Minnie Hamilton 1900-1981
Minnie Hamilton is a name synonymous with Health Care in Calhoun County. But not only for the Health facility that bears her name. The generation who understands the historical facts regarding the name, Minnie Blanche Hamilton, is an aging population that doesn’t always take the time to explain why a person’s contribution to their community can make an eternal difference. In the earlier days of the 1900’s, from the year 1933, Minnie Hamilton was familiar to children as the school nurse.
The adults who remember her, say her name with great honor and respect, while telling the tales of the fear she created in them as the “shot lady.”
During the Molasses Festival 2024 I met Mrs. Anne Swiger. The Great Niece of Minnie Hamilton who had returned to the County where her Aunt Minnie made such an impact. Anne told Ridgeview that the Minnie Hamilton that she knew was a “card playing Cracker Jack,” not a nurse.
With my introduction to Anne by local musician Rick Falls, the stories began to flow of how Minnie traveled the dirt roads of Calhoun County. Rick recalled the sound of her car, a green Rambler, that became so familiar to the children they’d run when they heard the sound. Rick laughed when he said that the “Rush boys would hit the hills and we wouldn’t see them for 3 or 4 days!” He said it got to the point that she’d park and walk a mile in so she could catch them off guard to make sure every child received their vaccinations. She traveled to 50 or more one room schools to provide typhoid, small pox and diphtheria immunizations. It is said of her that she single handily eradicated polio in Calhoun County.
Minnie Hamilton not only provided immunizations but prenatal care and helped with childbirth as well. She taught prevention in churches, stores and homes. With health care lacking to the rural communities, Minnie took the burden on to make sure her community was covered.
In 1938 Minnie answered a call from the federal government to aid in the health of migrant field workers. During the World War II era she worked from Exmore, Virginia to Homestead, Florida. Telling later that she had heard a “beaconing voice” telling her to return to Calhoun County in 1947. Minnie Hamilton retired at the age of 72 and passed away at the age of 81 in 1981.
The story of Minnie Hamilton and many others who have contributed to the lives of people in Calhoun County should be shared with a new generation who need to understand that communities don’t just spring up from out of the earth, but they spring up from the seeds that are sown by our ancestors, watered by their children and tended to by their grandchildren.
If you’d like to remind us of someone who made a difference in the lives of Calhoun County, send your information to talk2shari@gmail.com or call me at (304)377-6036.
