lPARA dPAR@ ` ΣTEXT ` ╓Dempsey, Sister Mary Joseph
1856╨1939
hospital administrator
Born on May 14, 1856, in Salamanca, New York, Julia Dempsey grew up there and on a farm near Rochester, Minnesota. After finishing local school she entered the Third Order Regular of St. Francis of the Congregation of Our Lady of Lourdes in August 1878, taking the name Sister Mary Joseph. She taught school in various places over the next several years and was in Ashland, Kentucky, when she was called back to Rochester in 1889 to help staff the new St. Mary╒s Hospital, built by her order in the wake of a disastrous tornado. The hospital medical staff consisted of Dr. William W. Mayo and his two sons, Charles H. and William J. Mayo. Sister Joseph studied nursing under a local nurse and in 1890 became Dr. William J. Mayo╒s first surgical assistant, a post she held until 1915. In that work she displayed rare skill and judgment. In September 1892 she was also appointed superintendent of St. Mary╒s Hospital, a task she was to fill for the rest of her life. During that nearly 40 years the hospital underwent six major expansions, growing from 45 to 600 beds and in time incorporating the most modern and efficient facilities, particularly for surgery. In 1906 she opened St. Mary╒s Hospital School for Nurses, which trained both sisters and laywomen. In 1915 she helped organize the Catholic Hospital Association of the United States and Canada and was chosen its first vice-president. In addition to her work at St. Mary╒s, her remarkable administrative and medical skills contributed greatly to the success of the Mayo brothers in establishing their world famous surgical practice and their Mayo Clinic. Sister Joseph died in Rochester, Minnesota, on March 29, 1939.
