WYNNE — Bertha Ragle’s final day as the administrative assistant at CrossRidge Community Hospital was Wednesday.
Ragle served just three months shy of 50 years, including 26 years working alongside longtime administrator Gary Sparks.
“Loyalty is probably one of the first things I think of,” Sparks said. “Confidentiality, if someone’s doing your payroll and they’re the administrative assistant, and they’re hearing conversations. Not that you’re eavesdropping. You just hear conversations with the proximity of where we were. You just can’t overstate how important confidentiality is, and I never, never had any question that anything involving either payroll or the hospital was anything but confidential.”
Ragle also played a key role in the transition between Sparks, who retired nearly two years ago, and current administrator Garrett Morgan.
“She’s a wonderful asset to have. She took me under her wing and immediately got me on the straight and narrow,” Morgan said. “Made sure I knew where I was supposed to be, what was supposed to be done in a timely manner. Never had to ask her what I should be doing. She always let me know. And that’s one thing that we talked about… I’m new to this. You’re going to have to point me in the right direction. She chuckled and enjoyed doing that. Crucial to my early success. Me and Mr. Sparks had a great hand-off of course, but Bertha made sure that continued forward.”
A retirement celebration was held Wednesday at the hospital. Ragle served under five administrators during her tenure: Harry Baker, Carl Barker, Frank Ryan, Sparks and Morgan.
When she began her career, the facility was known as Cross County Hospital. It became part of St. Bernards Healthcare System in 1999 and was later renamed CrossRidge Community Hospital.
Cindy Pruitt has been named the administrative assistant at the facility.
