Foley, Ala. – (OBA) – Dozens of people born at Holmes Memorial Hospital came back to Foley on Sunday, April 27. They gathered at the Holmes Medical Museum to celebrate Baldwin County’s first hospital. The hospital helped deliver about 300 babies between 1936 and 1958. Some descendants also joined the special reunion.

The hospital was located on the second floor of a building at Laurel Avenue and McKenzie Street. It was opened by Dr. W.C. “Buddy” Holmes and his wife, Philomene, a nurse. They cared for many patients in Baldwin County for over 20 years.

Many of the guests were known as “Holmes babies.” One of them, Tim Russell, is a former Foley mayor and Baldwin County probate judge.

“So many of you have come back,” Russell told the crowd. “That shows your love for this hospital and your love for the city of Foley. We can't thank you enough.”

He said the Holmes family played a major role in building the Foley community. “This was Baldwin County’s first hospital,” he said. “The county would not be the same without them.”

Harold Leon Givens of Silverhill was born at the hospital in 1942. As a child, he returned after an accident injured his fingers.

He remembered Philomene Holmes looking over his injuries. “She looked at me and said, ‘We’re going to have to take those fingers off,’” Givens said.

“I was tongue-tied and couldn’t talk, but I finally said, ‘Mrs. Holmes, I don't want my fingers cut off, the rest of the fingers,’” he added.

She warned that leaving the damaged fingers could cause problems. Givens said, “Well, I do have trouble, but I can put up with trouble because I’ve still got my fingers.”

His family didn’t have much money back then. To pay the hospital bill, his father gave the Holmeses chickens, eggs, and vegetables from the garden.