Oral History: Sister M. Norberta McCabe
Dublin Core
Title
Oral History: Sister M. Norberta McCabe
Subject
Sister M. Norberta McCabe
Description
An oral history of Sister M. Norberta McCabe, a Sister of Charity of Seton Hill from 1935 until 1989. The interview was conducted by Sister Virginia Pascaretta on April 20, 1983 and January 28, 1984.
Sister Norberta McCabe was born on February 5, 1912 in Pittsburgh, Pa. Daughter of Philip B. McCabe, Sr. and Nellie B. Farnan, Julia A. McCabe entered the community on September 8, 1935 as Sister M. Norberta McCabe.
Sister Norberta worked for a year and a half as a private duty nurse before entering the community and continued to work as a nurse during her ministry. She was first assigned to the Roselia Foundling and Maternity Hospital in Pittsburgh. She then worked at Providence Hospital in Beaver Falls, Pa. for over twenty years in a variety of positions, including Instructor, Clinical Instructor, Night Supervisor, and Director of Nursing Service. She then worked at Jeannette Hospital as Director of Volunteers and Social Services, and later as a medical librarian, before she retired to Assumption Hall in 1982.
Sister Norberta earned her B.S. in Nursing from Duquesne University in 1938.
Sister Norberta McCabe passed away on December 15, 1989 at the age of 77.
Sister Norberta McCabe was born on February 5, 1912 in Pittsburgh, Pa. Daughter of Philip B. McCabe, Sr. and Nellie B. Farnan, Julia A. McCabe entered the community on September 8, 1935 as Sister M. Norberta McCabe.
Sister Norberta worked for a year and a half as a private duty nurse before entering the community and continued to work as a nurse during her ministry. She was first assigned to the Roselia Foundling and Maternity Hospital in Pittsburgh. She then worked at Providence Hospital in Beaver Falls, Pa. for over twenty years in a variety of positions, including Instructor, Clinical Instructor, Night Supervisor, and Director of Nursing Service. She then worked at Jeannette Hospital as Director of Volunteers and Social Services, and later as a medical librarian, before she retired to Assumption Hall in 1982.
Sister Norberta earned her B.S. in Nursing from Duquesne University in 1938.
Sister Norberta McCabe passed away on December 15, 1989 at the age of 77.
Creator
Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill
Publisher
Archives of the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill
Date
1983/04/20
1984/01/28
Rights
All rights belong to the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill, Greensburg, Pennsylvania.
Format
Audio cassette tape
Type
Oral history
Identifier
OH-86
Oral History Item Type Metadata
Interviewer
Sister Virginia Pascaretta
Interviewee
Sister M. Norberta McCabe
Transcription
OH-86-1
SVP: This is an oral history tape for the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill , Greensburg, PA. The interviewee is Sister Norberta McCabe and the interviewer is Sister Virginia Pascaretta. It is being conducted at Assumption Hall on April 20, 1983.
SNMcC: I was born in Pittsburgh. My father was Philip B. McCabe Senior. My mother was Nellie Farnan. They were married in St. Mary's Church on upper forty-fourth street. I have two sisters and a brother, all older than me. I was about nine years younger than my brother. My brother still lives in Pittsburgh. He has two daughters who are married. We lived in Garfield. I went to St. Lawrence's Grade School. My mother went to St. Mary' s school on Butler Street, which was staffed by the Sisters of Mercy. My father went to Duffs College. I don' t know about his early education. He became a Funeral Director. He also had a livery stable on Penn Avenue. He had carriages, and kept about twenty to twenty five horses. After finishing grade school at St. Lawrence, I went to Peabody High School. The Dominicans from Ohio taught at St. Lawrence. After graduation, I went into Nurses' training at Pittsburgh Hospital. I completed training in 1934. While attending Duquesne University for further classes, I worked as a staff nurse at Pittsburgh hospital and also did some private duty nursing. I entered the Community on September 8, 1935.
SVP: Sister Norberta, may I ask you what attracted you to the Sisters of Charity?
SNMcC: Well, I always wanted to be a sister and felt that they were the most sensible I had met. I had been in touch with the Ursulines, the Franciscans, and the Dominicans and felt that they were all terribly artificial. The only Sister of Charity I actually knew was Sister Mary Stephen Cusick who visited her family who lived across the street from us. In the Novitiate in 1936, we were being sent out on Mission. I was ill with rheumatic fever and was unable to go. As I wasn't finished with my education, Mother Rose Genevive Rodgers determined that I should do this. I was sent to Pittsburgh Hospital with the Registrar from Seton Hill to see a Miss Tobin, Dean of Nurses training at Duquesne to make arrangements for how many credits I would have to have, etc. It was decided that I needed twenty credits. The last three credits were attained by them permitting me to write a twenty thousand word paper on the "ISMS", which were rather new at that time. Meanwhile, when Miss Tobin arrived for the interview, she looked at us. We had our outside bonnets in our hand. She said: "What lovely bonnets you ladies are carrying!" The Registrar , Sister Eucharia
O' Hagan turned around and said: "Well, I'm going to put my head in it in a minute!" As soon as we got out of the Dean' s office, the two ofus killed ourselves laughing the whole way down the hill. Sister Eucharia was not usually so jovial and friendly, but her mother had been a patient in Pittsburgh Hospital when I was on duty there, so perhaps this eased the situation. Then I lived at Pittsburgh Hospital. We lived on the second floor of the old nurses' home on Penn Avenue. There were five ofus in thedormitory. I had to be in bed every night at nine o'clock but I did some substitute nursing along the way, so I couldn ' t study after nine o'clock. While I was waiting for other sisters who went to school at the same time... Sister Audrey was in Pharmacy and Sister Mary Virginia Herald was going to school. Sister Mary Virginia' s classes ended earlier. Sister Mary Audrey' s classes didn' t
