Sister Mary Concetta didn’t plan to be at Mercy Health Center when she was getting started, but things worked out that way.
Although Concetta was from Chanute, her sister was suffering from polio, and the only polio doctor at the time was in Fort Scott. When Concetta visited her sister in the hospital, she began to chat with sister Mary Xavier, then the head of the school of nursing.
“She asked what I wanted to do, and I told her I was planning on going to Pittsburg to study at Mt. Carmel,” Concetta said. “She asked, ‘What are you going to Pittsburg for? We have a school right here.’ That was 1942. I packed up my suitcase and have been here ever since.”
The 86-year-old Concetta’s been working in Fort Scott long enough to know that she’d never seen a cup of tea as large as the one served on Saturday. Then again, no one has ever seen a cup of tea that big.
Mercy Health Center set a new record on Saturday with the world’s largest cup of tea at its Mercy Day observation.
The cup held 700 gallons of tea. The tea alone weighed more than two and a half tons, and served almost 15,000 servings. The teacup, created by J.D. and Ed Webster, is 9.5 feet wide at the rim, has a three foot handle, and stands 5.5 feet tall.
The reason for the teacup goes back to the Sisters of Mercy’s foundress, Sister Catherine McAuley, who on her deathbed in 1841, asked her caretakers to “see that the Sisters have a comfortable cup of tea when I am gone.”
Fort Scott also has a recent history of breaking world records.
“We wanted to do what we could to draw in the community,” said J.D. Webster, Mercy’s director of nutritional services and teacup organizer. “We had a real big response last year for Pennies in the Park. That was a fundraiser and an opportunity for a record. It’s a double whammy. Why not a double whammy again?”
The previous record teacup was a 4 foot by 4 foot cup which held about 105.6 gallons of tea. Webster’s cup shatters that record.
The other reason for the teacup is as a fundraiser for Mercy’s cancer center. Right now, the facility has four chemotherapy beds. The event serves in part as a chance to raise money for a potential expansion of the cancer center in six months to a year.
Concetta, who’s had “maybe one less” cup of tea than the nearly 15,000 servings in the giant-sized teacup, said the event served as a fitting tribute to the legacy McAuley left behind.
“I think she needs to be recognized for her spirit and the life she had is reflected in our lives,” Concetta said. “She served her whole life trying to help the economically disadvantaged. It doesn’t matter that it’s 200 years later. Those issues are still in our society.”
Andrew Nash can be reached at andrew.nash@morningsun.net or by calling 231-2600 ext. 132.
