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KITTIE NASH GROCE MEMORIAL REHABILITATION CENTER

    Located at 301 Dance Drive in West Columbia, the Kittie Nash Groce Memorial Rehabilitation Center serves as a satellite location for Sweeny Community Hospital's Physical Therapy Department. Office hours are from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, with early or late sessions available by appointment.
     Listed as a provider of Sweeny Community Hospital, the services at the Center are covered by Medicare, Medicaid and most insurance companies.
    Diagnoses treated include arthritis, amputations, wound and burn care, neck and back pain and injuries; foot, knee, ankle and shoulder injuries; sports-related injuries; hip fractures and replacements, joint replacements, osteoporosis, posture problems, scoliosis, therapy following arthroscopic surgeries of the shoulder and knee for Achilles tendon and meniscus repairs; strokes, balance disorders, generalized weakness and difficulty walking.
     For appointments or more information, call (979) 345-3168.

Who Was Kittie Nash Groce?
    Kittie was the daughter of William Rufus Nash, a rancher who settled in the West Columbia area in the 1890s. According to a 1987 article in The Brazosport Facts, "Miss Kittie" enjoyed an affluent lifestyle and was as comfortable in Houston, St. Moritz or Paris as she was at her Texas ranch.
     When her father died on the eve of the Depression - leaving the ranch to his wife, Ina, and daughter - Kittie gave up designer dresses in favor of her father's old work clothes and a Stetson hat. She struggled to make the ranch profitable.
     Soon, she had more losses to bear. Her mother died in 1933, and Kittie's husband, Galveston banker Browning Groce, died tragically after only two years of marriage. The couple had no children.
    In the Facts article, neighbor and longtime family friend Jack Phillips said Kittie was able to make the ranch profitable again in the 1940s. "It was then," the Facts article says, "that Kittie was described in a Houston newspaper as "the biggest rancher in Brazoria County who wears pants, lipstick and rouge."
    Phillips said Kittie became active in the community in many areas. People always knew when she was in town because she drove a pink Cadillac and wore a bright pink coat.
     "You couldn't miss her coming down the street. People used to wave when she was a block away," Phillips told The Facts.
    While she was alive, Kittie donated generously to Scouting programs for both boys and girls. She was among the founders of St. Mary's Episcopal Church. When she died in 1957, she left $300,000 to be administered by a board of trustees named in her will.
     In 1984, her estate built the Kittie Nash Groce Memorial Rehabilitation Center on Dance Drive, and in 2001 Sweeny Community Hospital began offering physical therapy services from the Center.