ELLINWOOD — Ellinwood resident Joyce Schulte is proud of the Victorian-era house that she and her husband share in the community and the fact that the home they purchased — which turned out to be the home of a distant relative — has but one small crack in the original plaster walls.

The longtime health professional is also proud that while her community continues striving to keep up with the times, its residents give a respectful nod to their German immigrant heritage throughout the town, in architecture and events throughout the year.

Background

Currently the president of the Ellinwood District Hospital and Clinic Board of Trustees, the 82-year-old Schulte has worked through the ranks of the health-care industry since she began at 16.  

Shulte’s father was a plumber and water-well driller, while her mother kept the books.

“When I was little, I was the gofer,” she said. “They’d say bring me a wrench and so I learned about tools from that. My mom was a jack-of-all-trades, and master of none, she always said. She ran the business and kept the house.”

Born at St. Rose Hospital in Great Bend, Joyce went to school at St. Joseph’s Parochial School in Ellinwood. She spent two years at Sacred Heart Academy boarding school in Wichita. She came back to Ellinwood for her last two years of high school and graduated in 1960.

Her baby sister, Theresa, was one of the first babies born at Ellinwood District Hospital, she recalled.

Her first leanings toward a health-care career began with an aunt who was a nurse. “I don’t know that I was so much pulled to nursing as I was by the love of science,” she said. “I was into biology and chemistry; loved to do that kind of stuff. But then, I love reading, and there is a lot of science to read.”

She started working at St. Rose when she was 16 years old, as a nurse’s aide. “By the time I had nurse’s training, I already had two years’ experience. We had Candy Stripers, that weren’t paid, but I was a nurse’s aide, which was a paid position. I worked an eight-hour shift, with two shifts every weekend, and I would come in evenings when they were short and work from 6-11 p.m.”

She received her training from the Dominican School of Nursing, attached to St. Rose. “It was a three-year diploma program,” she said. “So then I graduated in 1963.”

In the workforce

While at the School of Nursing, she was hired as a clinical instructor. “Any time the students were there, I was there,” she said. “I was in every department — surgery, obstetrics, pediatrics, medical and surgical floor. I did that for two years, and then I was in the classroom teaching.”

There she taught until they closed the school in the early 1970s.

At that point, she thought she would go to Hawaii and work, but a closer avenue opened up.

“I’d already filled out that application and was accepted, on the verge of buying a ticket when I got a telephone call from the hospital in St. John.”

It was such a good job that she forgot about Hawaii.

Six months in, she was offered the position as nursing service administrator.

“It was a 24/7 job, because I also ran surgery,” she said. She worked in St. John for eight years. 

She went from St. John to Goodland, which was a backstep. “Not even the birds can stand that country,” she quipped. “It was the worst move of my life; I was there about nine months.”

She came back to an assistant administrator’s position in St. John. Her promotion to administrator happened at the untimely death of her boss, who had a cardiac arrest, leaving the job to her.

She married Joe on Jan. 1, 1984. “He wanted to get married April 1st, but I couldn’t have that,” she said. He was a farrier, shoeing horses all over western Kansas.

She continued as administrator at St. John for a couple more years, was an administrator in risk management and quality assurance at Central Kansas Medical Center.

To Ellinwood

During that time, she was asked to be on the hospital board at Ellinwood. She was also asked to be the hospital administrator.

“I was so close to retirement by that time, I thought that I could do that for about five years,” she said. 

Ten years later, she retired, during which she survived two bouts of cancer. 

She was asked to run for the board again “and I’ve been there ever since,” she said.

On March 3, the hospital embarked on a new chapter with a groundbreaking ceremony, coincidentally on Joyce’s 82nd birthday.

“It’s been a pretty good experience, all told,” she said. “At least I know what everybody’s talking about. I get a lot of questions, not that I know the answers all the time.”

In her spare time — when she has some — she makes porcelain dolls. There are several at the Museum of Ellinwood waiting to make their debut. 

“They’re not even behind the curtain, they don’t know their roles yet,” she said.

The Ellinwood community has a special place in her heart, she said.

“My grandmother was a mail-order bride from Austria,” she said. “Needless to say, I’m not far from the shore.”

Community Connections is a regular feature of the Great Bend Tribune, showcasing people who live in the Golden Belt. We welcome readers to submit names of individuals who are active in the community that they would like to see featured in a future story. Send suggestions to news@gbtribune.com and explain their “community connections.”