Ruth Wixon: A Life of Care in Golden’s Early Hospitals
Long before modern hospitals and specialized nursing degrees, care in Golden, BC was delivered by women like Ruth Wixon—resourceful, devoted, and deeply woven into the fabric of the community. Though she may not have held formal credentials by today’s standards, Ruth was, in every sense, a nurse.
Born at Golden General Hospital in 1917, Ruth was delivered by Dr. Ewart—a physician she would later work alongside. “After I started working there in 1933, as a girl of 16,” she recalled with a smile, “he would often remind me that he had delivered me. He’d say I gave him a big grin.”
A Nurse by Any Measure
Ruth began her career on call, filling in when the hospital’s two nurses—the Matron and her assistant—took their annual six-week vacation. By 1942, she was hired full-time. But nursing in those days was a far cry from the specialized roles we see today. “When a nurse was on, she was really on,” Ruth explained. “We had to sleep at the hospital.”
Her duties were wide-ranging: giving injections, taking blood pressure, cleaning floors, developing X-rays, and even scrubbing the men’s ward. “We were expected to do everything,” she said. “Cleaning, nursing, X-rays, washing the floors…” She even trained in Calgary to take and develop X-rays, adding another skill to her already full plate.
Ruth’s work was part of a broader tradition. “Not only was my mother a nurse,” she said, “but several of my cousins in England are nurses too.” Her mother hailed from Oxfordshire, while her father, Arthur George Wixon, arrived in Golden in 1894 to work as an engineer on the steam-driven sternwheelers that once plied the Columbia River.
A Home with History
Ruth lived in a house with its own ties to Golden’s medical past it was once home to Dr. Taylor, one of Golden’s earliest physicians. The home still bore genteel touches: a carved wooden archway between the kitchen and living room, and a quiet charm that echoed its storied past.
Country Doctors and Community Care
Ruth’s memories paint a vivid picture of rural medicine before Medicare. “Golden’s was a real country hospital with real country doctors,” she said. One story stands out: a woman south of town, nearing the end of her pregnancy, would have Dr. Ewart sleep behind her stove so he’d be close when the time came. Payment was often in kind. “He’d say, ‘When you butcher, just give me a hindquarter and we’ll call it square.’” The meat usually went to the hospital, not to the doctor himself.
Golden’s Early Hospitals
Ruth also shared insights into Golden’s early medical facilities. The first hospital stood near what is now the Husky Restaurant and gravel pit. Later, two new buildings were constructed side by side—one for maternity, the other for general care. “The nurses had to travel back and forth between them,” she remembered. “They both had beautifully landscaped grounds.”
A Legacy of Care
Though Ruth eventually left nursing to work as a telephone operator for B.C. Tel, her legacy lives on in the stories of the many babies she helped deliver and the countless patients she cared for. One of the first births she witnessed was that of Ethel Drown—now Ethel Wenzoski—marking the beginning of a long and meaningful career.
Ruth Wixon’s story is a testament to the heart and resilience of early healthcare workers in Golden. Her life reminds us that nursing has always been about more than credentials—it’s about compassion, commitment, and community.