end until six o'clock. Mine ended at three o'clock, so I went to the library from three o'clock until six o'clock and studied. After I completed my work at Duquesne University, I was missioned that Fall to Pittsburgh Hospital to be on night duty in the emergency room. Shortly after receiving this assignment, we received an SOS advising that Sister Philippa Henry was leaving Roselia Foundling and that a replacement was needed immediately. So, I went to Roselia Foundling. Sister Philippa introduced me to a woman there (I forget her name), said this is the Delivery Room. So long! There I was alone. I had never been alone with an anesthetic. I watched Sister Amelia Foerster administer an anesthetic at Pittsburgh Hospital in the Obstetric department, but I didn' t care for Obstetrics or Pediatrics in my own training experience. I knew that I would have to know something about administering an anesthetic, at least until Sister Amelia or someone else came. Dr. Lawrence Sullivan was the doctor who came to Roselia. He performed tonsillectomies. These tonsillectomies were not patients from Roselia. They were patients of his and perhaps of other doctors. He told me that you used Ethyl Chloride and dropped it into Ether, the anesthetic. It was still
:frightening for me, but nevertheless he showed me how to do it. Thank God, we did it and noone ever died on the table or anywhere. There are a lot of funny incidents that happened at the Foundling. Sister M. Charlotte Judge was the Sister Servant. She had new linoleum put down in the Nurses' Home. The Nurses' Home was two houses joined together. So, you could go through the hallway, through the laundry, through the living room in both houses and back to the laundry. So, it made a nice skating rink. One of the girls one time lent Sister M. Margaretta Bernlohr and Sister Ann Louise Sacco roller skates with big wooden rollers on. They put them on and we had a real circus. This occurred while we were having a party one evening. We invited Sister Charlotte to the party, but she declined because she said all she would do is worry about the new linoleum being damaged from the skating. She didn't come until it was time to eat. She examined the linoleum, but determined no damage had been done. Sister Rita Mary Leonard was there. She was in charge of the trays and kitchen at that time. She was the life of the party. Shortly after that, Sister Rita Mary had to go to the hospital and we were concerned that perhaps the party had something to do with it. This wasn't the case.
In 1940, I was sent to Provident Hospital in Beaver Falls. In Beaver Falls, Sister Irenaeus Joyce was the Sister Servant. Sister Mary Stephen Cusick was the Director of the School of Nursing, Sister Mary Thelma Long was her assistant, Sister Marie Stephen Jablonski was in charge of the Obstetrics Department, Sister Teresita Coleman was in charge of the Ex Ray Department and laboratory. She had a secular assistant. Sister Louise Clare Duffy took care of the chapel and did the linens and all that was involved with the chapel. She also helped out in the cafeteria and did a great many miscellaneous jobs. Sister M. Wilfrid Hirschinger was supervisor of the operating room. She replaced the Sister (she couldn' t remember her name) who was in charge before her. Mary Riley was the Pharmacist, but was replaced later on by Sister Virginia Marie Waudby when Sister completed her studies for the job. Anne Mutschler was the record librarian and Betsy Hanley was the Bookkeeper. They were the right hand helpers to Sister Irenaeus Joyce as far as administration was concerned. Sister Agnes Catherine Kearney was there as supervisor on one of the floors and was on night duty. When you were on night duty, you took over the switchboard, and gave
the report from there in the morning. In those days the shift was seven o'clock PM until seven o'clock AM. The three shifts had not come into reality yet. I believe it was in 1942 that Sister John Francis, who went back to her baptismal name, Sister Mildred Anne Curry, came. Sister Mary Kieran Beyer came for a short while, but returned to Pittsburgh. She came back some years later to replace Sister Irenaeus Joyce as Administrator. Sister Mary Jean Flaherty was here for some years in charge of the Obstetrics Department. Sister Mary Frederick Blatt came after some years to replace Sister Teresita Coleman in the laboratory. A secular was hired to replace Sister Teresita in the ex-ray department as Sister Mary Frederick was not qualified in this area. Years later when Sister Mary Stephen was finished being Director of the School of Nursing, Sister Alice Patricia Harvey came and took her place. She also had a secular assistant to replace Sister Mary Thelma Long who had been Sister Mary Stephen's assistant. Both Sister Mary Stephen and Sister Mary Thelma went to Assumption Hall. Sister Patricia Airhart worked in the office for several years. Sister Miriam Rita Kelsey also worked in the office for a few years. Sister Catherine Francis Kem and Sister Paul Gabriel Wilhere were there for just a short time. Sister Agnes Joseph Hines and Sister Agnes Teresa McLane were also there for a short time. I had been doing some teaching, working in Obstetrics and working night duty. When Sister Mary Kieran Beyer came to replace Sister Irenaeus Joyce as Administrator, she thought that Sister Mary Stephen Cusick had been in charge of the entire Nursing Service, but when Sister Alice Patricia came to be Director of the School of Nursing, I did the Nursing Service which was concerned with the graduate nurses and the other help. Sister Alice Patricia Harvey, of course, had the student nurses. I didn't mention that Sister Mary Daniel Havlak was at Provident Hospital for many years. She was instructor. She was in charge of the Obstetrics Department for half of the day. I took over the other half. Sister Mary Magdalene Foley was in charge of the admissions office. After she left, Sister Mary Ethel Beyer, who is no longer in the community, took over in the admissions office. The Board was very strong at Provident Hospital. The President of BMW, a Mr. Whiteman was head of the board when I first went to Beaver Falls. He was succeeded by Mr. Soyer. They were very interested in the hospital and did everything possible to take care of our needs, especially providing equipment. The BMW Company were the most interested group in Provident Hospital and they are still down there. There was also the Michael Baker Construction Company from Rochester. In 1955, when we had that tremendous snow, Michael Baker was a patient in the hospital. He had a broken leg. It was he who had patients brought to the hospital using his large equipment. Ambulances weren't able to move at that time down there and because of his connection with Sister Irenaeus Joyce and his respect for her, he did everything that he was possibly able to do to keep the hospital functioning. The Doctors also had deep respect for Sister Irenaeus and so did the board members. Sister Irenaeus had great rapport with the business people in Beaver Falls. For instance she would go food shopping with you. Of course she didn't like carrying the food home. She would send you off and tell you to go and enjoy seeing things, while she bargained with the merchant for some things which she always got. One day, she decided
