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I I Still National Osteopathic Museum, Kirksvill e, MO [B 95 (6) 3] A.O.H.S.BULLETIN American Osteopathic Historical Society Dr. E. S. Det wiler, impersonating Dr. Andrew T. Still in 1931 (see article in this issue) July, 1961 No.3
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A.O.H.S.BULLETIN - ATSU · 2019-04-11 · A.O.H.S. BULLETIN Published by the AMERICA N OSTEOPATHIC HISTORICAL SOCIEIY An affiliated organization of the American Osteopathic Association

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Page 1: A.O.H.S.BULLETIN - ATSU · 2019-04-11 · A.O.H.S. BULLETIN Published by the AMERICA N OSTEOPATHIC HISTORICAL SOCIEIY An affiliated organization of the American Osteopathic Association

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Still National Osteopathic Museum, Kirksvill e, MO [B 95 (6) 3]

A.O.H.S.BULLETINAmerican Osteopathic Historical Society

Dr. E. S. Detwiler , imperson ating D r. Andrew T . Still in 1931

(see article in thi s issue)

July, 1961

No.3

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A.O.H.S. BULLETIN

Published by t heAMERI CAN OSTEOPATHICHISTORICAL SOCIEIY

An affiliated organizationof the American OsteopathicAssociation

Bulletin 110 . 3July, 1961

Editor

Josephine Seyl212 E. Ohio St.Chicago 11, Ill.

Officers

President

Sherwood R. Mer cer , LL .D.Philadelphia Col l ege of

Osteopathy48th and Spr uce St .Philadelphia 39, Pa .

Vice President

Munish Feinberg, D.O.5225 Wilshire Blvd.Los Angeles 36, Calif .

Secretary-Treasurer

Josephine Seyl212 E. Ohio St .Chicago 11, Ill .

MESSAGE FROM rHE PRESIDENT . ..

Shenlood R. Mer cer , LL.D.

At no time in its history has the osteopathic pro­fession nee ded a gr eat er consciousness of its historythan it does right now . By the same token, never hasthe profession had gr eat er nee d of its histor~cal so­ciety . \'/hatever strengths whi ch will be developed t ohelp the profession through its present crisis, mustbe developed on those already latent in the profes­sion, a heritage from those who founded and developedit .

The American Osteopathic Historical Society has aclear duty to serve as the agent which will bringthese strengths into focus in the consciousness ofthe pr of ession. It is my s incere hope t hat our mem­bership will do four things; (1 ) t alk with their pro­fessional colleagues about the importance of histori­cal understanding by everyone in the profession;(2) encourage osteopathic physicians t o join our So­ciety; (3) write paper s for the Society's publication;(4) encourage financial support f or the Society'sactivities .

\Ie are not advocating an all-out campaign. We areencoura ging a steady day in and day out activity .

The 1962 meet ing of the A.O.H .S . will be held inJ a nuary at Las Vegas, Nev . , in conjunction with the An­nual Convention of the America n Osteopathic Associa­tion. We are pleased to announce that Dr . Chester D.S.Tope, Hashington, D. C., has agreed to be our speakeron the program.

Until his resignation last September, Dr. Swopeserved as Chairman of the A.O.A . Counci l on FederalHealth Programs (formerly the Depa r t ment of PublicRelations) for 31 years . We are honored to claim himas a member of the American Osteopathic Historical So­ciety and we a re doubly honored to have him appear onour 1962 program. No one, by experience, insight,philosophical or i ent at i on and professional convictionand performance , has understood more clearly the des ­tiny, the dynamics and the root strength of this pro­fession than Dr. Swope . No one is better equipped t ogi ve these expression in an address . We are fortunate ,indeed, in haVing him as our speaker .

I hope every A.O.H.S. member at the convention inLas Vegas , will bring at least one nonmember to hearDr . Swope's presentation.

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He are gra t eful to Dr . DetlTiler (ASO ' 11 ), of London, Ont.,Canada , f or ur i t i ng up some of his experiences i n i mpersonat­inG Dr. Andr e" T. St i l l a nd, i n that character, gi vinG a num­ber of his ta lks before osteopa thic conv entions , includingdi vi s ioiID l societies and the A.O.A. Of one of Dr. Detwiler'sperformances, The Forum of Osteopathy for January , 1932 , said:"Dr . Det \.,i l er ISa skillful i mpersonator ) and except f orlacking a little in he I gh't , his characterization vas so r eal ­istic t ha t those who knew Dr. Still well gave him hiGhestpraise a nd many "ere moved to tears." The picture on thecover of t hi s issue of the A.O.H.S. Bulletin sho\ls thest r iking resemblance bet"een Dr. Still and his imper­sonator , Dr . Det.nler.

