What You Didn’t Read in 'Suite Home Alabama'

A Legacy, Built to Last

Posted by: Haley Jestice

"At work, Ann was committed to her job, her employees, and – most of all – the patients..." "She set the standards high by working hard herself and expecting quality work from others. Her dedication and love for her job spread to others and made us want to perform to her expectations..." "Ann expected your uniform to be wrinkle free, no runs in stockings, and your clinics to be polished and buffed." "...Even in the difficult times Ann could always find something positive or comical to say about the situation. She was a great role model for her staff and for the hospital overall." "...Ann was like my role models, [she] was the only female department head I knew of and I think [she] inspired all the X-ray students who were 99 percent female that they could go on to have a future in a leadership role of some sort." – Ann's former colleagues at BMC-M.

There were many more words that followed, but this just illustrates the impact Ann Van Sise had on those who knew her. Ann challenged those around her, as employees and as people. Everybody knows someone who has influenced them. Take a moment to reflect: Who is your role model? It could be a parent, a teacher, a coach, a friend, or someone you don't even know personally. We all have someone who comes to mind. And, for many in the radiology departments throughout the 50's 60's and 70's in Birmingham, Ala. – it was Ann Van Sise. She inspired others to do their best work. Just as Ann's mother encouraged her to do.

Elizabeth Carter is the name of Ann's mom. When Elizabeth was Ann's age, she had received a scholarship from The University of Montevallo in Shelby County Alabama, but she decided to get married instead of pursuing her vocational dreams She married Jesse Underwood, a civil engineer who wrote music on the side. They later divorced, and Elizabeth had to take on the role of the family bread-winner and so she worked for a living.

Elizabeth wanted Ann to become a nurse after high school. Was this because there was a pressing need for nurses during wartime? Ann says, "Well, I think she just thought that was the way to go." However, Ann knew that nursing wasn't the direction she wanted to go. It was commonplace for women to lead the life of a housewife and she wanted to marry Jean, a baseball player.

"I was crazy about him," says Ann. He had just been recruited to play ball for the team at the University of Alabama in Birmingham, but the two wanted to marry. However, Elizabeth said Ann needed to have a career before she could think of marrying Jean. Ann's mother wanted her to pursue a vocation "so, I could support myself like she had to do in later years – when her and my father divorced," says Ann. And, that, was the bottom line.

A constant challenge of juggling a heavy work schedule meant finding a sitter/daycare to watch Elisa on Saturdays while she was at work. Along with her other adult responsibilities – cooking/cleaning or whatever else needed to be done – Ann says, it wasn't easy, but, somehow, things worked out for her and Elisa. Throughout the next 10 years of Elisa's childhood, Ann continued to work simultaneously while being a mom and managed to carry her head high.

As a child, Elisa says, she remembers her mom as a great role model – meeting patient and administrative demands, departmental tasks, and research responsibilities while also meeting her motherly duties. It wouldn't be until later that Elisa would learn her mother was one of the only females in her position at that time. Ann would tell Elisa about how "she would re-sterilize heart caths, purchase teflon rolls, cut them into different lengths, file the tips with sandpaper (so as not to cut patients' arteries) while at work."

But, these were only some of her mother's professional endeavors. "She, also, opened the technical part of the cardiology and radiology department at Baptist Medical Center Montclair [BMCM]," she says. As years progressed, Elisa grew to appreciate her mother's work ethic and dedication to helping other people.

New Beginnings

According to Martin and other colleagues, Ann maintained a good rapport with the radiologists, staff physicians, nurses, and all other ancillary departments, which would explain why – one day at work – she was asked to talk with a man about her work experience in the department. The man was a professor from Birmingham-based Samford University who had come to her work to observe and question the staff. Ann answered his questions honestly, and something about her grabbed his attention. "My name," he told her, "is Kenneth Edward Van Sise."

Ann would come to find out much more about Kenneth Van Sise in the time that followed, as he would frequently write her while traveling to other countries for lectures. After dating for an extended period, they eventually married. "He's the one responsible for encouraging me to go back to school," she says.

When Ann met Kenneth, he had two children – Keith and Dale. He knew what it was like to work and raise a family – but, "He told me, 'start auditing courses'," says Ann. "I went to the Extension Center – as we called it then, now the UAB –, and started taking classes there. She transferred her credits to Samford later on, and "one [class] at a time, I finished my electives."

He recognized her ambition, and wanted to see her succeed. "He would take me to the library and buy my books for class." Ann eventually obtain a master's degree. A wife, mother, and a student – life was a bit stressful, yet, with a strong support network of family and friends, Ann was able to do it. "It took 12 years, but I did it," she laughs, "and it proved to me that I could still learn."