Well, I had been at St. Mary’s hospital
for 20 years.
And I made a decision
that if I wanted to do anything else
I was going to have to resign.
And I thought it was time
for me to do something else.
So, I went on sabbatical.
St. Mary’s at that time
was the largest hospital in the Twin Cities,
and so I thought,
I’d just like to do something that’s health related,
but not acute health care.
So, I was thinking about this
and had almost taken a job with a dental organization,
a large dental organization in the cities,
when Terry Montgomery called me
and said the governor would like to see me
the next morning at 7:30, if I wasn’t busy.
Well, at 7:30 in the morning when you’re on sabbatical,
you’re not too surely busy.
So I had no idea what he had on his mind.
So I want over to his temporary offices in the Capitol,
and I’ll never forget when he came in.
He came in
and he was dressed in a nice suit and a white shirt
and he had two ties in his hand.
And the first thing he says to me is,
“You know, Lola is out of town,"
"and I don’t know which of these two ties to put on."
"Which one would you suggest?”
One was navy blue with red stripes
and one was navy blue with yellow stripes.
And I said,
“Well, they’re both very nice,"
"but I’d take that one,”
the one with the red stripes.
So he put the red stripes on,
and we went into a conference room and sat down
and had a nice little interview for about a half an hour.
And then he offered me the job of commissioner of health,
which you know came right out of the blue.
And I said,
“Well you know,"
"I have to think about this.”
I had no idea what was involved
in the whole Department of Health.
This was a Wednesday.
And he said, “Well, I’m going out of town on Friday evening."
"Could you possibly make the decision by Friday?”
I said, “OK, I’ll make the decision by Friday,”
because I wanted to talk to my religious superior first.
And then I also wanted to talk to the fellow
who was the chairman of the board at St. Mary’s,
who was a very good friend,
and I respected his judgment very much.
About noontime I got a call from Terry Montgomery,
and he said,
“You know, the governor would really appreciate it"
"if you could make your decision by Thursday morning"
"or afternoon at the latest.”
I said OK because I had by that time
Sister Karen’s approval.
In the meantime,
I’m getting a call from the governor’s office again,
“You know, he’d really like to make the announcement"
"this afternoon.”
At that time
I was living with another sister in an apartment
and the sisters at St. Mary’s had called us and said,
“Why don’t you come over for dinner tonight?”
And I thought, good,
I can tell them then when I go over
before anybody else knows,
because I called the governor back about 3 o’clock
and said, “OK, I’ll take the job,”
not having the foggiest idea what I was getting into.
Well anyway, I’m driving to St. Mary’s,
I’ve got the car radio on,
and there’s the big announcement on the radio.
Anyway, just to make this story about the ties tie in,
he told me about two years later that
at that point he knew he wanted
me to be the commissioner of health;
he didn’t need all that interview.
All he wanted to know was
if I could make a decision.
And that’s how I got into the job.
And I was the first non-physician,
which was a major thing,
the first woman,
and then I was a nun on top of it.
You cannot imagine the letters
that Gov. Perpich got.
It was way off in May when I finally got affirmed.
And then when it went to the full senate,
six of the senators voted against me,
but I was confirmed.
At the first hearing,
it was at something like 4 o’clock in the afternoon,
and the hearing room was jammed.
They set it up so there were people for me
and people against me.
So, every other one had a chance to speak.
And it seemed like more men were for me
and more women against me.
I really felt kind of hurt about that whole thing.
After I was confirmed, no more,
all of a sudden
all these letters and everything stopped.
But I really wondered several times in those months,
why did I take this job, what on earth?