Mollie Alfred

Mollie Alfred, RN, age 97, nee Amalia Leona Bombach, was born in Lorain, Ohio and had most of her schooling in Cleveland, OH. Her High School years were spent at Villa Angela High School, following which she trained and received her Registered Nursing degree at Saint Vincent Charity Hospital of Cleveland. At St. Vincent's, where she worked for a few years, she was known as "The Sweetheart of Charity Hospital." She became married and had a daughter, Patricia, but this was a short marriage and Mollie returned to work as a nurse at University Hospitals of Cleveland while she and Pat lived with Pat's sister in Euclid, OH. While working at University Hospitals, she became one of the first nurses to work under the new concept of recovery rooms where patients were taken following surgery. It was at this time, that she met Dr. Karl S. Alfred, who was the only orthopedic surgery resident there in early 1949. Karl had come to Cleveland from New Jersey for his training and had experienced family problems. His wife, Marjorie, had to be institutionalized after bearing two sons and was told that she would never be able to raise a family. The boys, Richard and Peter, were four and five years old and under the care of Karl's mother in Summit, NJ. Friendship soon turned into love and at the completion of his residency in July of l950, Karl was asked to join an orthopedic surgeon in Lansing, Michigan. He drove to Lansing and stayed with the surgeon for a few days but could not practice until he had obtained a Michigan license. During this time, Mollie came and spent a couple of days so she could meet the family that was to take Karl in as a partner. After Mollie returned to Cleveland, the Michigan doctor made his feelings known that he did not approve of Karl's choice of a bride. This was not the news that Karl wanted to hear and he told the doctor that he was returning to Cleveland. After many hours of pleading and a sleepless night, Karl left Michigan, but still on friendly terms. After returning to Cleveland, Karl rented a small apartment off Euclid Avenue, close to University Hospitals. His doctor friends welcomed him back and Dr. Maxwell Harbin, who had been his mentor, saw to it that Karl was given a staff position at University Hospitals. With no funds and no income, finding office space was almost impossible. However, Dr. Clarence Heyman offered the use of his office and secretary in the Carnegie Medical Building at East 105th and Carnegie. At that time, the address was known as the best medical address between New York and Chicago and continued to be for many years. Many of the doctors from University Hospitals had offices there and that became a source of referrals. Karl also spent over twenty hours a week at the Veterans Administration offices in downtown Cleveland, so there was a little source of income. After being in Dr. Heyman's office for eighteen months, there was a sudden vacancy in the Carnegie Medical Building and Dr. Heyman and the other doctors in the building saw to it that the space was awarded to Karl. Dr. Alfred had enough income at the time to staff the office and Mollie recommended an acquaintance of hers from the same floor as the recovery room where she worked. Marjorie Aldridge was the ward secretary on one of the private floors and she became Dr. Alfred's secretary for the next thirty years. Karl's boys, Dick and Peter, were still under his mother's care in New Jersey, which was a severe burden to her, though she carried on without a complaint. Molly and Karl could not get married until his divorce could be obtained. Fortunately Karl's mother-in-law, Rose Lincoln, was kind enough to come to Cleveland and at the court hearing, she urged that the divorce be granted. The divorce was granted in June of 1951. Now they needed to find a home and were fortunate to rent a home on Lamberton Road in Cleveland Heights, close to University Hospitals and The Carnegie Medical Building. Now it was time to get married and Mollie and Karl approached the clergy at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. They met with the Reverend John O'Hear, who was pleasantly sympathetic, but he did not think he could perform the ceremony. Rev. O'Hear referred the couple to his good friend The Rev. Miles Krumbine of Plymouth Church of Shaker Heights, and told them that he would be happy to have them as members at St. Paul's after they were married. Karl and Mollie were married on July 26th, 1951, by Rev. Krumbine. Present were Dr. Heyman, matron of honor, "Jackie" Evans, best man plastic surgeon Clifford Kiehm, Mollie's daughter, Patricia, almost ten years old, and a few friends. Jackie was the wife of Dr. Wayne Evans, a dentist who had been a shipmate of Karl's aboard the USS Estes AGC12, during World War II and who had been called back to active duty during the Korean Conflict. They became lifelong friends with Mollie and Karl. A lunch was relished at the Alcazar Hotel in Cleveland Heights and the couple took off for four days at Niagara Falls. Now when Mollie, Karl and Patricia were settled on Lamberton Road in Cleveland Heights, it was time to get Karl's boys, Dick and Peter, to Cleveland before school started. About a month later they were boarded on a train in Summit, New Jersey. That was the Lackawanna Railroad which took them to Buffalo, New York, where the car they were on was hooked up to the Nickel Plate line which took them on to Cleveland. The railroad personnel took very good care of them and they were let off at the station in East Cleveland later that evening. The family was now complete. All these children attended Fairfax School on Lee Road, a short walk from Lamberton Road. Karl and Mollie joined St. Paul's Episcopal Church and the entire family enjoyed suppers and other activities at St. Paul's. Karl's practice took off well and after a year and a half, they were able to purchase a home on Yellowstone Road in Cleveland Heights, where the boys attended Noble School and Pat went to Monticello Junior High, and later to Cleveland Heights High. The family enjoyed fifteen years on Yellowstone Road before Mollie and Karl moved further out into the suburbs. A good real estate friend, Vera Evans, guided them to Darling & Darling who showed them a home on Brandywood Drive in Pepper Pike, Ohio. Many homes were being built and several lots were available. Karl and Mollie picked the lot they wanted and their home was completed in 1968. During the years when the children were growing up, they went on to different colleges, got married and had children. Mollie was an excellent mother, a wonderful wife, grandmother and great grandmother. She enjoyed traveling the world, attending meetings with her physician husband and making yearly visits to Norway where Karl's mother had retired a couple of years after their wedding. She loved her home and the annual visits of the clan every Labor Day weekend until the end. Funeral Services will be held Saturday February 27th at 10:30 am in St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 2747 Fairmount Blvd., Cleveland Hts., OH . BROWN-FORWARD SERVICE 216 752-1200


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