Keep Pushing, Keep Working, Keep Hoping: Saying Goodbye to the McCurdy Medical Clinic Building

For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord,

plans for your welfare (good) and not for harm,

to give you a future with hope. – Jeremiah 29:11

Since its beginning in October 1912, what is now McCurdy Ministries has been blessed by women and men who have answered God’s call to serve in beautiful Northern New Mexico and who sought God’s guidance for how best to share the light of Jesus with the good people who live here.

On our campus (starting in 1915), buildings were erected to meet needs as they arose. Over the years, however, as needs for ministries changed, those leaders sent by God, praying for wisdom to use resources wisely, often repurposed buildings for more current ministries.

It became clear in the 1940’s that there was need for medical care at the McCurdy Mission, and a clinic was built and staffed by nurses. In September 1946, Dr. Sam Ziegler and his wife, Isabel, arrived. Sam had just returned to the U.S. from running MASH units during WWII. Sam wrote, “The clinic building hospital soon became a very busy place, with ill McCurdy students and patients from the community.” He shared stories of delivering babies and of emergency surgeries, with Isabel and missionary nurse, Lillian Moffatt, as helpers. Within a year or so, it was clear that a larger hospital was needed, and in 1948, a large mission hospital was built on the west side of Española. Today, that hospital is a full-service, highly rated public hospital.

Since 1948, the clinic building has been used in many ways: as a health clinic for McCurdy students, site of the Title I reading program, classrooms for middle school students, the high school yearbook lab (complete with darkroom), and the elementary library. Its most significant use was as the home for the McCurdy School of Licensed Practical Nursing (LPS) from 1968-1984, which was one of the first and largest post-secondary education options in the area. When Northern New Mexico Community College was established, the McCurdy LPN program was given to the college.

Soon, our beloved clinic which has served many purposes in ministry will be decommissioned and demolished. God has had and has new plans for good, and He promises a future with hope.

May each of you know the good plans God has for you and be assured of a hope-filled future.

Dee Dee Heffner

McCurdy Board of Trustees

From Tijeras, New Mexico