Dr. Alton Bishop, left, cuts a birthday cake that commemorates Rollins Brook Community Hospital’s threequarters of a century of service. Metroplex Health System Vice President Jeff Villanueva, center, and Lampasan Richard Procter, who serves on the Metroplex Health System Community Board of Directors, also participated in Monday’s activities. PHOTO BY JIM LOWE Metroplex Health System and Rollins Brook Community Hospital officials on Monday kicked off the first part of the Lampasas hospital’s 75th anniversary observance with the cutting of a huge birthday cake.

The event was a prelude to an even bigger celebration that will be held June 13.

At that time, officials will invite the community to an evening of food, games and activities for people of all ages. The event will be at the Ruth Eakin Outdoor Theatre at W.M. Brook Park.

A family movie will be shown, to be followed by a fireworks display, said Jeff Villanueva, administrator of Rollins Brook and vice president of Metroplex Health System. The fireworks will “kind of put an exclamation point on that event,” Villanueva told Metroplex and Rollins Brook staff at this week’s birthday party.

In his remarks, Villanueva said of the Lampasas hospital: “It is a classic story of how important a community is to a hospital and how important a hospital is to a community.” Seventy-five years ago, residents donated labor and offered financial support to help make the local hospital a reality.

Rollins Brook has expanded a number of times since 1935, and the hospital has gone from its initial 14 beds to a 25-bed, critical access facility. It provides a variety of general and advanced health services.

At Monday’s celebration, Dr. Alton Bishop was on hand. The longtime physician first served here in 1955 when he was in medical school. The school then had its students spend six months in a rural hospital, so they could experience the practice of medicine in a less populated setting.

Bishop later returned to Lampasas, where he eventually retired after having practiced medicine for 42 years.

“Watching this hospital grow has been quite a thrill to me,” he said. “It has been a pleasure to see how hard everyone has worked.”

Metroplex officials who attended the anniversary observance included Stephen O’Neal, vice president of patient care service and chief nursing officer; Penny Johnson, chief financial officer; and Daphne Meade, manager of Metroplex Health System Foundation.

Also present was Richard Procter of Lampasas, who serves on the Metroplex Health System Community Board of Directors.