By Larry LaBeck
The boundary wall and hedges of the St. Andrews Care Center contain a quiet world within its borders, one block wide and two deep. The graceful building at 7617 SE Main is a gift from the past.

The special quality of St. Andrews—site of a former monastery—was born before its first stone was laid. Mother Catherine Aurelia (1833–1905), a strong and passionate woman from Quebec, was the founder of the contemplative religious community, Adorers of the Precious Blood, Daughters of Mary Immaculate. Although the devotees of the Precious Blood established themselves at this site in 1892, the monastery was not built until 1923. By 1930, as the community contracted, its local offices were put to other purposes (for more about the Sisters visit www.sisterspreciousblood.org/aurelia.htm).

In 1984 the nuns moved to a smaller location at St. Ascension Church when the fine old structure went up for sale. Developer Marty Treece purchased it and began its transition to a center specializing in Alzheimer and dementia care. Not only did the property continue in benignity, but Treece restored and maintains the building and grounds with close attention to its details as well as its larger elements. The interior smells as fresh as Aunt Martha’s house and has the tonic atmosphere common to unhurried lives. The high ceilings, stained glass, blonde woodwork, and wainscoting encourage a humane response.

St. Andrews administrator Carol Lewis recalls her father’s visits to the old monastery, when the religious still held sway and baked fine bread. She has been with the center from the beginning and is satisfied with the life it offers her charges. St. Andrews was intended from the first to give refuge to the better angels of our nature, a trust it maintains.