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Loran Wills, 92, Retires from Paulding County Hospital Authority
Wellstar recognizes longtime chairman who served on board for 46 years
Published on January 29, 2025
Last updated 04:21 PM January 30, 2025
Wellstar Health System recently recognized Loran Wills, who is retiring from the Paulding County Hospital Authority after serving on the board since 1978.
Wills, 92, became involved with Wellstar Paulding Medical Center before the original hospital was even built.
“When I came home from the Navy in 1953, I started hearing about the hospital,” said Wills.
The following year, his father, John Loran Columbus Wills, a hardware store owner, was appointed treasurer of a seven-member hospital authority to lead efforts to establish the county’s first hospital. Wills remembers his father going door-to-door, keeping a logbook of pledges from community members, friends, neighbors, employees of local businesses, and family members.
“He said, ‘Son, I need a hundred dollars out of you,’” Wills recalled. “He said, ‘We’re going to build a hospital. You don’t have to pay it now.’”
At the time, the younger Wills only made about $50 a week.
“That was two weeks’ pay at Lockheed then,” he said.
Wills signed the pledge. Three years later, his father came to collect.
“He said, ‘It’s time to ante up,’” Wills recalled.
“It was a sacrifice,” said his wife, Peggy. “We had just gotten married, and a hundred dollars was a lot of money.”
By 1957, the people of Paulding County had raised the money they needed for the project. They held a groundbreaking ceremony on August 2 of that year. A year later, a 25-bed, 14,000-square-foot hospital known then as Paulding Memorial Hospital opened in Dallas. It was later renamed Paulding Memorial Medical Center.
Following in his late father’s footsteps, Loran Wills joined the hospital authority in 1978.
“Since then, he's served faithfully for 46 years,” said Rusty Durham, a longtime friend and fellow board member. “Loran is an exceptional person, very respected in the community because of his low-key approach.”
“I have never heard him complain,” said Peggy Wills, recalling the countless hours her husband spent ensuring the county had adequate healthcare.
With Wills as the hospital authority’s chairman, the hospital joined Wellstar Health System in 1994. Twenty years later, Wellstar Paulding Medical Center moved to its current facility in Hiram.
“We now have a thriving medical center with lots of specialists,” said Durham. “It’s what I would consider a world-class facility.”
In recent years, Wellstar Paulding Medical Center has received numerous awards, including the Malcom Baldridge National Quality Award, the Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses’ PRISM award, and an “A” Hospital Safety Grade from the Leapfrog Group, which recognizes its commitment to patient safety and exceptional care.
“It took a lot of hard work by a lot of people to get it done,” Wills said.
Wills recently spent a few days in the hospital as a patient.
“The people are so nice,” he said. “Every person that came in my room was just super great.”
“I just hope the hospital continues to grow,” Wills said before accepting a plaque at a recent regional hospital authority meeting. “We've got a great thing going here in Paulding, and I expect greater days in the future.”
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