D R. A Ii D R E II TA YL OR S T I L L ...

READINGS AIID IIVlPERSONATIONS

E. S. Det uiler, D.O.London, Ont . , Canada

The American School of Osteopathy ,Kirksville, ~o ') accepted me a s a f resh­man i n October, 1906 . The course wa sthen three years of t en mont hs each.Osteopathic hospitals were few and oppor ­tunities for internships sca rce; hencesuch seniors as could fi nd "a s s i s t a nt ­ships" left school i n December of thelast yea r . I spent six mont hs " i t h Dr .John F. Spaunhurst i n Indianapolis, I nd .My au nt , Dr. Sara Detwiler , "as an ear l ­ier graduate and wi t h her I completedt"o very beneficia l years. In January ,1911, I returned to Kirksville , joinedthe senior cl a s s and gr adua t ed 'li t h t hemin June.

During my three years i n Kirksville,Dr . Still and William Smith , M.D. , D.O.,who together, in 1892, opened the firstschool for the t ea ching of os teopa t hy ,vere still active i n and about t heschool. Dr. St i ll was a t all, s t atel yficure, though seventy- eiGht years of a ge,fa miliar to all , carrying a n old rouGhstick as a cane. He was to be seen al­most da i l y i n the school , i n treatmentroom or lecture hall; on the large cementwalk in f r ont of the Infirma ry , the siteof ma ny technic demons tra t i ons , or i n or

2

about his house or the large lawn thatsurrounded it. Ra r ely woul.d he be seenalone; s t udent s or friends were about andhis visits t o the classroom were aIvayc"elcomed by the students. He entereduithout uarning, proceeded directly t othe platform, del i ve r ed his messa ge anddeparted, still taDcing as he passedthrough t he door . No more fa r euel l tha ngreet ing .

I should like to ment i on some of theother notables that tauGht us: Drs .Charles Still , George LauGhlin, GeorgeSt i l l, L. Van H. Gerdine , John Deason ,Frank P. Pratt, R. E. Hamilton, E. R.Llfdia , A. D. Becker , R. N. Waggoner,E. H. Henry a nd Frank Bigsby. These a r ebut a few of those that stand n~st prom­inently in my memory and to whom I owemuch of my funda mental under s t a ndi ng ofosteopathy.

This \ffiS the first phase i n the back­gr ound from which sprang my des i r e toemphasize the Old Doctor's fundamentalideas and to link \-Tith that a littlemor e of the peraonaLf.ty and the gr a n­deur of the ma n. The second phase \ 18 S

my rather brief as s ociati on wi t h the

A.O.H.S . Bulleti n

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amat eur t hea t re a nd some skill ed member'sof the profess i on. So it was t o mlf avo­cation j oini ng my vocation t ha t I Oile thevel~ rewarding experiences that I havebeen asked to r ecount .

My first requirement was to corrmuni­cate with all members of the Still fam­i ly available, tell them of my plans andobjectives , and get their reactions.They wer e all mos t gracious , helpful andencouraging. Next, I approached a num­ber of outstanding members of the pr of es­sion and a f ew l ay people closely connect­ed wi t h the St ill fa mily and the prof es­sion . Vl i t hout exception, they gave meapproval, encouragement and , in severalinsta nces, gr ea t aid in bu i ldi ng a men­tal picture of the Old Doctor , in appear­ance , apparel, movement, habits , voiceproduction and minor impressions thatoften are s o i mportant in portrayingcharacter. So, to freshen my own memor i esabout him, I went back to his own printedwords and also t o descr i pt i ons by someof the gi f ted wri t e r s whose works wer eavailabl e. I intended to use only theOld Doctor' s wor ds. The next ~10 yea r spassed with these tasks and practicingITEke-up and impe rsonat i on i n private.

The first impersonation was 3i ven inOctober, 1931 , at a joint meeting of theNew York Osteopathic Society, the OntarioOsteopathic Association and the Onta rioAcademy of Osteopathy, in Buffalo , N.Y.Since , as far as we knew, this wa s tobe the first impersonation of the OldDoctor ve ve.re anxious to make full use,of the surprise element. To this end,the item on the program was entitled,"A Characterizatioll of A. T . Still . "Dr. R. B. Henderson, Toronto, Ont . , gavethe introduction. He described thescene as the North Hall of the A. S.O.Lnf'Lrmary , where a gr oup of friends andbuilders were ga t her ed f or the openingof the I nf i rma ry in 1895. He closed hisremarks with, "But where is the OldDoct or? Has he forgotten as he s ome-

H he d.s ! "times does? Ah, no . ere e ~s.