she was going shopping. I was the youngest, so I went along to carry the bags. She had two very large umbrellas, the ones with the long spike on the end. Also, before leaving for
shopping this day, she shoved about a dozen pairs of rubbers down into the umbrella. She sent me up street to look at the card shop and other things while she shopped. When she came back and we were ready to leave, I was holding a couple of shopping bags and the umbrella. She said: "Oh, it looks like a storm is coming. We better hurry." We got out to the curb. Seventh Avenue was the widest street in town. It was wider than Penn Avenue in Pittsburgh by a longshot. Just as we stepped off the curb, the rain started. Oh dear, put up the umbrella, put up the umbrella! Dear (me) thinks that she can hold the shopping bags in one hand and put the umbrella up with the other. The light was ready to change by the time the umbrella got up, but out came about a dozen pairs of rubbers! She said: "Pretend I'm not with you, and she proceeded to cross the street!" All the people passing by were having a good laugh at me trying to pick up the rubbers, manage the umbrella and carry the shopping bags. When I got to the other side of the street I couldn't find her. She went into another store while I waited outside for her for over an hour. She always got bargains for the hospital...things that noone else could get because of her rapport with the business people. Sister Irenaeus was also very interested in hospital insurances. At BMW during
the time of the depression years, she had suggested to the presidents of the BMW a plan whereby the men working for BMW would pre-pa y for hospital care. This really was what is now known as the Blue Cross Insurance plan. Even now older men whom you would talk to would say that Sister Irenaeus really introduced the Blue Cross Insurance plan. She not only had a great influence on businessmen, but also on politicians. Sister Mary Daniel Havlak was a very organized individual. This was a great help to me as I'm not well organized. When I was put in charge of Nursing Services, she did all the bookkeeping and record organizing. Sister Mary Thelma Long was also very helpful after she was no longer physically able to work full time. She did a lot of things to make the girls' lives happier by arranging song festivals and other enjoyable activities. These things were all experiences during my younger years. There were other Sisters who came during the following years, but things were not as difficult then. The hospital had a new wing on. Sister Alphonse ( no longer in the Community) came as dietician. She was a tremendous dietician. She worked day and night. The kitchen was pretty well equipped, but not as they are now. We didn't have a responsible maintenance man, so therefore we had to do many of these maintenance type duties ourselves, like tending to the heat. You of course had to go to the basement to take care of the heat, which was in the original building. It was a rather dark, spooky ,place to go, and some people were afraid to go. I never was afraid, but nonetheless it was difficult not to have a responsible man to take care of the heat. Many nights, if the Sisters were busy with their nursing duties, Sister Irenaeus and Sister Mary Stephen were up taking care of these things.
SVP: The second tape for Sister Norberta McCabe is being taped on January 28, 1984 at Assumption Hall. Sister, I know you have some other things to say about your experiences at Beaver Falls, and some conventions you attended.
SNMcC: It might be as good a time as any to do this. On one of the conventions I was at with Sister Irenaeus at Atlantic City, she said we had to see the elephants before going home. Well,
I thought we were headed for the Zoo. Instead of that, when we got off the bus, in the middle of the street, there was a big, three story high elephant standing in the middle of the road. There were stores in it.. I suppose you entered these stores through the legs, but we didn't do this. I thought we were going to see a live elephant. I suppose that elephant is still there. Another time, Sister Irenaeus, Sister Mary Stephen, and I went on a shopping trip to Pittsburgh. We went into one of the department stores. Sister Irenaeus was deathly afraid of escalators. She didn't mind elevators. Well, we were up on one of the top floors and the elevators went out of commission, so we had to use the escalators. I had all the packages, so I got on and went all the way down. In the meantime, Sister Irenaeus was following a manager around to get help. She would pick up her skirts, tippy toe to the escalator, look, and back up. Sister Mary Stephen, to help the situation said: " Sister, I'll show you how easy it is. You just step on, stay put, and the steps go down." Sister Mary Stephen kept going up a few steps coaxing Sister Irenaeus to get on, but nothing doing! No way would she get on. Finally, the manager got on. He went through the same process as Sister Mary Stephen. He kept saying: "Come on Sister, get on, it's easy." After a while, Sister Mary Stephen was beating it up a down escalator. The manager was doing the same, but Sister Irenaeus would just back up. The people on the up escalator were killing themselves laughing. It looked like: "Up the down staircase!" So, finally the manager succeeded in running up to the top. He picked Sister Irenaeus up bodily and carried her downstairs! Sister Mary Stephen came down barely able to breathe after her ordeal. Sister had emphysema, so this really took its toll on her.
Another time, Sister Miriam Grace Solomon had come down to visit at Beaver Falls. We were going to take her back home to Seton Hill in our car. Sister Mary Thelma , a couple of visiting sisters plus Sister Miriam Grace Soloman and myself were in the car. One of the sisters was very much impressed with a handkerchief that Sister Mary Thelma had embroidered and also with some linen towels that she had done. They were impressed with the beautiful designs on the towels She had showed these to the sisters while she was visiting and was showing them all over again in the car. They were giving Sister Mary Thelma all kinds of praise. Sister Miriam Grace was sitting in the back saying nothing. Finally, came the deep voice of Sister Miriam Grace saying: "That's the trouble with life. Make a handkerchief, everybody swings the censer. Write a book, noone says anything. Woe is me. Nobody cares."
