Over a century of service
Sisters and longtime nurses Betty Damman and Marge Haley retire from UPH-Marshalltown
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Sisters Betty Damman and Marge Haley grew up in a large dairy farming family with seven other siblings near St. Anthony, so they always knew the value of work. The duo, both of whom became nurses and worked at the various iterations of the Marshalltown hospital now known as UnityPoint Health-Marshalltown, finally retired this year after combining for over 100 years of service.
"I worked for 53 years," Damman said.
"And I worked for 50," Haley added.
"And Marge would've worked two more years, but our mom got sick when (Marge) graduated from high school. And she stayed home and helped take care of the house because there were five kids in the house," Damman noted.
Today, both live on farms of their own -- Damman south of Melbourne and Haley between State Center and Colo -- and remain busy with those tasks even as they've stepped aside from their longtime day jobs. After she graduated from West Marshall High School, Damman said she knew she wanted to be a nurse, and due to where she grew up, Marshalltown simply made the most sense.
"I knew I was gonna work. I guess I didn't think about how long I would stay, but people didn't move around from job to job back when I started, and my husband's a farmer.And you don't pick up your farm and move it, so you kind of stay in the area where that is," she said.
She completed a three-year diploma program through the hospital with some classes at Marshalltown Community College (MCC) and became a registered nurse (RN), while Damman, who was initially less sure of her future as she stayed home with her mother, got firsthand exposure when a doctor came out to perform a paracentesis. She worked toward a licensed practical nurse (LPN) certification.
The hospital itself, known as Marshalltown Area Community Hospital (MACH) when the sisters started, has gone through many changes and rebrands over the years, from MMSC to Central Iowa Healthcare to its current name as UPH-Marshalltown and, of course, the move out of the downtown facility to the new building on the south edge of town, which was completed in 2022.
When Damman started, there were general surgeons, OB doctors, urologists, orthopedic providers and more.
"We had a big variety of patients that were here in the hospital, and I liked surgical floor. We took care of people before they went to surgery and then we took care of them afterwards and helped them learn what they needed to do when they went home," she said. "And I kind of miss the family of the surgeons and the other personnel that did surgery."
Damman had originally only planned to work one shift inside the new hospital, but somehow -- chalk it up to that Marshall County farm family work ethic -- one shift turned into five years, and she still keeps a part-time job at Fareway even in retirement.
"To me, it's exciting. I like being around people most of the time, and yeah, you get grumpy people, but you get grumpy people no matter where you go. You also get a lot of nice people," she said.
For Haley, the decision was partly brought on by the loss of her husband Randy in 2025, but she continued 50 to 60 hour work weeks up until the end.
"It's just fun. It was just enjoyable," she said.
Damman admitted she doesn't have many hobbies and sometimes feels like she has "too much" free time now, but she helps out with the family farm operation primarily run by her husband Jeff and their son John. Haley is still overseeing her family's farm as well with some assistance from her son and two daughters.
When asked what they will remember most about their years as nurses, both Damman and Haley spoke of the relationships they built with patients and colleagues as well as the variety of departments they got to work in during their time here. And Damman has a granddaughter who's working toward her nursing degree with the goal of becoming a flight nurse, so the family legacy will continue.
Contact Robert Maharry at (641) 753-6611 ext. 255 or rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.