A volunteer logging over 6,000 hours at the Sacred Heart campus of St. Luke’s Hospital in Allentown, Grace Carr has become a local celebrity, receiving fan mail from all over the country. After turning 97 years old last July 4, she appeared in both local and national media stories, and even gained the attention of Bishop Alfred Schlert of the Diocese of Allentown.
Carr’s story inspired the Bishop to write a personal letter thanking her for her many years of service to those in need. A parishioner of the Cathedral of St. Catharine of Siena, Allentown for the past six decades, the Bishop’s letter meant a lot to Carr.
She said she enjoys being present when Bishop Schlert celebrates special Masses at the Cathedral, and she’s always found him “to be very personable,” even thoughtfully complimenting her after Mass on occasion for decorative pins she wears on her lapel.
She was born Grace Malloy in Freeland, in the coal region of Luzerne County. She remembers wanting to be a nurse since age 5, recalling how she used to bandage and care for her dolls and a younger brother, “which he wasn’t too happy about,” she said.
After graduating from St. Ann’s High School in Freeland at age 17, she traveled 60 miles by train to Allentown to study nursing at Sacred Heart Hospital during World War II in 1944. The hospital, founded in 1912 during a diphtheria epidemic, and its nursing school were run by the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart.
Carr attended nursing school at the hospital and lived on-site in a home for nurses. Students attended classes most of the day, and then spent time on the hospital floors learning how to make beds, take patient temperatures, and help keep patients comfortable.
During her schooling, she served as a Nurse Cadet, a government trainee role within the U.S. Army to ensure there were no shortages of nurses here at home due to the war. She was paid $15 a month in her first year, $20 a month her second year and $30 a month in her final year.
“We thought we were rich,” said Carr of the reaction she and her fellow Nurse Cadets had to their earnings in the final year. The government also paid their tuition to the School of Nursing, on the condition that they work for a public organization like Sacred Heart.
In 1947, her then boyfriend, Edward Carr, came home from serving in the military, and they were married.
That same year, she graduated from nursing school and started working at Sacred Heart Hospital on the night shift, which started at 11 p.m. She did this for more than 20 years while raising four daughters and a son.
“I got very little sleep at the time, and I think, how did I do all of that?” she said. She credits many small naps and her love of nursing.
All five of Carr’s children, as well as most of her 12 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren, were born at Sacred Heart, which joined St. Luke’s Hospital in 2018.
Carr even cared for one infant boy born 78 years ago at Sacred Heart, whose mother was one of Carr’s fellow nurses. He grew up to marry Carr’s oldest daughter, Janet. The couple met at a local Knights of Columbus social club.
Carr passed on her love of nursing to two younger sisters who followed her into the nursing field, and two of her daughters.
She retired from nursing at age 62 to take care of her ailing husband and started volunteering in 1993 after he passed away.
She volunteers on Wednesdays, taking specimens to the lab, escorting patients to tests and procedures, and delivering newspapers and flowers to patients, who appreciate her caring and assistance.
Carr credits her Catholic faith for her longevity, feeling a special closeness to the Blessed Virgin Mary, as well as “keeping busy” through her volunteer work at the hospital and caring for her home and gardening.
