All in the Family
Wilcox Medical Center is deeply rooted on Kaua‘i and
in the history of the Wilcox family.
“OFTENTIMES
WE’LL MEET
PEOPLE WHO
ASK ‘HOW LONG HAVE
YOU BEEN HERE [on
Kaua‘i]?,’ said Sam Pratt, a
member of the Wilcox family
and president of the Grove
Farm Museum. “Then when
I begin to tell the story, they
find it interesting to meet
someone who is actually part
of that. It’s fun to talk about.”
from in nursing in 1911,”
Dr. Goodale said. “[When
I was applying], one of
the questions on the
Johns Hopkins University
application was ‘Has
a relative been here?’
and I put ‘no.’ I didn't
know. Then after I got
accepted and she found
out, she was thrilled.”
Mabel passed away
while Dr. Goodale was
in college, but he’d carry
on the family legacy at
the medical center she
helped create.
The story begins with George
Wilcox descendant Kathy Richardson with the G.N. Wilcox Trust plaque.
Norton Wilcox who was the
first Wilcox born in Hawai‘i in
of $200,000. George’s niece, Mabel, was
1839. His parents, Lucy and Abner, were
pivotal in establishing the facility. She was
Dr. Goodale’s sister, Kathy Richardson,
missionary school teachers who settled
a nurse who served with the Red Cross
also found her place at Wilcox Medical
in Hanalei. “They found a way to stay
during World War I before returning
Center. She ran the gift shop from
here and help the community,” Sam said.
home with a passion to improve health
1986 to 2014. “We made it a gift shop
care for everyone in Hawai‘i.
that carried things that nobody else
Uncle George, as he’s fondly referred to
on Kaua‘i did,” Kathy said. “We went
by the family, grew up speaking Hawaiian
Mabel was the great aunt of Dr. Richard
out of our way to create a unique
and English. His commitment to those
Goodale who practiced with the Kaua‘i
shop with everything from clothing to
around him would set an example for
Medical Clinic for 33 years. The clinic is
artwork, homemade goods and baby
generations to come. The successful
part of what is known today as Wilcox
things.” And every purchase added
entrepreneur established a trust fund to
Health. He knew she was also a pioneer
up to support patient care. “Every
help advance public health. Then after
in local medicine, but he didn’t realize
year between the gift shop and thrift
his death, George’s family decided to
how closely he was following in her
shop, we would give over $100,000
build a hospital in his honor. The 94-bed
footsteps. “It happened that the college
to the hospital to purchase needed
G.N. Wilcox Memorial Hospital opened
I went to was the college she graduated
equipment.”
in 1938, funded by the family trust’s gift
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