Lou’s View – March 6, 2014

Roy Rogers and the Lock Haven Hospital

by Lou Bernard

I’ve always liked old cowboy movies. When I was a teenager, I couldn’t get enough of them. If John Wayne or Clint Eastwood was clenching their teeth and saying something threatening while they fired fifteen shots from a six-shooter, preferably in black and white, I’d cheerfully watch it.

Remember those? You know those old black and white cowboy movies, where someone needs to be rescued? They’ve been shot by bandits, attacked by coyotes, hit by a train because they were texting as they crossed the tracks, etc. And just at the last second, Roy Rogers comes riding in on Trigger, six-shooters blazing, and saves the day.

They’re great! Everyone loves them! Cowboys and Indians! You’d rather see the cowboy kiss his horse than the girl!

Well, if you’re injured in Lock Haven….That isn’t going to happen, Pilgrim.

But if you go to the Lock Haven Hospital, you have a local connection to those old movies, which is something fun to think about as you bleed all over the insurance forms.

It began with Lee and Bessie Graham. Nice couple. They met and married, and then later bought property on top of the hill and made it into a horse farm. It was known as Graham Acres. Everything, basically, on top of the hill consisted of the farm. At the time, it was considered just outside the city—Later, Lock Haven’s city limits were expanded to cover the area.

At the time, the hospital wasn’t up there—It was along the south side of Susquehanna Avenue, on a property now owned by Lock Haven University. The Susquehanna Avenue hospital was the second version; there had been one on East Water Street first, before moving up the hill. And then the one on Susquehanna Avenue burned down in 1908, and was rebuilt after a couple of years.

But then, along came Lee and Bessie Graham.

(But what about the old movies? Cool your jets, Kemo Sabe. I’m getting to that.)

As they got older, Lee and Bessie couldn’t take care of their horses. They decided to offer the land to a local doctor for a clinic. The doctor actually suggested it might be better as a hospital, which was fine with Lee and Bessie. They donated the land, and Lee himself dug the first shovelful of earth for the building on May 12, 1959.

The Grahams sold the majority of their horses. They decided to keep three of them, the ones they were most fond of: Sandy, Silver Pal, and Tina Kay. Sandy was the grandson of Trigger, the horse ridden by Roy Rogers in the movies.

Yeah, you heard me, Kemo Sabe. Trigger’s grandson lived right here in Lock Haven.

Lee and Bessie cut the ribbon opening the new hospital on October 8, 1961, in front of five thousand people. Lee passed away a little over a year later, on January 5, 1963, after a long illness that caused the amputation of his leg. He was buried in Highland Cemetery.

In 1964, a ceremony was held to honor the Grahams and their generous gift. A monument was made from local stone, and placed on the hospital grounds—It’s still there, in between wings. Bessie was admitted to the hospital in 1979, and passed away in the hospital she’d donated. She was buried in Highland, next to Lee.

In Bessie’s will, she left money to a scholarship fund for nurses to get an education—Still contributing to the hospital even after her death. To this day, the scholarship bears her name. Both Lee and Bessie are remembered.

And Sandy, the grandson of Trigger? He’s remembered, too. Think of him next time you break a bone and have to run to the emergency room. Pilgrim.