On another occasion, three of the sisters were going into Duquesne University to school. They traveled via train. It was in the winter, so it was very difficult to see out of the windows to identify your stop. The three sisters were: Sister Agnes Catherine Kearney, Sister John Francis Curry (later Sister Mildred Anne Curry), and Sister Mary Kieran Beyer. They would be coming home usually some time after six PM. Sister Mary Kieran was very dominant. When she said something, it was almost in the form of a command. Anyway, when they came to what was their stop, Sister John Francis got up to get off the train. Sister Agnes Catherine also got up to get off the train. In the meantime, the conductor had already called out the stop and was openin.g the doors. Sister Mary Kieran said: "Why are you two getting up? We haven't been on the train long enough! Sit down!" So, the two little soldiers (Sister John Francis and Sister Agnes Catherine) sat down. Sister Mary Kieran by this time had cleared off her window and saw the sign for Beaver Falls. She immediately called to the conductor to let them off. He replied by saying: "Lady, I can't just stop the train. You'll have to get off at the next stop." Sister Mary
Kieran asked the conductor when the next stop would be. To which he replied, Elias Ohio! Ohio, she said! Yes, Ohio! They of course had to call Sister Irenaeus because it was·so late. Then, we were all in the community room for recreation, wondering where our three sisters were. The phone rang, and Sister Irenaeus answered. It was the operator asking her if she would accept a call from Elias, Ohio. Ohio! I don't know anyone from Ohio. The Sisters in the community room could hear Sister Mary Kieran in the background trying to tell Sister Irenaeus what had happened. When Sister ·Irenaeus got off the phone, she said: "Well, our scholars are in Ohio!" Eventually, the scholars did get home and we got them dinner.
SNMc: On one occasion, when I was still a student nurse at Pittsburgh Hospital, Sister Amelia Foerster had charge of the priest Father Burns was the chaplain. He was very austere looking, but actually was a lot of fun. He and the bishop were great friends. Bishop Hugh Boyle was Bishop of Pittsburgh at the time, and he sometimes came to visit Father Burns at Pittsburgh Hospital. Sister Amelia always provided a little lunch for Father Burns, but when the Bishop came, she made it a little special. On this particular night, the Bishop was there visiting Father Burns. I was on duty that night, so Sister Amelia asked me to fix their lunch. She told me that she had bought special vienna sausage and bread to make them a sandwich. So, I cut the special bread, opened the can of sausage, put the sausage on the bread, made coffee and took it to Father and the Bishop. When I returned later to take care of the dishes, both Father Burns and Bishop Boyle raved about their sandwiches, saying they were the best sandwiches they had ever eaten.
Later when Sister Amelia saw me, she asked how I thought the Bishop and Father enjoyed their special sandwiches, and of course I told her how they had said they were the best they had ever eaten. She then asked me how I had prepared the sausage. I said: "What do you mean?" I opened the can and put them on the bread you had bought. She said: " Well, you fed them raw meat then, because you were supposed to boil the sausage!" We never heard that Father or the Bishop suffered any unfortunate results.
SVP: Sister Norberta, what can you tell me about how you found the spirit of the Sisters of Charity in your experiences over the years?
SNMcC: I saw that there were some very decisive people and people who expected this decisiveness. I had also heard about and seen pious looking, but quick on the stick sisters from other religious communities. As indicated earlier, I found the Sisters of Charity to be "real." There were no airs, just simple, authentic people. Every summer while I was in training, I got to know some of the school sisters because they lived with us in the Nurses Residence while attending summer school. These sisters were warm and friendly. They exhibited a great sense of rapport with each other and also with the nursing sisters.· In other words, I think the Sisters of Charity are great!
SNMcC: We left Provident Hospital in Beaver Falls in 1967.
I came to Jeannette Hospital in March of 1967. At that time, they needed social service work at Jeannette. I was asked to be the director of the auxiliary, which was composed of volunteers at the time. The-a uxiliary was really well established and well run. All I had to do was go to the meetings, socialize with the ladies, and give them help where it was needed. All I had to do was
go to the meetings, socialize with the ladies, and give them help where it was needed. I advocated that they should have a trained social worker, and in time this did happen. ( I couldn't understand the name of the woman who was hired for this position. ) I helped her out for a time. Then she took over. The doctors were fussing about their library which was not being taken care of and some of their books were missing, so Sister Geraldine Miller asked me to go down to the doctors' library and take care of it. There were a lot of other things that had to be done in the various offices. Some of these were done by volunteers who occasionally didn't show up, so I filled in there. After a while, the library was closed as it was not being used very much, even by the doctors. It was too small to be used for research. Computers had been bought to be used in the library. However, when the library closed, they were put in the record room which is where I worked until my retirement in 1982.
SVP: Sister, you've described a very active life in hospital work. Is there anything you would like to say about your retirement at Assumption Hall?
SNMcC: When it became the policy for us to retire at seventy, I was at Jeannette Hospital. I was seventy in February, so they let me work until the end of February. I didn't want to stay on living at Jeannette Hospital, so I moved to Assumption Hall in March. Some people said to me: "Well, how did you fit in at Assumption Hall?" I replied that it was no problem for me at all. In fact, I was enjoying not having to get up at four forty-five AM. It was nice to get some extra sleep.
Also, it was a relief not having to worry about being sure people were where they were supposed to be on the job. It gave me more leisure time to be with the Sisters, many whom I didn't know. I knew Sister Theophane Geary who was in charge of the stamp collection at the time. While at Jeannette, I sold some crib sets which put me in touch with Sister M. Clarissa Cunningham. One day I said to Sister Clarissa: "How would you like to have a helper?" At first there was that moment of silence. Then, she said: "Like, who?" So, when I got to Assumption, Sister Theophane had taken on another project, that of making pot holders, and she solicited my help.
Well, my first two looked like twisted vines, but I did get the hang of it and was kept quite busy helping Sister Theophane fill many orders. Really, the hobbies kept me quite busy. Sister Clarissa quite patiently taught me many things about making ceramics. I told the sisters that I wasn't an expert, but would help people with anything. I've had a very enjoyable time, and feel that I have good rapport with them all. I haven't been to the switchboard very many times. On my first experience there, a call came saying that Sister Sharp was ready to come home. I didn't know who Sister Sharp was anymore than the man in the moon. So, I said: "Well, this is Sister Doubt. You'll have to be more specific." They promptly told me it was Sister Mary Alfred.
