Newport Hospital chapel in memory of surgeon to be demolished

NEWPORT, R.I. (WLNE) – The family of Dr. Charles Serbst says they were devastated to find out that the chapel they had dedicated to their late grandfather will be dismantled.

Dr. Serbst was not only a surgeon at the hospital, but a World War II veteran who was part of the first team of surgeons to land on Normandy.

His grandson Jim Roggero says he and his siblings are upset that the chapel in his memory will be taken apart to make room for office space.

When Dr. Serbst died of lung cancer in 1969, Roggero says his family, the community, and the staff at Newport Hospital pooled their money to create a chapel in memory of the surgeon.

“It’s remarkable the amount of people he’s helped,” said Roggero.

But the chapel, as the community knew it, is no more.

Roggero says he got a call last week from the hospital, asking if he wanted the portrait of his grandfather that has hung in the chapel the last 48 years.

“I would hope they would change their mind and maybe put things back, and leave it the way it is,” said Roggero.

Instead the hospital has moved the chapel area into a much smaller room down the hall and removed any mention of Dr. Serbst.

“It’s not about my grandfather so much as it’s about how many people have reached out to me and said, ‘Oh when my father was dying, I spent the last minutes in that room, doing my thing,'” Roggero said.

Since sharing the news on social media, Roggero says he’s been inundated with calls and messages from people who either used the space when they were at the hospital, or who knew Dr. Serbst because he saved theirs, or a relative’s lives.

“And after he was gone, that room was basically – he was still helping people because they would sit there, they knew him, they sat in the room, stared at the portrait, said a prayer for their loved one that’s being operated on or whatever, and now they feel like that’s being taken away from them,” said Roggero.

In a statement the hospital said they’re moving the chapel to consolidate their women’s health services, and that they are planning to put a commemorative plaque to Dr. Serbst in the smaller room.

But Roggero says compared to the original space, it would almost be insulting to put his grandfather’s name on it.