Enduring legacy: Volunteers at King's Daughters and Sons mark 125 years
Dec. 16—ASHLAND — Before there was King's Daughters Hospital, there was the Whatsoever Circle, a group of 10 Ashland women who organized as the International Order of King's Daughters, an organization intended to care for others.
This year, the Whatsoever Circle marks 125 years of serving the community, which includes bringing a hospital to the 6,000-resident town of Ashland and starting King's Daughters and Sons Home.
"The first hospital had three rooms over a drug store on 16th Street," Loretta Payne, a Whatsoever Circle volunteer, wrote in a history of the home. "On July 6, 1899, King's Daughters Hospital was incorporated by the circle and was then relocated to 18th Street and Greenup, where it operated for seven years."
By 1906, the hospital needed more space, so it purchased and moved to a nine-room house on Winchester Avenue, which it also quickly outgrew.
The next move was in 1915. "With the help of the Boyd County Medical Society, the Whatsoever Circle started a building fund. ...the circle had acquired a piece of property at 22nd and Lexington and had a building fund of $11,770. By March 1916, the fund had grown to $50,000 in pledges for a permanent hospital," Payne wrote, noting the circle's funds were earned through bake sales, sponsoring Chautaugua shows and lectures, working booths at the county fair and personal donations. The hospital, a two-story brick with 50 hospital beds, opened in November 1917 and cost $100,000.
The circle sold the hospital in 1942 to the Ashland Hospital Board of Incorporators for $1, with an agreement that allowed the circle to be represented on the corporation's board.
The circle's next big project was creating a home now known as King's Daughters and Sons Home, an assisted living facility on Bath Avenue.
But its first location was on Montgomery Avenue; it moved to its current location because the demand was great and expansion was needed.
Built in 1964 at a cost of $350,000, King's Daughters and Sons Home provides personal care, with 36 private rooms, full-service kitchen and dining facility, 24-hour medical supervision, laundry service and housekeeping, Payne wrote.
As population grew and buildings were expanded, the number of volunteers also grew.
"In the time since the original home was built, the Whatsoever Circle has been joined by additional groups of volunteers: The Ruby Means Circle joined in 1948, followed by the Whatsoever No. 2 Circle in 1972," she wrote.
Executive Director Steve Perry attributes not only the start of the hospital and the home, but the continued success of the home, to a strong volunteer system.
"From 1964, it's a long time for the facility to survive," Perry said. "It's all because of the dedication of the volunteers. If it weren't for the volunteers, it wouldn't be open and it wouldn't be a personal care home."
Volunteers cover the front desk and help any residents having some mobility issues; although all residents must be ambulatory, some need help from time to time. "We just try to do the little things that make life a little easier for them," Payne said.
(606) 326-2661 — lward@dailyindependent.com
