By Amanda Galloway
special correspondent

Dorothy “Dotty” Gass and Margaret “Peggy” Quance met for the first time during the Second World War, when they both served as nurses at East Orange General Hospital in East Orange, New Jersey.

Now, more than sixty years and 350 miles from where they first met, Gass and Quance have been reunited. 

Both women are residents at the Morningside retirement facility in Midlothian, where they recognized each other immediately, despite the time lapse.

“Peggy was sitting by the door, and I said to my sister, ‘I know her!’ Gass explained.  “My sister thought I was crazy.”

After much reminiscing, the women realized they knew each other from their service at the hospital during the war, where Gass worked as a nursing student and Quance volunteered with the Red Cross.

The war had sent nearly all of the doctors and nurses abroad, the women explained, so civilian hospitals like East Orange were left terribly understaffed and relied on volunteers.

Both women, having recently graduated high school, were balancing jobs and college classes, Gass at Rutgers University and Quance at Upsala College.  With both of their families deeply affected by the Great Depression, Gass was working at General Electric and Quance at an oil company, when the war broke out.

“The war took forever.  It started on a Sunday.  I can still hear Roosevelt’s voice,” Quance said.  “But seeing the boys I liked getting killed, you didn’t even think about it.  You just served.”

Gass, as a nursing student, was immediately thrown into action at the understaffed East Orange General.

“I had to do things [as a student] that the registered nurses wouldn’t normally do,” she reflected.  These included using newly discovered penicillin, treating polio, and treating those with the rare blood type, RH negative, which can cause problems with newborns.

“My God, the kids ran the place!” Gass said.  “I remember the students packing up and sending out the penicillin to Germany after the Battle of the Bulge.”

To deal with the staffing problems, the Red Cross sent volunteers to the hospitals immediately.

Quance, who had taken a nursing class at Upsala, reflected on the high standards the Red Cross held for their volunteers.

“We didn’t get paid, but we had to buy our uniforms and clean them ourselves.  My mom would iron my uniform – that was her contribution – and then hang it out on the line to dry,” Quance said.  “Although we were volunteers, we had to take exams, and sometimes you had as many as ten beds to yourself.”

The work was hard, both women reflected, and much of the time, stressful.

“The first day I was at the hospital, the doctor grabbed me, and I had to deliver a baby.  I didn’t know what to do!” Quance said, laughing.

“We didn’t deliver babies so much as we caught them,” Gass added.

As time went on, Gass became Senior Student Nurse, where she was glad for the hard work of the Red Cross volunteers, as she often worked 12-hour shifts and was still required to have a 90 average in school. 

“As students, we usually had 12 [patient] beds,” Gass said.  “We had beds in the hall, it was so tight.  I had to work double shifts all the time, so when the Red Cross came in, it was always like ‘thank God.’  And Peg was the best of the best.”

By the end of the war, Gass had graduated and become an RN, and Quance had begun writing for the West Orange Review newspaper, as the society editor. 

“You kept working after the war,” Quance reflected, “for the bread and butter.”

Although the war was a trying time for both of the women, they say they would not change anything if given the chance.

“It was hard work, but it was good work.  We made friends that are forever,” Gass said.  Of the 12 graduates in her nursing class, three are still alive, all of whom she stays in contact with. 

After the war, both women led extremely busy lives, which continue to today.

Gass, who traveled extensively throughout the United States and Europe before moving to Midlothian, rejoiced with Quance that “we always have something to do.”

In their spare time, the women enjoy making pottery and site seeing, as well as the exercise classes, entertainment, and dinners provided through Morningside.