Everything I do seems to have a funny twist to it. I've enjoyed being not just here, but every part of my Community life. I've seen a psychology which goes along with decisions that have to be made. I've appreciated the leadership we've had.....good listeners. Our "Alive Committee" has done much toward lessening bigotry, pornography, etc. It's mostly bigotry against Jews, Negroes, and Catholics. I think we are unique in that anyone can be listened to. If people listen, ideas will be picked up and perhaps acted upon. I feel that every sister should back our present day leaders in decisions they make regard religious life today. I find the present day regimentation much easier than in the past. For me, it is more conducive to my prayer life and my connectedness to God.
As said before, I think we need to be "real" people, and not pious dolls walking around. That's all
I have to say.
SVP: Sister Norberta, I want to thank you for sharing your experiences with us. I've enjoyed talking with you.
Sister Marie Arthur Hamilton: This oral history on Sister Norberta McCabe was transcribed from cassette tapes by me onto the computer. It was completed on March 1, 2011.
SVP: This is an oral history tape for the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill , Greensburg, PA. The interviewee is Sister Norberta McCabe and the interviewer is Sister Virginia Pascaretta. It is being conducted at Assumption Hall on April 20, 1983.
SNMcC: I was born in Pittsburgh. My father was Philip B. McCabe Senior. My mother was Nellie Farnan. They were married in St. Mary's Church on upper forty-fourth street. I have two sisters and a brother, all older than me. I was about nine years younger than my brother. My brother still lives in Pittsburgh. He has two daughters who are married. We lived in Garfield. I went to St. Lawrence's Grade School. My mother went to St. Mary' s school on Butler Street, which was staffed by the Sisters of Mercy. My father went to Duffs College. I don' t know about his early education. He became a Funeral Director. He also had a livery stable on Penn Avenue. He had carriages, and kept about twenty to twenty five horses. After finishing grade school at St. Lawrence, I went to Peabody High School. The Dominicans from Ohio taught at St. Lawrence. After graduation, I went into Nurses' training at Pittsburgh Hospital. I completed training in 1934. While attending Duquesne University for further classes, I worked as a staff nurse at Pittsburgh hospital and also did some private duty nursing. I entered the Community on September 8, 1935.
SVP: Sister Norberta, may I ask you what attracted you to the Sisters of Charity?
SNMcC: Well, I always wanted to be a sister and felt that they were the most sensible I had met. I had been in touch with the Ursulines, the Franciscans, and the Dominicans and felt that they were all terribly artificial. The only Sister of Charity I actually knew was Sister Mary Stephen Cusick who visited her family who lived across the street from us. In the Novitiate in 1936, we were being sent out on Mission. I was ill with rheumatic fever and was unable to go. As I wasn't finished with my education, Mother Rose Genevive Rodgers determined that I should do this. I was sent to Pittsburgh Hospital with the Registrar from Seton Hill to see a Miss Tobin, Dean of Nurses training at Duquesne to make arrangements for how many credits I would have to have, etc. It was decided that I needed twenty credits. The last three credits were attained by them permitting me to write a twenty thousand word paper on the "ISMS", which were rather new at that time. Meanwhile, when Miss Tobin arrived for the interview, she looked at us. We had our outside bonnets in our hand. She said: "What lovely bonnets you ladies are carrying!" The Registrar , Sister Eucharia
O' Hagan turned around and said: "Well, I'm going to put my head in it in a minute!" As soon as we got out of the Dean' s office, the two ofus killed ourselves laughing the whole way down the hill. Sister Eucharia was not usually so jovial and friendly, but her mother had been a patient in Pittsburgh Hospital when I was on duty there, so perhaps this eased the situation. Then I lived at Pittsburgh Hospital. We lived on the second floor of the old nurses' home on Penn Avenue. There were five ofus in thedormitory. I had to be in bed every night at nine o'clock but I did some substitute nursing along the way, so I couldn ' t study after nine o'clock. While I was waiting for other sisters who went to school at the same time... Sister Audrey was in Pharmacy and Sister Mary Virginia Herald was going to school. Sister Mary Virginia' s classes ended earlier. Sister Mary Audrey' s classes didn' t
end until six o'clock. Mine ended at three o'clock, so I went to the library from three o'clock until six o'clock and studied. After I completed my work at Duquesne University, I was missioned that Fall to Pittsburgh Hospital to be on night duty in the emergency room. Shortly after receiving this assignment, we received an SOS advising that Sister Philippa Henry was leaving Roselia Foundling and that a replacement was needed immediately. So, I went to Roselia Foundling. Sister Philippa introduced me to a woman there (I forget her name), said this is the Delivery Room. So long! There I was alone. I had never been alone with an anesthetic. I watched Sister Amelia Foerster administer an anesthetic at Pittsburgh Hospital in the Obstetric department, but I didn' t care for Obstetrics or Pediatrics in my own training experience. I knew that I would have to know something about administering an anesthetic, at least until Sister Amelia or someone else came. Dr. Lawrence Sullivan was the doctor who came to Roselia. He performed tonsillectomies. These tonsillectomies were not patients from Roselia. They were patients of his and perhaps of other doctors. He told me that you used Ethyl Chloride and dropped it into Ether, the anesthetic. It was still
:frightening for me, but nevertheless he showed me how to do it. Thank God, we did it and noone ever died on the table or anywhere. There are a lot of funny incidents that happened at the Foundling. Sister M. Charlotte Judge was the Sister Servant. She had new linoleum put down in the Nurses' Home. The Nurses' Home was two houses joined together. So, you could go through the hallway, through the laundry, through the living room in both houses and back to the laundry. So, it made a nice skating rink. One of the girls one time lent Sister M. Margaretta Bernlohr and Sister Ann Louise Sacco roller skates with big wooden rollers on. They put them on and we had a real circus. This occurred while we were having a party one evening. We invited Sister Charlotte to the party, but she declined because she said all she would do is worry about the new linoleum being damaged from the skating. She didn't come until it was time to eat. She examined the linoleum, but determined no damage had been done. Sister Rita Mary Leonard was there. She was in charge of the trays and kitchen at that time. She was the life of the party. Shortly after that, Sister Rita Mary had to go to the hospital and we were concerned that perhaps the party had something to do with it. This wasn't the case.
