Lutheran General's first baby came three weeks after hospital opened

Among the dignitaries on hand Sunday to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Advocate Lutheran General Hospital, was a homemaker and mother from Grayslake.

Mary Beth Bank played a prominent role when the hospital opened, and one that continues to stay with her throughout her life: she was the first baby born there.

"Yes," she says with a laugh, "my 15 minutes of fame came very early in life."

Actually, she was born three weeks after the hospital opened, on Jan. 20, 1960. She was the fourth of Bill and Dolly Fife's six children, who lived in Des Plaines at the time.

Her father vividly recalls the fateful night, when he and his wife traveled to the new hospital for the birth of their child, which, ironically, had opened on Christmas Eve.

"They hadn't even opened the maternity ward yet, we were the first ones," says Bill Fife, now living in Hoffman Estates. "It was kind of a different experience, because we were the only ones there.

"I was a nervous wreck in the waiting room," he adds. "There was no one else to talk to; I felt kind of isolated."

Mary Beth was the only one in the newborn nursery and remained the center of the nurses' attention for next few days, before the next infant arrived.

There were few slow days after that, as hospital officials report 1,138 maternity cases were treated that first year. Now they average more than 3,600 new babies per year.

Colette Urban, hospital spokeswoman, points out that back in 1959, the total cost of the 326-bed facility, including land and a building for a School of Nursing, was $7.6 million.

Today, Advocate Lutheran General Hospital is a 645-bed teaching, research and referral hospital, Level I trauma center, and one of the largest hospitals in the Chicago area.

Fife recalls that the family received a lot of media attention at the time as well as many gifts, much like the firstborn infants receive on New Year's Day.

"I remember the hospital gave us a $25 gift certificate, which was a lot of money in those days," Fife adds.

Mary Beth returned on her first birthday for a party thrown by the hospital. They honored again her on her 15th, giving her a dozen roses.

She and her mother returned seven years ago when the hospital recognized the doctor who delivered her. Dr. Frank Ferraiolo passed away in 2002, but a plaque in his memory hangs on the Heritage Wall, recognizing his service to the hospital and the thousands of babies he brought into this world.

But on Sunday, the mood was more solemn, as hospital officials recognized 50 years of faith and healing.

If the mood was reverent then, it has been treated somewhat lighter among Bank and her family.

"My father loves to tell the story," Bank said. "When I brought my husband home to meet the family he and I had a bet on how soon my father would bring it up. I said within the first hour for sure. It came up within a half-hour."

Fife takes pride in their little place in the hospital's history. After all, he says, her good start served her well.

Bank went onto become a teacher, working in North Chicago and later Gurnee, before staying home to raise her two children.

Her own youngsters are both adopted, and she and her husband - and her parents - attended classes at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital on their open adoptions.

"I think it's fitting," Bank says, "that I started my own family at Lutheran General, too."