.
“We had a few cubicles and two plaster rooms with x-ray nearby,” highlighting the stark contrast with the current ED, now equipped with 55 beds and five resuscitation rooms.
The nurses found comfort in seeing the hospital chapel, even though the original one was gone.
Paula Butterworth outside the old Waikato Hospital chapel before her December 1967 wedding with attendants, Paula’s sisters Diane Moss, left, and Glen Reid, right (who still live in Cambridge), family friend Stan Gilbert who gave Paula away, and Rev Kinloch, the Presbyterian hospital chaplain. Photo: Supplied.
The stained-glass windows had been transferred from the original and brought back memories, especially for Paula who was married in the old chapel and now lives in Adelaide where she moved a week after the wedding.
The tour ended at the history timeline on the walls of level 2 Meade Clinical Centre, where the nurses traced their journey. It was a trip down memory lane, filled with shared experiences and milestones.
Sue said it was great to see the camaraderie of work colleagues from all those years ago when it was common for nurses to train, work and live together onsite at the hospital.
Paula’s sisters Glen Reid and Diane Moss, who were attendants at the Hospital Chapel, still live in Cambridge as does Lynette. Seven of the class of 1964 were from Cambridge: Paula Houghton, Esther and Lynette Gardiner, Marion Nairn, Kathy Dawes, Isobel Oates and Pam Bruton.
Chief Nursing and Midwifery officer Sue Hayward, left, welcomed class of ’64 nurses Lynette Aish, Judy Osborne, Paula Butterworth, Diane Hishon. Photo: Supplied.
Family friend Stan Gilbert gave Paula away as her father had died a few months before the wedding. Behind Paula are her attendants, sisters Glen and Diane. Photo: Supplied.
Paula Butterworth and husband John in the old Waikato Hospital chapel after their December 1967 wedding. They had planned to have their photos taken in the rose gardens next to the chapel but as it was so wet, they were allowed to have their photos taken in the chapel. Photo: Supplied.
Paula Butterworth and husband John leave the old Waikato Hospital chapel after their December 1967 wedding. Photo: Supplied.14
Paula Butterworth and husband John outside the old Waikato Hospital chapel after their 1967 wedding. They had planned to have their photos taken in the rose gardens next to the chapel but as it was so wet, they were allowed to have their photos taken in the chapel. Photo: Supplied.