In 1940, I was sent to Provident Hospital in Beaver Falls. In Beaver Falls, Sister Irenaeus Joyce was the Sister Servant. Sister Mary Stephen Cusick was the Director of the School of Nursing, Sister Mary Thelma Long was her assistant, Sister Marie Stephen Jablonski was in charge of the Obstetrics Department, Sister Teresita Coleman was in charge of the Ex Ray Department and laboratory. She had a secular assistant. Sister Louise Clare Duffy took care of the chapel and did the linens and all that was involved with the chapel. She also helped out in the cafeteria and did a great many miscellaneous jobs. Sister M. Wilfrid Hirschinger was supervisor of the operating room. She replaced the Sister (she couldn' t remember her name) who was in charge before her. Mary Riley was the Pharmacist, but was replaced later on by Sister Virginia Marie Waudby when Sister completed her studies for the job. Anne Mutschler was the record librarian and Betsy Hanley was the Bookkeeper. They were the right hand helpers to Sister Irenaeus Joyce as far as administration was concerned. Sister Agnes Catherine Kearney was there as supervisor on one of the floors and was on night duty. When you were on night duty, you took over the switchboard, and gave
the report from there in the morning. In those days the shift was seven o'clock PM until seven o'clock AM. The three shifts had not come into reality yet. I believe it was in 1942 that Sister John Francis, who went back to her baptismal name, Sister Mildred Anne Curry, came. Sister Mary Kieran Beyer came for a short while, but returned to Pittsburgh. She came back some years later to replace Sister Irenaeus Joyce as Administrator. Sister Mary Jean Flaherty was here for some years in charge of the Obstetrics Department. Sister Mary Frederick Blatt came after some years to replace Sister Teresita Coleman in the laboratory. A secular was hired to replace Sister Teresita in the ex-ray department as Sister Mary Frederick was not qualified in this area. Years later when Sister Mary Stephen was finished being Director of the School of Nursing, Sister Alice Patricia Harvey came and took her place. She also had a secular assistant to replace Sister Mary Thelma Long who had been Sister Mary Stephen's assistant. Both Sister Mary Stephen and Sister Mary Thelma went to Assumption Hall. Sister Patricia Airhart worked in the office for several years. Sister Miriam Rita Kelsey also worked in the office for a few years. Sister Catherine Francis Kem and Sister Paul Gabriel Wilhere were there for just a short time. Sister Agnes Joseph Hines and Sister Agnes Teresa McLane were also there for a short time. I had been doing some teaching, working in Obstetrics and working night duty. When Sister Mary Kieran Beyer came to replace Sister Irenaeus Joyce as Administrator, she thought that Sister Mary Stephen Cusick had been in charge of the entire Nursing Service, but when Sister Alice Patricia came to be Director of the School of Nursing, I did the Nursing Service which was concerned with the graduate nurses and the other help. Sister Alice Patricia Harvey, of course, had the student nurses. I didn't mention that Sister Mary Daniel Havlak was at Provident Hospital for many years. She was instructor. She was in charge of the Obstetrics Department for half of the day. I took over the other half. Sister Mary Magdalene Foley was in charge of the admissions office. After she left, Sister Mary Ethel Beyer, who is no longer in the community, took over in the admissions office. The Board was very strong at Provident Hospital. The President of BMW, a Mr. Whiteman was head of the board when I first went to Beaver Falls. He was succeeded by Mr. Soyer. They were very interested in the hospital and did everything possible to take care of our needs, especially providing equipment. The BMW Company were the most interested group in Provident Hospital and they are still down there. There was also the Michael Baker Construction Company from Rochester. In 1955, when we had that tremendous snow, Michael Baker was a patient in the hospital. He had a broken leg. It was he who had patients brought to the hospital using his large equipment. Ambulances weren't able to move at that time down there and because of his connection with Sister Irenaeus Joyce and his respect for her, he did everything that he was possibly able to do to keep the hospital functioning. The Doctors also had deep respect for Sister Irenaeus and so did the board members. Sister Irenaeus had great rapport with the business people in Beaver Falls. For instance she would go food shopping with you. Of course she didn't like carrying the food home. She would send you off and tell you to go and enjoy seeing things, while she bargained with the merchant for some things which she always got. One day, she decided
she was going shopping. I was the youngest, so I went along to carry the bags. She had two very large umbrellas, the ones with the long spike on the end. Also, before leaving for
shopping this day, she shoved about a dozen pairs of rubbers down into the umbrella. She sent me up street to look at the card shop and other things while she shopped. When she came back and we were ready to leave, I was holding a couple of shopping bags and the umbrella. She said: "Oh, it looks like a storm is coming. We better hurry." We got out to the curb. Seventh Avenue was the widest street in town. It was wider than Penn Avenue in Pittsburgh by a longshot. Just as we stepped off the curb, the rain started. Oh dear, put up the umbrella, put up the umbrella! Dear (me) thinks that she can hold the shopping bags in one hand and put the umbrella up with the other. The light was ready to change by the time the umbrella got up, but out came about a dozen pairs of rubbers! She said: "Pretend I'm not with you, and she proceeded to cross the street!" All the people passing by were having a good laugh at me trying to pick up the rubbers, manage the umbrella and carry the shopping bags. When I got to the other side of the street I couldn't find her. She went into another store while I waited outside for her for over an hour. She always got bargains for the hospital...things that noone else could get because of her rapport with the business people. Sister Irenaeus was also very interested in hospital insurances. At BMW during
the time of the depression years, she had suggested to the presidents of the BMW a plan whereby the men working for BMW would pre-pa y for hospital care. This really was what is now known as the Blue Cross Insurance plan. Even now older men whom you would talk to would say that Sister Irenaeus really introduced the Blue Cross Insurance plan. She not only had a great influence on businessmen, but also on politicians. Sister Mary Daniel Havlak was a very organized individual. This was a great help to me as I'm not well organized. When I was put in charge of Nursing Services, she did all the bookkeeping and record organizing. Sister Mary Thelma Long was also very helpful after she was no longer physically able to work full time. She did a lot of things to make the girls' lives happier by arranging song festivals and other enjoyable activities. These things were all experiences during my younger years. There were other Sisters who came during the following years, but things were not as difficult then. The hospital had a new wing on. Sister Alphonse ( no longer in the Community) came as dietician. She was a tremendous dietician. She worked day and night. The kitchen was pretty well equipped, but not as they are now. We didn't have a responsible maintenance man, so therefore we had to do many of these maintenance type duties ourselves, like tending to the heat. You of course had to go to the basement to take care of the heat, which was in the original building. It was a rather dark, spooky ,place to go, and some people were afraid to go. I never was afraid, but nonetheless it was difficult not to have a responsible man to take care of the heat. Many nights, if the Sisters were busy with their nursing duties, Sister Irenaeus and Sister Mary Stephen were up taking care of these things.
