History of the Mt. Hood Hospice Building: Scenic Pointe

During World War II, many local residents,
fired by patriotism and a sense of cohesion,
began to raise money to build a local hospital
on land donated for that purpose by the pioneering
Meinig Family. Construction was started in the late
1940s. But there was not enough money to complete
the job, and worked stopped with the building only half completed.

The building sat idle for many years while Father Rene Bozarth, Rector of St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Gresham, conceived and implemented a new religious order, the Society of St. Paul. He established a monastery for the novitiates and established the first of several care facilities under the name St. Jude's Home.

In 1962, he purchased the unfinished hospital building in Sandy. It was completed as another St. Jude's Home the following year, serving the aged and infirm. The members of the Society of St. Paul lived in humble monks' cells on the second floor while serving the needs of patients on the first floor. Fr. Bozarth later became the Reverend Canon Bozarth. His two assistants, then Br. Barnabas Hunt and Br. Andrew Rank (later Fr. Barnabas and Fr. Andrew) carried on the missions of the Society of St. Paul.

They sold St. Jude's in 1981 to another nursing home operator. After several changes in ownership, they closed the doors in 2000. After extensive remodeling, it reopened in 2001 as a retreat center, wedding chapel and bed and breakfast facility. The building received a special Sandy Chamber of Commerce award for the renovation. The owners sold the building to Mt. Hood Hospice in 2003.