The birth of a daughter to Benjamin and Kerri Fuller last Sept. marked the 115th member of the Fuller clan born at Adventist Hinsdale Hospital since 1920. Annabelle Margaret’s great-great-great-great-grandfather, Benjamin Fuller, founded Fullersburg, which later became Hinsdale, where Adventist Hinsdale Hospital has served the community since 1904.

The Fuller family has played an integral role in Hinsdale commerce over the years, with businesses like the Fuller Car Washes, automobile service centers, a hardware store, and Beautiful Beginnings. Dedicated to the community, few members of the family have moved very far from their roots.

The first baby born in a hospital in DuPage County was born at Hinsdale Sanitarium and Hospital more than 100 years ago. Annabelle’s great-grandfather, Lloyd Fuller, was the first Fuller baby born at the Adventist hospital in Hinsdale. In 2004, 3,073 babies were born there.

Two Fuller sisters, Debbie Feiler and Jackie Wilkinson, Annabelle’s aunts and co-owners of Beautiful Beginnings in Western Springs, celebrated the tenth anniversary of their store by donating a pink or blue outfit and booties to all the babies born at Adventist Hinsdale Hospital during Sept. 2005.

“Hinsdale Hospital is near and dear to our hearts,” said Feiler. “Knowing that my grandfather was born at Hinsdale Hospital 85 years ago prompted me to investigate just how many Fullers were born there. I’m the oldest of nine and my memories of Hinsdale Hospital focus on the new members of our family coming home. I was very excited when I turned 14 and was able to visit my mom in the hospital. It’s nice to have a Christian hospital, with a very professional staff, in our own town. We always had good experiences there, and every time I need a hospital I go to Hinsdale. I’m very confident of the care I receive there.”

BettySue Netzel, women and children services director, said, “I’ve never seen this many births in one family before. It speaks well for our hospital, staff, and the physicians who practice here that such a large family has chosen us to deliver their babies.”

Annabelle’s grandfather, Walt Fuller, can tell her stories of the wood-frame hospital where his father, Lloyd, and he was born, and where he had his tonsils removed. “We lived on Oak Street and I would ride my bike past the hospital and see the nurses in white caps out for a walk with patients in wheelchairs. We watched the old building come down and the new brick hospital go up in the fifties. We kids always told everyone that’s where we were born. Then we said that’s where our kids were born, and now that’s where our grandkids were born.”

Adventist Hinsdale Hospital, a 426-bed facility, delivers a wide range of high tech tertiary care services to Chicago’s western suburbs. The Birck Family Women's and Children's Center is a leader in maternity care. Its Level III intensive care nursery is equipped to stabilize and provide intense medical/surgical care for critically ill newborns.

According to Walt Fuller, “Our family just loves babies. They’re a blessing from the Lord. Every time there’s a new one, we’re just so happy.”

Lynn Larson, Adventist Midwest Health writer/media liaison