SVP: The second tape for Sister Norberta McCabe is being taped on January 28, 1984 at Assumption Hall. Sister, I know you have some other things to say about your experiences at Beaver Falls, and some conventions you attended.
SNMcC: It might be as good a time as any to do this. On one of the conventions I was at with Sister Irenaeus at Atlantic City, she said we had to see the elephants before going home. Well,
I thought we were headed for the Zoo. Instead of that, when we got off the bus, in the middle of the street, there was a big, three story high elephant standing in the middle of the road. There were stores in it.. I suppose you entered these stores through the legs, but we didn't do this. I thought we were going to see a live elephant. I suppose that elephant is still there. Another time, Sister Irenaeus, Sister Mary Stephen, and I went on a shopping trip to Pittsburgh. We went into one of the department stores. Sister Irenaeus was deathly afraid of escalators. She didn't mind elevators. Well, we were up on one of the top floors and the elevators went out of commission, so we had to use the escalators. I had all the packages, so I got on and went all the way down. In the meantime, Sister Irenaeus was following a manager around to get help. She would pick up her skirts, tippy toe to the escalator, look, and back up. Sister Mary Stephen, to help the situation said: " Sister, I'll show you how easy it is. You just step on, stay put, and the steps go down." Sister Mary Stephen kept going up a few steps coaxing Sister Irenaeus to get on, but nothing doing! No way would she get on. Finally, the manager got on. He went through the same process as Sister Mary Stephen. He kept saying: "Come on Sister, get on, it's easy." After a while, Sister Mary Stephen was beating it up a down escalator. The manager was doing the same, but Sister Irenaeus would just back up. The people on the up escalator were killing themselves laughing. It looked like: "Up the down staircase!" So, finally the manager succeeded in running up to the top. He picked Sister Irenaeus up bodily and carried her downstairs! Sister Mary Stephen came down barely able to breathe after her ordeal. Sister had emphysema, so this really took its toll on her.
Another time, Sister Miriam Grace Solomon had come down to visit at Beaver Falls. We were going to take her back home to Seton Hill in our car. Sister Mary Thelma , a couple of visiting sisters plus Sister Miriam Grace Soloman and myself were in the car. One of the sisters was very much impressed with a handkerchief that Sister Mary Thelma had embroidered and also with some linen towels that she had done. They were impressed with the beautiful designs on the towels She had showed these to the sisters while she was visiting and was showing them all over again in the car. They were giving Sister Mary Thelma all kinds of praise. Sister Miriam Grace was sitting in the back saying nothing. Finally, came the deep voice of Sister Miriam Grace saying: "That's the trouble with life. Make a handkerchief, everybody swings the censer. Write a book, noone says anything. Woe is me. Nobody cares."
On another occasion, three of the sisters were going into Duquesne University to school. They traveled via train. It was in the winter, so it was very difficult to see out of the windows to identify your stop. The three sisters were: Sister Agnes Catherine Kearney, Sister John Francis Curry (later Sister Mildred Anne Curry), and Sister Mary Kieran Beyer. They would be coming home usually some time after six PM. Sister Mary Kieran was very dominant. When she said something, it was almost in the form of a command. Anyway, when they came to what was their stop, Sister John Francis got up to get off the train. Sister Agnes Catherine also got up to get off the train. In the meantime, the conductor had already called out the stop and was openin.g the doors. Sister Mary Kieran said: "Why are you two getting up? We haven't been on the train long enough! Sit down!" So, the two little soldiers (Sister John Francis and Sister Agnes Catherine) sat down. Sister Mary Kieran by this time had cleared off her window and saw the sign for Beaver Falls. She immediately called to the conductor to let them off. He replied by saying: "Lady, I can't just stop the train. You'll have to get off at the next stop." Sister Mary
Kieran asked the conductor when the next stop would be. To which he replied, Elias Ohio! Ohio, she said! Yes, Ohio! They of course had to call Sister Irenaeus because it was·so late. Then, we were all in the community room for recreation, wondering where our three sisters were. The phone rang, and Sister Irenaeus answered. It was the operator asking her if she would accept a call from Elias, Ohio. Ohio! I don't know anyone from Ohio. The Sisters in the community room could hear Sister Mary Kieran in the background trying to tell Sister Irenaeus what had happened. When Sister ·Irenaeus got off the phone, she said: "Well, our scholars are in Ohio!" Eventually, the scholars did get home and we got them dinner.
