Join us on Monday, May 6th for an open house at the JRMC Gift Shoppe located in near the main entrance of the hospital. Enjoy new items, gifts and food samples. All funds raised in the Gift Shoppe are donated back to JRMC.
Bring a non-perishable food item and your name will be placed in a drawing for door prizes. All donated goods will go to the Jamestown Food Bank.
Jamestown Regional Medical Center (JRMC) Auxiliary will hold its annual Holiday Magic fundraiser Friday, November 9th, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. and Saturday, November 10th, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. Items for sale will include ornaments, home and office décor, stocking stuffers and gifts for everyone on your list.
“Holiday Magic is our largest annual event that the Auxiliary holds every year and is a great time to start your Christmas shopping,” said Ginne Hendrickson, JRMC gift shoppe manager.
The Christmas bazaar will be located on the lower level of JRMC next to the cafeteria. All proceeds from the event will go towards the JRMC Auxiliary.
About the JRMC Auxiliary
JRMC Auxiliary was formed in 1973 by Dorothy Chouinard, who is still an active member. The 72 member Auxiliary provides services and support for the hospital through financial donations and volunteer services. The funds raised by the Auxiliary provide materials back to the hospital; these have included baby burp cloths, surgery pillows and grab bars.
John and Leah Jerke, who grew up and spent most of their lives in the Gackle area, have made a major impact on Jamestown Regional Medical Center with a bequest of $100,000.
John Jerke passed away in August 2007 and Leah in September 2011. JRMC’s Radiology Department will be named in their honor.
At the time of John’s death, the couple had been married 66 years. Their niece Anna Schneck and her husband Alfred, who now live in Sedona, Ariz., shared their story:
John was a farmer and Leah taught school, beginning in one-room schools in the 1930s. In the 1950s she began teaching special education classes in neighboring Lehr. She retired from teaching in 1975.
John loved to fish, play cards and poker, go to casinos and cook. During the winters, when he wasn’t busy farming, he had dinner ready for his wife every night when she came home from school.
Each fall, after hosting Minneapolis hunters on their farm acreage, John loved to can the ducks, geese and pheasants they gave him.
“They never had any children,” recalls Anna, “so they treated us like their children, along with other nephews and nieces.”
The Jerkes wintered in Mesa, Ariz., for more than 20 years. They loved playing pinochle with other snowbirds and looked forward to going to pick-your-own citrus orchards, where they could choose their own fruit for 5 cents a pound. John planted his own citrus trees, too – grapefruit, lemon, orange and mandarin orange – at their Arizona home. “Once a farmer, always a farmer,” his wife would quip.
After selling the Arizona property in 2004, they moved back to the farm full-time.
“They both loved to dance. That’s how they met,” Anna says. “Over the years they also traveled extensively – Europe, Scandinavia, Germany, Russia, Australia and New Zealand. They enjoyed life very much.
Leah loved reading, but hated cooking. She took up painting after she retired.
Meanwhile John spent free hours building storage sheds and dog houses, as well as building and remodeling houses in the Gackle area.
John was widely known as a good farmer and a hard worker. He was very proud of the farm where they lived their entire married lives, which he had purchased in 1940. He kept it immaculately clean.
His niece and nephew say he was very conservative but also generous. Though he’d only attended school through eighth grade, he was an avid reader with a tremendous memory.
Averse to risk, he invested his money safely. He and Leah chose Jamestown Regional Medical Center for their bequest. “They had used it throughout the years, and much more later in life,” Anna explains. “They wanted to help secure its future.
Photo: John and Leah Jerke on their 50th anniversary in 1991.
Jan Barnes, Foundation Director
Jamestown Regional Medical Center Foundation
http://www.jamestownhospital.com/getpage.php?name=foundation
Jamestown Regional Medical Center 