Cooperative Living March/April 2017 - 30

Crossroads | Story and Photos by Bill Sterling, Contributing Writer
NASSAWADOX, VA
A resilient
community
1928
looking to make
the best of what
lies ahead.
Nassawadox, Virginia
N
assawadox gets its name from the
Native American phrase for " land
between two waters. "
The town of approximately 500 people
on Virginia's Eastern Shore - slightly
less than a half-square mile - is bounded
on the east by the Atlantic Ocean and on
the west by the Chesapeake Bay. It sits
on Route 13, the main artery on the
75-mile-long peninsula, and is divided into
bayside and seaside areas on either side of
the highway.
Today, Nassawadox finds itself a town
between two eras. In late February,
Riverside Shore Memorial Hospital closed
its doors in Nassawadox and opened a new
$85 million facility in Onancock, about
20 miles north. Citing the desire to be
in a more centralized area of the Eastern
Shore and a need for a more modern
facility, the hospital's board of trustees
voted in 2010 to relocate the facility, taking
with it a cancer center and many medical
practitioners. An urgent-care center is in
the plans for Nassawadox.
The town had been the site of the
Shore's only hospital since 1928, when
Northampton-Accomack Memorial
Hospital opened about the time of the
Great Depression. Dr. William J. Sturgis
Sr., known as the father of the hospital,
led an effort to raise $150,000 for
construction of a 25-bed facility.
In 1903, while traveling by train from
28 | Cooperative Living | March-April 2017
The Nassawadox facility closed in February.
This Eastern Shore gem of a town, between two waters, is also a town between two eras.
Baltimore, where he had taken a patient
for surgery, Dr. Sturgis had read an article
about the success of the first American
community hospital in Missouri. He
devoted the next quarter-century to raising
funds for a hospital on the Eastern Shore.
" Nassawadox has been the hub of
the medical community for 88 years, "
says Tommy Rayfield, who with his family
has operated Rayfield's Pharmacy for
42 years. Rayfield is only the third owner
of the town pharmacy, which first opened
in 1913.
Now 75, Rayfield has no thoughts of
retiring or leaving Nassawadox once the
hospital relocates. " We have too many loyal
customers to pick up and leave, " he says.
" As long as I can stand, I will be here. "
Rayfield, who was born at Cobb Station
at nearby Cheriton and delivered at home
by a family doctor who charged his father
$5, met his wife Francie at the Medical
College of Virginia in Richmond.
" I always knew I wanted to live in
the country, " says Rayfield. " I had an
opportunity to go into research, but I
like people and running an independent
pharmacy seemed like the life for me. "
It was easy for Mrs. Rayfield to sign on.
She is also a pharmacist and in the early
years of the business, juggled running the
pharmacy and raising two sons while
her husband also served as the hospital
pharmacist. She is the daughter of a
pharmacist whose sister was a pharmacist.
Both of the Rayfields' sons are pharmacists,
and one is married to a pharmacist. The
other son married a doctor.
" We always say we are a family heavily
involved in drugs, " says Rayfield with a
hearty laugh.
TOWN WILL NEED TO ADAPT
Many residents feel Nassawadox will
face challenges without the economic
benefits the hospital brings to the area.
There may be no better example of a
survivor than Franco Nocera, who 25 years
ago opened Little Italy Ristorante in town.
Born in Italy, Franco was only 9 when
he saw his father die from injuries suffered
in World War II. His mother, unable to
support Franco, sent him to an orphanage.
At age 17, Franco emigrated to America.
Knowing no English, he got a job
loading and unloading ships and
eventually became a supervisor at
Maxwell House Coffee in
Hoboken, New Jersey, going to
school at night to learn English.
On a rare vacation to Cherrystone
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Cooperative Living March/April 2017

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