SNMc: On one occasion, when I was still a student nurse at Pittsburgh Hospital, Sister Amelia Foerster had charge of the priest Father Burns was the chaplain. He was very austere looking, but actually was a lot of fun. He and the bishop were great friends. Bishop Hugh Boyle was Bishop of Pittsburgh at the time, and he sometimes came to visit Father Burns at Pittsburgh Hospital. Sister Amelia always provided a little lunch for Father Burns, but when the Bishop came, she made it a little special. On this particular night, the Bishop was there visiting Father Burns. I was on duty that night, so Sister Amelia asked me to fix their lunch. She told me that she had bought special vienna sausage and bread to make them a sandwich. So, I cut the special bread, opened the can of sausage, put the sausage on the bread, made coffee and took it to Father and the Bishop. When I returned later to take care of the dishes, both Father Burns and Bishop Boyle raved about their sandwiches, saying they were the best sandwiches they had ever eaten.
Later when Sister Amelia saw me, she asked how I thought the Bishop and Father enjoyed their special sandwiches, and of course I told her how they had said they were the best they had ever eaten. She then asked me how I had prepared the sausage. I said: "What do you mean?" I opened the can and put them on the bread you had bought. She said: " Well, you fed them raw meat then, because you were supposed to boil the sausage!" We never heard that Father or the Bishop suffered any unfortunate results.
SVP: Sister Norberta, what can you tell me about how you found the spirit of the Sisters of Charity in your experiences over the years?
SNMcC: I saw that there were some very decisive people and people who expected this decisiveness. I had also heard about and seen pious looking, but quick on the stick sisters from other religious communities. As indicated earlier, I found the Sisters of Charity to be "real." There were no airs, just simple, authentic people. Every summer while I was in training, I got to know some of the school sisters because they lived with us in the Nurses Residence while attending summer school. These sisters were warm and friendly. They exhibited a great sense of rapport with each other and also with the nursing sisters.· In other words, I think the Sisters of Charity are great!
SNMcC: We left Provident Hospital in Beaver Falls in 1967.
I came to Jeannette Hospital in March of 1967. At that time, they needed social service work at Jeannette. I was asked to be the director of the auxiliary, which was composed of volunteers at the time. The-a uxiliary was really well established and well run. All I had to do was go to the meetings, socialize with the ladies, and give them help where it was needed. All I had to do was
go to the meetings, socialize with the ladies, and give them help where it was needed. I advocated that they should have a trained social worker, and in time this did happen. ( I couldn't understand the name of the woman who was hired for this position. ) I helped her out for a time. Then she took over. The doctors were fussing about their library which was not being taken care of and some of their books were missing, so Sister Geraldine Miller asked me to go down to the doctors' library and take care of it. There were a lot of other things that had to be done in the various offices. Some of these were done by volunteers who occasionally didn't show up, so I filled in there. After a while, the library was closed as it was not being used very much, even by the doctors. It was too small to be used for research. Computers had been bought to be used in the library. However, when the library closed, they were put in the record room which is where I worked until my retirement in 1982.
SVP: Sister, you've described a very active life in hospital work. Is there anything you would like to say about your retirement at Assumption Hall?
SNMcC: When it became the policy for us to retire at seventy, I was at Jeannette Hospital. I was seventy in February, so they let me work until the end of February. I didn't want to stay on living at Jeannette Hospital, so I moved to Assumption Hall in March. Some people said to me: "Well, how did you fit in at Assumption Hall?" I replied that it was no problem for me at all. In fact, I was enjoying not having to get up at four forty-five AM. It was nice to get some extra sleep.
Also, it was a relief not having to worry about being sure people were where they were supposed to be on the job. It gave me more leisure time to be with the Sisters, many whom I didn't know. I knew Sister Theophane Geary who was in charge of the stamp collection at the time. While at Jeannette, I sold some crib sets which put me in touch with Sister M. Clarissa Cunningham. One day I said to Sister Clarissa: "How would you like to have a helper?" At first there was that moment of silence. Then, she said: "Like, who?" So, when I got to Assumption, Sister Theophane had taken on another project, that of making pot holders, and she solicited my help.
Well, my first two looked like twisted vines, but I did get the hang of it and was kept quite busy helping Sister Theophane fill many orders. Really, the hobbies kept me quite busy. Sister Clarissa quite patiently taught me many things about making ceramics. I told the sisters that I wasn't an expert, but would help people with anything. I've had a very enjoyable time, and feel that I have good rapport with them all. I haven't been to the switchboard very many times. On my first experience there, a call came saying that Sister Sharp was ready to come home. I didn't know who Sister Sharp was anymore than the man in the moon. So, I said: "Well, this is Sister Doubt. You'll have to be more specific." They promptly told me it was Sister Mary Alfred.
Everything I do seems to have a funny twist to it. I've enjoyed being not just here, but every part of my Community life. I've seen a psychology which goes along with decisions that have to be made. I've appreciated the leadership we've had.....good listeners. Our "Alive Committee" has done much toward lessening bigotry, pornography, etc. It's mostly bigotry against Jews, Negroes, and Catholics. I think we are unique in that anyone can be listened to. If people listen, ideas will be picked up and perhaps acted upon. I feel that every sister should back our present day leaders in decisions they make regard religious life today. I find the present day regimentation much easier than in the past. For me, it is more conducive to my prayer life and my connectedness to God.
As said before, I think we need to be "real" people, and not pious dolls walking around. That's all
I have to say.
SVP: Sister Norberta, I want to thank you for sharing your experiences with us. I've enjoyed talking with you.
Sister Marie Arthur Hamilton: This oral history on Sister Norberta McCabe was transcribed from cassette tapes by me onto the computer. It was completed on March 1, 2011.
Original Format
Audio cassette tape
Duration
31:37
31:37
31:35
17:29
31:37
31:35
17:29
Bit Rate/Frequency
96kHz
Collection
Other Media
Citation
Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill, “Oral History: Sister M. Norberta McCabe,” Collections of the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill Archives, accessed April 25, 2024, https://scsharchives.com/items/show/693.
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