The Franciscan Sisters Bridgid McNamara and Mary Anne Murphy, known for their cheery demeanors and devoted nursing care to St. Clare Hospital's patients, are leaving Baraboo after decades of service.

Their departure, to their order's headquarters in St. Louis, will leave the Catholic hospital, which at one point had more than a score of nuns working its floors, without any.

Sister Bridgid, who grew up in Baraboo, moved back in 1967, and began her work first at the St. Mary's Ringling Hospital before coming to St. Clare. She did much of her work on the medical and surgical floors, tending patients who were staying for more than a day.

"You took care of people and helped them," Sister Bridgid said. "It was a good life."

Sister Mary Anne joined in 1973 and worked all over, but spent her later years in the emergency room, caring for everyone from critical patients, "bearing witness to their last breath," to those with minor injuries.

They retired in 2007, and have volunteered since then.

"It's been a different pace," Sister Bridgid said. "We don't have the energy of youth."

The Sisters, who actually joined the Franciscan order a day apart and have known each other since 1957, have lived together in a red brick house on Ash Street since 1983. Their 12-year-old Jack Russell terrier, Maggie, will go with them to St. Louis, where they will share an apartment in a building full of retired Sisters.

They say they'll miss Baraboo but know it's time to move on. They're in their late 70s now, and both are slowed by health problems.

"It was our decision," Sister Mary Anne said. "We have the grace of acceptance."

"There's a time to respond to change," Sister Bridgid said. "It's just that time in God's plan."

The two say they'll carry with them memories of past patients and the hospital staff, the teamwork, and all they've done.

"We've enjoyed being here, we've made wonderful friends," Sister Mary Anne said. "It was all good."

St. Clare president Sandy Anderson, who has known the pair for about eight years, said their loss would be devastating for the hospital and its staff.

"It's pretty traumatic for us," she said. "We will grieve."

She said Sister Mary Anne's work in the emergency department had been more than the medical work of stabilizing and caring for patients. She had also been vital in championing "the tender loving care" part of it, and especially remembering to stop and consider the feelings of family members during health emergencies.

"It's so critical that you don't forget that here is a family that is crying and upset," Sister Mary Anne said.

As for Sister Bridgid, Anderson said, the Sister had become renowned for her hands-on care for patients recovering from surgery or other health problems on the main medical floors, giving back rubs and applying lotion to patients' feet on top of their medical care.

"Community members will say there is nothing like getting a bath from Sister Bridgid," Anderson said. "You never saw her in a room where she wasn't touching the patient."

And if asked about this extra mile, Anderson said, all Sister Bridgid would say was, "That's what I do."

Anderson said the pair knew nearly all of the hospital's more than 400 staff by name and besides caring for the patients, had worked to ensure the staff were taken care of when the job became especially stressful or traumatic.

"They can tell you the name of every employee, how many children you have," she said. "That personal connection makes us strive to be exceptional."

And, in a larger sense, she said the loss of clergy in the hospital would be another kind of blow. The two will not be replaced, as the sisterhood has been dwindling for decades due to a shortage of new nuns. At its height, Anderson said, more than 20 nuns worked the floors of the hospital.

"Their visual presence was always a reminder that relationship is sacred ... that it's really a calling, a ministry for them," Anderson said. "Our job is the carrying forth of the healing presence of God.

"A heritage and a legacy is coming to an end."

However, she said, the hospital's staff would continue to carry forth the idea of the "sacred trust" in the relationship between healer and patient.

"(Sisters Bridgid and Mary Anne's) presence will always be felt," she said. "We've been preparing for this day. Now we have to carry that on without their physical presence."

The pair will leave on Aug. 25.

The hospital is holding an open house on Aug. 15 to celebrate their years of service. All are welcome to attend.

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