© 2021, Christian Cassidy
An abbreviated version of this story first appeared in my Winnipeg Real Estate News column of September 20, 2019. This is an expanded blog post to coincide with the demolition of the Misericordia Nurses Residence Building at 691 Wolseley Avenue.
When asked to name Wolseley's most famous tree, many would
immediately say the Wolseley Elm. The neighbourhood built up around
this tree to the point that it found itself in the middle of a roadway.
After a controversial battle that made news around North America, it was damaged
by an explosion in 1958 and removed in 1960.
There was another
tree in the neighbourhood that also found itself literally in the middle
of urban development. Unlike the Wolseley Elm, this tree won its 1961
fight with urban development and the Misericordia's School of Nursing
Building was redesigned around it. Sadly, in late 2019 it lost its
second round with hospital administration and was removed to make way
for a seniors home.
Here's the story of Sister Odilon and her tree.
1937 Loyola University yearbook
Anita Belanger was born and raised in Granby Quebec. After taking her final vows and the name Sister St. Obilon Belanger, she attended the school of nursing at Oak Park Hospital in Oak Park, Illinois and graduated in 1937. She went on to earn a Bachelor of Nursing degree from Loyola University, Chicago, Illinois.
After graduation, Sr. St. Odilon served for six years as head nurse on the medical and surgical units of Oak Park Hospital before obtaining a Master of Science in Nursing from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1951.
Sr. St. Odilon was then hired by Winnipeg's Misericordia General Hospital and served as its Director of Nursing Service and Faculty from 1952 to 1966. She also served on the board of the Manitoba Association of Registered Nurses, the Catholic Hospitals Association, and the Associated Hospitals of Manitoba.
According to the Misericordia Hospital's 60th anniversary booklet published in 1984, she often worked sixteen-hour days and "...had a warm and caring personality and never passed by a patient in need." It also noted that, "The hospital functioned well under her keen pride and leadership. As a leader she got involved in civic affairs."
The 'civic affairs' referred to in that passage was a high-profile campaign to save a tree.
Misericordia Hospital, undated. (Source: Peel's.)
The Misericordia General Hospital announced plans to build a new, six-storey, $600,000 residence for up to 135 nurses in December 1960. Prior to this, the only hospital accommodation for its 189 or so nurses was a series of houses along Sherbrook Street.
The space chosen for the new building was a hospital parking area and green space containing six trees located north of the hospital entrance to Wolseley Avenue. In the undated postcard image above, it is likely that cluster of trees that can be seen over the roof of the streetcar.
Once the plans for the building were approved by the province, tenders were advertised in late June and excavation of the foundation was underway in August.
Misericordia Hospital 60th Anniversary Book, 1984
Sr. St. Odilon was distressed seeing the trees felled to make way for construction. When it came to the final one, a giant elm in the middle of the lot, she went into action.
Inspired by the recent citizen's campaign to save the Wolseley Elm, Sr. St. Odilon protested to the hospital board, contacted the media, and wrote to mayor Juba to enlist his support. She told a Winnipeg Tribune reporter, "It hurts me to see a tree come down. To me, a tree is a symbol of life. I think I'd cry if they took that one down."
Not a lot is written about the internal battle with the hospital administration to save the tree, though it likely wanted to avoid a spat with the much-loved nun.
An example of her popularity came in December 1960. The feast day for St. Odilon, her patron saint, was January 1 and she wanted to have a gathering. Because many people were away on holiday at that time, she chose to have it on December 8th instead.
Despite there being only 200 or so nurses working at the hospital at the time, 500 people packed into the hospital auditorium according to one newspaper report. Student nurses sang carols and flowers were presented and other tribunes paid to Sr. St. Odilon.
August 12, 1961, Winnipeg Tribune
The hospital agreed to call in a tree specialist to determine if the tree was healthy enough to survive the construction around it. When it was confirmed that it could, the building plans were altered to insert a small courtyard between the residential tower and the assembly hall building. It was just large enough for the tree with a few meters on each side to allow water to reach its roots.
When informed of the victory in August 1961, Sr. St. Odilon told a reporter, "I have been fighting for the tree for a long time, The architects
and administration didn't think a tree would look too good in front of
the new building."
Western Canada Pictorial Index, Free Press Collection, No. 51532
The tree was sectioned off and in August the basement of the new structure was dug around it. When the tree appeared to be having health issues, its leaves were turning yellow, Sr. Odilon felt that proper care wasn't being taken to save it and again campaigned to save it.
Alex Gudziak, a horticultural technician at the University of Manitoba, visited the site in mid-August to give it a check-up. He felt that the roots needed to be better shrouded to protect them from damage and drying out and warned that because so many of the roots were out of the ground, the tree needed constant watering or it would die in a matter of "two or three weeks".
Under the glare of media attention, the contractor agreed to the changes and the tree survived construction.
Source: Number 10 Architectural Group
Though the assembly hall was in use in the summer of 1963, the nurses residence didn't officially open until April 1964.
The final price tag was $766,000, some of that extra cost no doubt due to the redrawing of the architect's plans and having to build around the tree.
Sr. St. Odilon and her now somewhat misshapen tree were a focus of the opening ceremony with the guest speakers, including premier Roblin and mayor Juba, mentioning it in their comments. She also received an award from the city that year for her interest in civic affairs.
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Winnipeg Tribune Personalities Collection, U of M Library and Archives
Sister St. Odilon returned to the U. S. to work in 1966, first in New York and then back to Oak Park, Illinois.
In 1975, she came back to the city for a school reunion and when asked by a Tribune reporter about her feelings when she saw the tree, she replied, "I was very happy to see (the tree). I have no regrets, but it took a lot of work."
In her honour, the Misericordia’s School of Nursing library was named the Sister St. Odilon Library.
Not a lot is known about Sr. St. Odilon's later life. A 1993 Val Werier column mentioned that she was reaching 90 years of age, retired, and living in Montreal. The Canadian Nurses Association Memorial Book gives her year of death as 1998.
Source: MisericordiaTerrace.ca
Nearly 60 years after Sr. St. Odilon won her fight to save the tree, it was under threat from another development.
The Misericordia Health Centre, as it is now known, announced in 2019 that it would soon start construction on a ten-storey long-term care home called Misericordia Terrace on the site of the nurses residence. Demolition of the old building began on August 6, 2020.
What about Sr. St. Odilon's tree?
At the time of writing the original column back in September 2019, a hospital spokesperson told me that wood from the tree will be salvaged and that they were exploring options to create a wood installation, furniture or some kind of art for the new building with it.
The hospital had also engaged an arborist to "clone" the tree so that a new one could be planted in the home's garden.
Misericordia Terrace is slated to open in 2023.
April 28, 1993, Winnipeg Free Press
See my other tree-related posts and columns here.
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