A Centenarian Celebration

Louise Bailey celebrated her 100th birthday with members of the Memorial Retirees Club, complete with a potluck lunch, birthday cake and ice cream, and lots of pictures: “I’ve never had so many pictures taken all the days of my life!”

Louise Bailey

At age 100, Memorial Hospital retiree Louise Bailey is clear about what makes her tick: faith, family and friends. Celebrating her centennial birthday surrounded by 38 members of the Memorial Retirees Club during the group’s October meeting, Louise reflected on her life and her 25-year career as a nurse’s aide.

Louise and her first husband made South Bend their home in the late 1940s after moving from Arkansas. She has three daughters, 10 grandchildren and “oodles” of great-grandchildren. Quick to share a smile and hearty laugh, one gets the feeling that Louise never met a stranger, a quality that surely made her a favorite among patients and staff.

“I enjoyed every bit of working to help people get better,” Louise says. She worked on the third floor of the hospital and retired in 1978 from the Memorial Family Practice Residency Program. After she retired, she worked for several years as a nurse’s aide at Perley Elementary School.

And for anyone seeking the prescription for a long, happy life, Louise readily dispenses her own formula: “Just thank God for all His goodness, say a lot of prayers, and try to treat everybody right.”