Terry Garland, who was the head electrician at Stroger Hospital, was considered by many to be a bit of an unofficial patron saint of the place — especially when it came to helping sick kids.
“If there was a broken television, or an issue with a video game system — anything, really — Terry made sure things got done right away,” said Dr. Demetra Soter, a pediatrician.
“Do you know how hard it is to get anyone in the county to do anything right away?” she asked.
Mr. Garland knew what it was like being a sick kid.
When he was in fifth grade, he spent five months at La Rabida Children’s Hospital with rheumatic fever.
During that time, friends were fleeting. A red toy truck sometimes was his only company.
“If you can distract kids in a hospital with anything — a TV, a Nintendo — it makes them feel better, it helps them heal and makes their stay better,” said Pam Booras, who is retired, but formerly worked as the hospital’s child life specialist.
It wasn’t just kids. His work affected all patients. He handled everything from malfunctioning call buttons to broken bathroom lights, not to mention ensuring the hospital’s backup generators were always ready at a moment’s notice.
“Terry never wanted to see people struggle for anything,” said his wife, Diane Garland.
“He was like a knight in shining armor, and he treated everything in that hospital like it was his own,” said retired hospital worker and longtime friend Paul Konney.
Mr. Garland died June 29 from cancer. He was 67.
A barista at the hospital coffee shop once misplaced an envelope containing money from the cash register and when Mr. Garland heard about her plight he mounted an unsuccessful dumpster search.
“He was the first one in,” recalled Konny. “I was like ‘Are you kidding me? No one wants to go in the dumpster at a hospital.'”
Mr. Garland worked at the old Cook County Hospital and surrounding buildings before the county built Stroger Hospital.
He retired in 2022 after nearly 30 years at the two hospitals.
He had a basement shop and would often sleep on a pull out couch and start his work day several hours before he punched in.
Driving home was a haul. He lived in Oswego and Darien over the years.
Cheryl Boose-Davis is the graphic design manager at Cook County Health, and her design shop was right next to Mr. Garland’s.
She once asked him to install a doorbell outside the front door of her shop and Mr. Garland installed the type of loud bell more commonly found in high school hallways that ring when class is dismissed.
“If someone was trying to find my door, Terry would guide them over and say ‘Here, let me help you!’ and then he’d just lay on that bell and then run back into his office as soon as I was about to open the door,” Boose-Davis recalled with a laugh, noting that she’d hear him giggling as she chewed him out.
Other times he’d ring it for no reason, as if composing a song.
“It’s all good, Terry was my guy,” she said. “I sat in his shop if I was having a bad day; we’d just sit in there and talk about what’s going on in hospital or the history of the place.”
Mr. Garland was also known for the annual Christmas party that he and fellow union members held in their shop. It was attended by everyone from doctors to janitors.
“He was someone you could always count on,” said Sam Gurgone, a fellow hospital electrician. “There’s no one else I’d ever want by my side if you needed someone by your side.”
Mr. Garland was born July 31, 1957, in Chicago to Donna Garland, who owned a cleaning business, and Walter Garland, who was an electrician.
He was raised near Austin and Grand Avenues and attended St. John Bosco Catholic grade school and Steinmetz High School.
He met his wife, Diane, while camping near Starved Rock State Park. When they tied the knot, each had been married previously. They didn’t want a big celebration so they went mini-golfing.
“He became a father to my two boys, and he raised them like they were his own,” his wife said.
“All he wanted to do was make the lives of the people around him better,” said his son Vince Esposito, noting how much Mr. Garland enjoyed watching his grandchildren play sports.
In addition to his wife and son, Mr. Garland is survived by another son, Louie Kennedy, and six grandchildren.
Services have been held.