Special to the Daily News

Trudy Nelson, 92, who is affectionately called “Trudy Bird” by her family and close friends, is a longtime volunteer at Vidant Beaufort Hospital. She faithfully comes every Friday morning to answer telephones and help run the volunteer office.

On March 26, Nelson came through the hospital doors for a different reason. Marion Abigail Winstead, her 10^th great-grandchild, was born at 3:38 p.m., weighing in at seven pounds, six ounces and measuring 21 inches long. Marion’s mother is Emily Winstead, Nelson’s granddaughter.

Winstead and Marion are the third and fourth generations, respectively, of Nelson’s family that have been cared for by the local health-care community. Nelson and her husband, Leonard, raised their family of four in Washington. Winstead’s father, Len, was born at The Fowle Memorial Hospital, a hospital that provided health care to the community prior to the opening of Beaufort County Hospital in 1958.

Winstead and her husband, David, moved to Washington two years ago. He is studying marriage and family counseling at East Carolina University. When asked what it was like to be raising her family in the community where her father was raised, Winstead replied, “Very surprising. 15 years ago, I never would have thought I would be living in Washington and raising my family here. We have really grown to love this community.”

Having given birth to her first two children at a larger hospital in a metropolitan area, she was unsure of what to expect in a smaller hospital setting. Nelson calmly reassured her, saying, “Everything will turn out just fine because I know my hospital.”

Winstead received her prenatal care at Vidant Women’s Care Washington, and Dr. Thomas Andrews delivered Marion in the hospital’s birthing suite. Winstead said she is thankful she chose local physicians and the local hospital to provide the care that she and her growing family expect. And by choosing obstetric care that was close to home, Winstead said, she provided her grandmother an opportunity of a lifetime.