Retired Superintendents Volunteer at Ft Davis NHS Hospital Restoration Project

Eight retired or current NPS superintendents volunteered recently to help finalize the post hospital restoration project at Fort Davis National Historic Site in Texas.  Retired Fort Davis NHS Superintendent Jerry Yarbrough organized the group to do carpentry and install ceilings & flooring.  Together, the superintendents, who had over 250 years of federal service, contributed 200 hours to the project.  Retired Superintendents included Yarbrough, Dennis Ditmanson, Mike Hill, Neil Mangum, Roger Siglin, and Dale Thompson.  Current Superintendents who volunteered in their off-duty hours included Bill Wellman and John Morlock.  Retired NPS Natural Resources Specialist Mike Fleming also helped.  

The project to restore the 1876 hospital has been part of the management plan since Fort Davis became part of the National Park Service in the early 1960s.  “Restoring the post hospital was a dream many people had when I came to Fort Davis as Superintendent in 1992,” Yarbrough commented.  “It was a long-standing goal—actually part of the park’s 1962 Master Plan.”  Under Superintendent Yarbrough, Fort Davis NHS launched the project in 2000, and the Friends of Fort Davis NHS acquired a $200,000 matching grant.  

After Yarbrough retired in 2003, work on the post hospital continued in earnest, primarily with the volunteer help of locals and graduate students from University of Vermont.  Recently, with the project nearly done but lacking some critical elements, staff at Fort Davis NHS contacted Yarbrough—a master carpenter—and asked him to ramrod the effort to get it finished.  He agreed.

He inspired other retired superintendents to join him.  “Even though we’re retired,” said Yarbrough, “we have great esprit de corps.  We help each other and continue to care about the NPS.”  The superintendents’ effort jump-started a push that has resulted in other volunteers from local communities finalizing work on door trim, molding, and windows.  The post hospital restoration is nearly completed.  The next step will be to acquire late 19th-century furnishings for one ward and the post surgeon’s office.

“What an outstanding effort!” remarked current Fort Davis Superintendent Morlock.  “We have NPS employees still giving, even long after hanging up their flat hats.”