Sister Generose Gervais speaks at Rochester Senior Center - KTTC Rochester, Austin, Mason City News, Weather and Sports

ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) -- More than a dozen people gathered inside the Rochester Senior Center Thursday to hear from a woman who has greatly shaped what the clinic has become.

She spoke to the crowd on what she remembers from some of the early days of the clinic when she got involved.

She wasn't originally trained as a nurse but as a teacher.

Sister Generose says it was St. Marys that really paved the way for the Mayo Clinic we know today.

She explains, "So I started the talk by saying, 'It may surprise you to know but St. Marys hospital started the Mayo Clinic.' They all kind of looked at me and I said, 'No, that's a fact.' It was first called St. Marys Hospital Mayo Clinic."

She went on to address the question, "what is the reason for living?" The event was free and open to the public.