At that moment , t he Old Doctor en­tered the hall. He wa s a straight,tall , gray bea r ded, stately man i n ~

Prince Albert coat , old felt hat anu

July, 1961

wearing steel - rimmed spect acles , a vestbuttoned at the top f rom wh ich hung agold wa t ch cha i n, 100pil10 down to thelower left vest pocket. He carried along rough staff as he continued up theaisle, paying little heed to the stand­ing clapping audience . On the plat­fo~, he t urned to face the audienceand looked them over.

They soon qufet.ed down and, vli t houtany reference to their boisterous wel­come, he proceeded with his talk. Hewalked about some whf.Le talking , butoften stood motionless for emphasis.He directed his remarks to one sectionor one person after the other so thatit seemed that he talked individually toalmost each one present . As he approach­ed the end of h i s messa ge, he starteddown the aisle , still talking and let­ting his mes sage gr adua l l y die away ashe passed through the door. The closestattention wa s needed to hear the closingportions of his talk . This voice wasabout the only feature that suggestedhis a ge--or wa s it perhaps to demand closeattention? As I tried to follow hisusual technique , the standing ovationcompelled me to shout my exit line,"D.O. means DIG ON:" (This '/8S the onlytime I took any liberty 'lith the OldDoctor's words. He would never shoutand the above favored and familiar sen­tence, "D.O. means Dig On," as far as Iknow, was not spoken until much later.)

I was asked to gi ve an impersonationon the banquet program at the A .O.A .convention in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1935 .The Cleveland committee had exceeded myexpectations for the program . The dele­ga t es were taken by special trains toa summer resort , Cedar Point. The ban­quet was held in a large pavilion witha stage immediately back of the headtable. A large "Family Al bum" type offramework was built a nd placed on end .The cover wa s swung open like a doorand the person standing in the framema de a good portrait. Curtains con­cealed the "Album" until the close ofthe banquet when the entertainment wasto commence.

(continued on page 6)

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C L AS S

NOT E S

FIR S T

O N MEMBE RS

G R A DUA TI N G

o F TH E

Hi lliam Horace Ivie , D.O. , H.D.Berke ley , Calif.

The cover of the December issue ofthe A.O.H.S. Bulletin showed a pictureof the f i r s t class a t the American Schoolof Osteopathy . Dr. HuGh Fraser of Oak­l and, Calif . , is the s ource of t h i s pic­ture . He also gave me a copy. Dr. Fra ­ser treated Dr. Arthur A. Bird (o f thef i r s t gr adua t i ng class) and his 'life , whogave it t o him with the names attached.They were kee pi ng s ome sort of a r esthome i n, or nea r, Oak.Land , After urad­uating from the A.S .O. , Dr. Bir d did notwa nt a nyone to know he "laS an osteopathicphys ician, nor did Dr . J. D. Hill andDrs. A. and M. Pet er s (also of the f i rstgraduat ing class) . I n due t ime ) Dr.Hill studi ed medic ine and I believe t heDrs. Peter s did also . During rnlf yea r si n Sa n Fra ncis co , I never saw any one ofthe four .

Although Dr . Hi lli am Smith appea rsin the pict ure of t he f i r s t graduat ingclass in 1894, he recei ved his diplorrain 1893. This vra s the f i r s t osteopathicdiplorra to be issued and I have been priv­ileged to see it . Dr. Smith was thefirst M.D. to become interested in osteo­pathy . He was the f i r s t teacher afterDr . Andrew T . Still to teach in an os ­teopathic school. He taught at theA.S.O. three di f f e r ent times and as thefaculty gr ew he introduced the threeLittlejohn brothers i nt o the staff.vllien the Littlejohn brothers left t heschool in 1899-1900 , Dr. Smith went in-to private practice in Kansas City andthe Little johns vent t o Chicago a nd orga n­ized the American College of OsteopathicMedi ci ne and Surgery, later known as theLittlejohn College and Hospital.

4

M. Machin organized the Keokuk (IO\iB)College of Osteopathy , f r om which one ortwo classes "ere gradua t ed .

F. Polmeteer located in Kirksville andremained there in practice until hisdeath. He carried on a very successfulpractice. As a result of Dr. Polmeteer'sremaining in Kirlcsville, the A.S.O. insti­tuted 8 requirement that before a dmittanceto the college a student must sign astatement promising not to practice i nKirksville follo"ing gradua t i on .

