Echoes from the Past, Savilla Garrish Noyes
by Lisa Fleming, Staff Writer
Savilla and Dr. Edmond Noyes were the major healthcare providers for many years on Snake River. Valley residents that were born or lived on Snake River during the 1920s until the late 1970s probably were Dr. Noyes’ and Savilla’s patients at one time or another. After Dr. Noyes passed away on December 31, 1958, Savilla--twenty-two years younger than the doctor, continued to care for valley residents. Even today, members of the Noyes family make the infamous Dr. Noyes soothing "burn" salve available to residents. The product is sold at the Little Snake River Museum in Savery, WY or it may be requested directly from TELL Enterprises, Inc. in St. Louis, MO by calling Linda @ 314-660-2480.
Unlike Dr. Noyes, who came to the valley from New Jersey with family roots in the West Indies, Savilla spent most of her life in Wyoming. Savilla was born in Arkansas to Mary and Thomas Garrish. By the age of 5 she was living in Rock Creek, Albany County, Wyoming. Family members leaving Rock Creek included Savilla's mother, Mary, and the children--Ella, Belle, Henry, Earl and Jewel. At the age of 15 she was living in Saratoga on Jack Creek with her family. Savilla's sister, Ella, drowned in Jack Creek.
Savilla and her sister Belle attended school in Salt Lake City. Mary sold the Jack Creek ranch and moved by team and wagon with the three boys to the Little Snake River. She bought a ranch below Baggs from Tom Garner and lived there five years, selling out to A.H. Christenson of the Baggs Livestock. The piece of property has had several owners since that time, but is still known as the Garrish Ranch on Garrish Gulch. (Linda Fleming)
After moving to Baggs, Mary thought she would like to be closer to Belle and Savilla, so she went to Salt Lake UT and bought an apartment building. Savilla was in nurse’s training and Belle got married and lived in Salt Lake. After one year Mary sold her business and moved back to Snake River living in the Town of Baggs where Jewel attended first grade. Mary then bought a ranch from Tom Kilgore, located one half mile east of Dixon. This place became known as the Garrish Place. The building location was where many “old timers” remember Savilla parking her 1959 dusty rose pink Mercury along the highway, using her crutches, to walk across the field to tend to her chickens and other animals. She had even removed the back seat from the car so she could haul her animals. Today, Bill and Davie Duncan’s home is on the Garrish Place.
Savilla spent seven years in nurse’s training and working at Denver hospitals. According to a County Profile written by Sylvia Beeler in 1981, Savilla was in charge of the operating room at St. Luke’s Hospital in Denver. She also worked at the Memorial Hospital in Rawlins.
Dr. Noyes had been practicing medicine in the Little Snake River Valley for twenty years when he met Savilla Garrish. He went to see her quite often while she was working in Rawlins. They were married at the Christian Church in Craig shortly after Savilla left nursing at the Rawlins hospital in 1923. She immediately took over the job of being Dr. Noyes’ nurse and cared for all of his patients. Savilla was a most capable nurse in every way. She was always at the doctor’s side to help in any way humanly possible.
Savilla Noyes said, “You know, the good doctor delivered 1,100 babies in this Snake River area, and I helped him with so many of them.” Many of Dr. Noyes’s birth records are in a notebook housed at the Little Snake River Valley Museum. One of the recorded births is of my father, George Oldin Sheehan, born on March 30, 1920.
Two girls, Helen and Edna, were born to Dr. Edmund and Savilla Noyes. Helen attended school in Dixon until the 8th grade and then stayed at Ivenson Hall in Laramie and went to school in Laramie. Edna graduated early as a junior from Baggs High School. They both married. Helen Faler lived in Rock Springs and Edna Weston lived in Whittier Calif. Both are now deceased. Edna had three children, Edmund, Linda and Tracy. Helen had one daughter Lisa.
During the depression and war years, it was not uncommon for Savilla to walk to homes to help people. She kept patients in her home. Expectant mothers at times would come and stay the last few weeks, awaiting the birth of their babies. She then helped the doctor with the births and cared for them for two more weeks, or as long as they needed, giving them the best care possible and also boarding them. She raised her sheep, goats and chickens for extra income.
Dr. Noyes fell 12 feet down a stairway in their Dixon home and was eventually confined to a wheel chair. For eight years he continued to practice medicine as an invalid with the help of Savilla. He kept an office in Baggs at the time and every day Savilla drove him to Baggs to care for his practice. In the 50s his office building in Baggs was in one of the little white cabins that stood east of the Vernon Hotel. The cabins are now used for storage on Elaine Munzing’s property. Dr. Noyes died in Dec 1958 at the age of 89.
Savilla lived alone in her Dixon home after the doctor died. She kept her yard and grew beautiful gladiolus. She suffered from arthritis and eventually was confined to a wheel chair herself. When she was using crutches to get around and she was no longer able to get into the church, she managed to drive her car or have someone else drive to the cemetery to attend the burial of her many friends who died over the years. Sylvia Beeler wrote, “It was a familiar sight to see her hobbling over to the graveyard, showing her loving concern for the bereaved families.” For a long time her friends at the Senior Center, especially when the meal was served from the Parish Hall of the Episcopal Church just across from her home, carried her noon meal to her. The neighbors looked in on her often.
She moved to Rock Springs in January of 1983 and became a resident of the Kimberly Manor Nursing Home. Savilla died in Rock Springs on Saturday, Sept. 24, 1983, at the Nursing Home. She is buried at Reader Cemetery next to her husband.
Sylvia Beeler wrote in a 1983 tribute to the memory of Savilla Noyes, A true Pioneer Florence Nightingale Nurse of the Little Snake River Valley, “Dr. Edmund and Savilla Noyes certainly did their part of preserving our heritage. They left a mark on the area that will never be erased by time or elements.”
Joy Montgomery Price grew up in Dixon and was a neighbor of Savilla Noyes. Joy, a talented artist, now lives in Hemingford, Nebraska. She visits Dixon frequently. She completed an original pencil drawing titled, “Savilla’s Life” Circa 1981. She wrote, “Savilla O’Connie (Garrish) Noyes, R.N. Married to Dr. Edmund Noyes in 1923 dedicated her nursing career to the people of Wyoming’s Little Snake River Valley.” Joy noted that small drawings surrounding the portrait are of significance; the chicken, the lamb, the goat, the gladiolus, the nurse, the kittens. All were important in Savilla’s life.
Sources: Snake River Press, County Profiles by Sylvia Beeler, Nov. 25, 1981, Dec. 3, 1981, Oct. 20, 1983; Snake River Profiles Vol. 3 by Helen Morgan; Little Snake River Museum photo file; Ancestory.com; Pencil Drawing and interview from Joy Montgomery Price, 2012.