On March 19, 1948,

53 young Auburn women – mothers, grandmothers, sisters, neighbors, friends – banned together to form the Dr. Frank D. Merritt Guild supporting what was then Children’s Orthopedic Hospital on Queen Anne Hill in Seattle.

“We all still call it ‘orthopedic,’ ” said Ruth Leslie, 90, one of the charter members of the group.

That special group helped celebrate its 60th year of giving with a party at the Rio Verde Estates Club House on Wednesday.

For Leslie and other original charter members of the guild, it has been a long and rewarding journey. They met monthly in one another’s homes since 1948. Two other charter members still in the group today are Pat Winter and Margaret Thorp.

“Of course, we were listed as Mrs. Al Leslie, Mrs. Dan Winter and Mrs. William Thorp. Married women were never referred to by their first names in those days,” Leslie recalled. “I work so hard for the hospital because I wouldn’t have my only grandson if it weren’t for their care.”

Many of the other Dr. FD Merritt members have worked for the hospital for nearly that many years, including Fran Calkins, 87, who joined in 1950, and recently was named an Anne Clise Individual Achievement Award winner for 2008 at the hospital’s annual meeting and luncheon in Seattle. The award is the highest honor the hospital, now Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center, gives it volunteers.

Anna Clise was responsible for getting Children’s started in Seattle back in 1907, when after losing her 6-year-old son because of the lack of a children’s hospital in the area, asked 23 of her women friends to each donate $20. Anna and her friends believed that no child should ever be denied medical care based on its family’s ability or inability to pay.

In 1953, the hospital moved from Queen Anne Hill to its current location off of Sand Point Way, where it has become world known for its care of children.

In 2004, the guild won the hospital’s Chairman’s Award.

Over the years, the guild, named for an Auburn pioneer doctor and longtime beloved pediatrician, has raised $300,000 in projects ranging from serving cake at business openings, collecting pennies, selling brooms, to putting on labels for “Purchase a Miracle” at grocery stores.

“We are very proud that a bunch of old ladies can do so much for children,” Leslie said. “Of course, we weren’t old when we started.”

Most of the money raised goes for uncompensated care at the hospital. Last year the hospital spent an unprecedented $65.4 million dollars in uncompensated care so that no child will ever go untreated.

Currently the annual bridge marathon, selling brooms and calendars and hanging the “Purchase a Miracle” tags are the guild’s major money making projects.

“We are always looking for new bridge players, new members and new ways to raise money for the kids in Seattle,” said current guild president Debbie Maguire. “We want to keep this going for another 60 years.

“There is never a dull moment with this group,” Maguire added. “This is one of the brightest, funniest, most generous, giving group of women I’ve ever had the honor of working with. They have been giving their gift of time for over six decades. All the while raising their own young families, running homes and sometimes businesses.

“They believed in the same things that Anna believed in 100 years ago. And they still believe it just as strongly today. It’s just that simple and beautiful.”

Auburn’s Fern Valentine has been a guild member off and on for 25 years.