Jenette H. Bolles t ook ove r t he ana­tOrnlf class " ork at the A.S .O. after Dr.Hi lli am Smith left the school . She al­so became the first editor of the col­lege'S publication, The Journa l ofOst eopathy. She "as the f i r s t D.O. t olocate in Colorado , arriving there i n1895, a nd founded the Colorado Col­lege of Osteopathy i n 1897 .

Dr. Arthur G. Hildreth, Dr. Charles E.Still a nd Dr. Harry M. Still foundedthe St i l l -Hi ldr et h Sanatorium at ~mcon,

Mo . Dr . Hildreth va s elected Pres identof the American Osteopathic Associationin 1899, but resigned to become an in­structor at the A.S .O., where he servedas Dean for a ",hile. In 1910 he wasagain el ect ed A.O.A. President andserved the full year . He authored thebook "The Lengthening Shadow of Dr.Andrew Taylor Still. "

Dr. Charles E. Still lived f or manyyears and carried on his father ' s vork ,He did much for the A.S .O. and the pr o­f es s i on. He was the first D.O. t o

A.O.H.S. Bulletin

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practice in the states of Minnesota andWi s consin.

Dr. Harry Sti ll did practi cal ly noteaching, alt hough he did much work inthe early days with hi s father on histrips around the sta t e- -later he was aKirksville ba nker •

Dr . Bla nche St i ll did a gr eat dealof wor k on The Journal of Osteopathy .

z She ma r r i ed George Laughlin, D.O., noted---sur geon a nd educator and f ounder of the

Laughlin Hospi ta l and the Andr-ew T. St i l lCollege of Osteopathy and Surgery, Kirks­ville.

Fred Still died a f ew mont hs aftergradua t ion. His death vas described i nt he June , 1894, i ssue of The Jour~al ofOs t eopathy . The article stated t hat heha d been crushed between a horse a nd thewall of a barn, causing a displa cementof t he heart . He was s ick f or some timeand while on his s f.ckbed " ••• a littlegi r l with a broken ,.,rist was brought t ohim. Whi le his uncle hel d t he arm, Fr edset i t and sent the l i t tle one away hap-py .• • "

Herma n St i l l went ar ound the countrypracticing i n one l ar0e city after anoth­er , milking all of them of easy cases.He did thi s adve r t i s i ng himself as "Theson of Dr . A. T. Stil l , Founder of Os t eo­pathy ." Mal\Y of t he prof ession criti­cized him severely for this met hod . Hewas the f i r s t D.O. to practice i n thes t at es of Illinois and Ohio .

The Old Doctor 's elder br other, Ed­ward C. Still, M.D. , D.O. , practicedmed i c i ne an d surgery a nd os teopat hy f orma ny years at Ma con, Mo . , t went y milessout h of Kirksville on t he Wabash R.R.He ha d broken his nec k and was left "Iitha pe rmanent badly crooked one .

M. L. Wa r d, suffering from a ve rysevere attack of asthn~ , was br oughton a stretcher to see Dr . Still . Myrecol lect ion is t hat this occurredon one of Dr . Stil l ' s trips throughsout hwes t er n Missouri. He va s cur edand became a student at t he A.S . O. Dr .Sti l l told me tha t he was an excellent

July, 1961

oper at or , but a very poor student . Fol­lowing hi s graduation, Dr . Ward fellout ",i t h Dr . St i ll and went t o st . Louisto attend t he Bar nes Medi cal Col l ege.He then returned to Ki rks vil l e and open­ed an ost eop at hi c col l ege in the BeckyHarri s f l ats until a building could beerected. The school was incorporatedi n 1897 as The Gr eat Col umbi an Schoolof Ost eopat hy (later became the Colum­bian School of Osteopathy). The build­ing was completed, but due to f inances ,Dr . War d could not make a go of i t andin 1900 t he school was closed, withsome of its students going to t he A. S.O.and others to the Dr. S. S. Still Col ­lege of Osteopathy at Des Moi nes.

Andr ew P. Davis , who was an M.D , anda homeopath pr i or to graduating from theA.S.O. , authored "Osteopathy Illustrated"in 1899 , at which time he was conductinga school at Qui ncy , Ill. - -the Qui ncyOst eopat hi c Institute.

(continued on pa ge 8 )

OSTEO-QUOTE

By Ben C. Schar f , D. O.

Bel ow is an outst anding quotationfrom some l ea der, spokesman or ,.,r i t e r

.i n osteopathy . Do you know who madet his statement? Sel ect one of thet hr ee possible choices . For the cor­r ect answer, s ee pa ge 6.

