For over 50 years Anna Grider—or the “the little general” as she is often called by her classmates—has worked to preserve the bonds that she and the other members of the class of 1958 forged in nursing school at Louisville General Hospital. Anna’s motherly nature and her ability to keep everyone connected over the years earned her the nickname.

With the help of Helen Cruce, Jewell (Hurt) Morgan and other classmates, Grider has been organizing reunions every five years for the past 50 years. At each gathering the women are always amazed at how far people travel in order to attend.

When the group started nursing school in 1955, they were young women, many of whom had grown up in rural areas and had never traveled beyond the small towns where they grew up. In the 1950s nursing students were required to live in dormitories connected to the hospital. Therefore, for them, attending nursing school meant leaving home to live in a new unfamiliar place. A bit of homesickness and their common rural roots quickly bonded these young women together, and over the course of their time in school, a unique camaraderie developed. They were like a family.

Nursing school was both academically and physically demanding. In addition to rigorous course work, students staffed the hospital and worked regular 40-hour work weeks. In 1955 much of the equipment used in hospitals today did not exist. There were no call buttons, the hospital did not have air conditioning, and hospital beds had manual cranks. Grider, Morgan and Cruce all recall how hard it was to balance all that was expected of them. It was the support and friendship of classmates and faculty that got them through and has kept them connected for all these years.

Grider says as long as she is able, she will continue to gather her classmates to celebrate their friendship and their careers as nurses.

In 1979 the University of Louisville took over the operation of the 64-year-old Louisville General Hospital and renamed it University Hospital. That year, the university also opened the School of Nursing; graduates of LGH are considered alumni of the UofL School of Nursing.