Wellspring still a haven on the hill in Boulder City

The building was once a hospital.

It was a place where the suffering came to be healed -- or to find comfort.

During the construction of Hoover Dam, injured workers were taken to the two-story brick building, which sits atop a hill overlooking Lake Mead; later, Boulder City residents relied on it as the only hospital.

Today, Wellspring's meandering halls and once-sterile rooms have given way to floral wallpaper and pink paint. Where doctors once stood to check X-rays, nuns now eat evening meals.

"People say 'What a wonderful atmosphere for a religious retreat,'" Sister Philippa Margaret, an Anglican nun, said. "I say, 'Remember how this started. It was a hospital. It was a place of prayer and healing, and it still is.'"

Wellspring, which serves as a retreat for all denominations, also is a convent for the Sisters of Charity -- an Anglican community of nuns that migrated from England to Boulder City in 1967.

"Maybe people don't think of about it, but there are actually quite a few orders of Anglican nuns across the country," Bishop Stewart Zabriskie of the Episcopal Diocese of Las Vegas said.

The nearest Anglican order to the Sisters of Charity in Boulder City is in Tucson, Ariz. There are about 25 orders of Anglican nuns nationwide.

"Like the Roman (Catholic Church), we've got quite a long tradition of this life in the church. They make an outstanding contribution to the community," Zabriskie said. "They are a center of concentrated prayer, which makes a difference in the life of a diocese."

Hanging over Lake Mead, Wellspring is a longtime rallying point for religious groups and a getaway for wayward individuals.

During the last 30 years high school students, homeless people, recovering alcoholics and hospice patients have been taken in by the nuns for a weekend or, in some cases, months.

Guests sleep in rooms named for Episcopalian churches in Nevada -- Christ Church, St. Timothy's, All Saints.

In recent years, Wellspring opened its doors to AIDS patients who have nowhere to go for Christmas.

"It was wonderful last year," Sister Philippa said. "We had gifts and several hundred strings of lights, and they decorated the tree while they were here."

One visitor was celebrating a birthday at the time, but he was suffering from pneumonia and had to leave via ambulance, she said.

"When the paramedics came for him, everyone was singing 'Happy Birthday' to him, and he was being taken out, he was beaming ear-to-ear smiling, crying just a little," she said.

Ann Johnson, who is HIV-positive and helps organize the AIDS retreats, said the experience is invaluable for patients.

"We go there to forget we have the disease," Johnson said. "The Sisters of Charity are so sweet -- they keep you laughing, and they're a delight to be around. Up there, it's like a vacation on the mountain."

Nuns are an increasingly rare commodity, according to Sister Philippa.

"There are so many more careers available to women now," she said. "They go into other fields. Even in the service of God, there are more careers available. In my time if a girl felt she wanted to give her life to God in service, there was nowhere else to do it."

That notion -- giving one's life to God -- didn't come quickly for Sister Philippa.

"I didn't wake up to the realization of God until I was in college," she said. "The friends I made at my school in England were all in love with God, and I felt left out."

"Over time, I went from being terrified of the idea of being a nun to knowing someday sooner or later I would be one," she said.

At 22, she decided it was time. But becoming an Anglican nun is not simple. First, women become postulants and spend six months observing the life of a nun. Then, they become novices, at which time they take on the name "sister" and learn to live in the community. This lasts three years. Finally, they may take the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience for life.

Sister Philippa's training was not entirely smooth, she said.

"I was always getting in trouble," she said. "By my third year, nothing meant anything to me. I was desperate. Nothing gave me pleasure."

A teacher "chewed her out" for her attitude problems, and let her know that she was free to leave the convent at any time. After deep introspection and prayer, she decided to stay.

"I realized that God wants me here," she said.

"People don't realize we are the only nuns in this area who are recognizable," she said. "Roman Catholic nuns don't have to wear a habit anymore. I feel very strongly that you should be identifiable. I never wear anything other than my habit -- except when I'm swimming.

"This is my identity."

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