Like two peas in a pod, that’s the way Chuck Stewart describes the relationship he has with his new bride, Darla (Woods).
Chuck and Darla surprised their co-workers when they eloped to Paducah seven months ago.
Both employees at Herrin Hospital, they worked in the same building together for about two years before they actually met. He worked as a transporter in the imaging department and she worked in housekeeping in the rehabilitation unit.
“I just stayed in my area,” said Darla. “I rarely went to any other part of the hospital.”
Call it fate or call it destiny, but had it not been for the creation of new job opportunities at the hospital, the two may have never met.
When the expansion project began at the hospital nearly two and a half years ago, it was decided there should be greeters/transporters to help people find their way around. It just so happened both Chuck and Darla applied for and were hired to fill two of those positions.
They worked the same shift and at first were just friends. After about a year of working side-by-side they found their feelings for each other growing a little stronger than that of mutual co-workers.
“Darla and I are best friends,” said Chuck. “We enjoy the same things and we have the same values and morals.”
Chuck said Darla is an answer to a prayer. “I had prayed that I would meet a good Christian woman,” said Chuck. “I wanted someone who shared the same morals that I do.”
Chuck is retired from the U.S. Defense Department. He grew up in the Benton/Sesser area and moved out west after high school graduation. He has one son who lives in Oregon and another son who is now deceased.
Darla was raised in Freeman Spur. She was a stay at home mother and after raising four daughters went to work at Herrin Hospital in the housekeeping department. After four years she returned to school where she became a Certified Nurses Aid. She then worked in home health until she decided to return to school to become a cosmetologist.
“I did that for 12 years,” said Darla, “I liked it, but I was never as happy as I was when I worked at this hospital. I remember driving past here and wondering what my former co-workers and friend were doing.”
So, four and a half years ago Darla reapplied for a housekeeping position and was hired back at the hospital.
Chuck shares Darla’s love for the people who staff the facility.
“I had never worked in a health care environment before,” said Chuck. “I knew when I retired I wanted to return to southern Illinois and do something for the people who had been most giving to me and my family. The people here are so caring.”
Between the two of them the Stewarts have 13 grandchildren and one great-grandchild. They enjoy working in their garden, playing golf and refurbishing an old farmhouse they bought in West Frankfort.
“I really bought the farmhouse thinking I could fix it up as a hobby,” said Chuck. “The house has so much character; it’s really fulfilling to work on it.”
“Working on the house has been a lot of fun,” said Darla.”
Darla works at the greeter’s desk full time and Chuck works two days a week. It’s their jobs to help people find their way around the hospital - and there’s one thing for certain – the newlyweds are sure glad they found each other.
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