"The r eal problem i n t h i s professionis not our minority status but the quali­ty of the individual phys i cia n who gr ad ­uates f rom an os teopathic institution.I f mor e of our physicians t ruly believedand practiced t he principles of t hisprofession, we might not be f aced witha problem such as exists in California •••This prof es s i on has always said that itis better t ha n, and not j ust the sa mea s ,1;he medi cal prof ess i on . We f oughtso hard for r ecogni t ion that we havealmost recognized ourselves out ofexistence ."

(1) Dr . Char les L. Nayl or(2) Dr . George 'vT . Northup(3) Dr . Roy J . Harvey

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Dr . Andrew Taylor St i l l(continued 'from page 3)

Dr . Thomas R. ,Thor burn, t hen A".O.A . 'President, turned t he meet i ng over t othe Executive Secr eta ry , Dr. Rus s ell C.McCaugha n . A' gr oup of ab out t wenty prom­i nent osteopathic physicians ha d been se­l ected for introduction. On signal fromDr . McCaughan, .t he Old Doctor's gra nd­daughter, a lovely l itt le gi r l , svrungopen the "Album" door revealing the f i r s tV.I. P. , whose identity and accomplish­ments wer e then announced to the audience .So, similar~y in turn, each of the intro­duct i ons was ~Ede .

This wa s a very i nteresting offer -i ng to the approxdma te.Iy eleven hundredguests and an ideal lead-up to the "OldDoctor," who appeared on t he "last pa ge"of the "Album." He paus ed a moment inthe frame, then stepped through the open­ing to t he f ront of the stage. Fromt here he gave the short address he hadchosen. Wi t h the l ast few lines hebacked up through the open "Album" a nddisappeared, as the lights dirr~ed a ndthe curtains slowly closed . So pass edi nto history anot her Amer i can Osteopa ­t hi c Association banquet , perhaps anunusual one .

The next morning one of my friendst old me that Mr s . George laUghlin, theOld Doct or ' s daughter , ha d seemed quitedi s t urbed on the appearance of the OldDoctor . Tnis di st ressed me not a little,f or I thought I ha d done everything pos­sible to avoid displeasing any memberof the family or other close f r iend . Ispoke t o Dr . George Laughlin about itand he assured me t hat "Blanche" wa snot di spl ea s ed but sa id, "Go upstairsa nd speak to her about i t ." This Idi d at once and she received me gr a­cious ly and r eassured me t ha t the strong

ANSlffiR TO OSTEO- QUOTE (Pa ge 5)

Dr . George H. Nort hup speaking at t hePresident 's Conference ca lled Qy Dr.Roy J . Harvey on May 25, 1961. I s­sued as a special 'report to the mem­ber s of the A . O.A .

6

liGhts a nd her nearness t o the stagestartled her a nd the r esembla nce didstir her memor ies for a moment . Butshe added, "I vTish you would make this~resentation each year for the studentsof al l the colleges . " He taIlced rur­ther for a short time on t hat note . Ithanked her again and r etired. Thatexperience is a very dea r memory to me .

A complete r eport of row exper iencesin impersonating Dr . Still on other oc­casions has been placed on f i l e wi ththe secreta ry of the American Osteopa ­thic Historical Society . My last per­f ormance at the 1949 convention of theOnt ar i o Osteopathic Associat i on i nKi t chener , Ontario, was the closingof the chapter "Thich vTaS so revardangto me and which va s off er ed as a smallt ribute to that very unusual and verygr ea t man- -Dr. Andr ew Taylor Still .

The impersonation of a Gr ea t ma nis an accomplishment; a grea t er worki s the actual following of his t eachingand his efforts to befriend mankind . Dr.Still would have us prove this .

"By his deeds we have known him. "

ARCHIVE CONTRIBUTIONS

Our thanks to :

Dr . Wi l l i am Hor ace Ivie, Berkeley,Calif ., for a copy of a t in type ofDr . Andrew T. Still , t.alcen i n 1885 atMi l l a r d, Mo . , seve n mi l es south ofKirksville . Of this pi ct ure , Dr . Iviesay s: " I sent the or'LgdnaL to Dr .Charlie ' s daughter, care of the A.S .O.It is probably the earliest picture ofDr . Still. lIJY mother a nd fa t her wereliving at 1-1illard and were gi ven theoriginal by Dr. Still."

Dr . E. S . Detwiler, London, Ont . ,Canada , f or the f ollowing pi ct ures , in­cluding identification of ma ny of thosepersons appearing in them: Dissectionclass at A.S .O. 1907 or 1908; BritishEmpi r e Club at A.S .O. 1907 or 1909;1909 A. S . O. class pictured i n front ofDr . Still's home .

A.O.H.S . Bulletin

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D. O.THE

TH E

FI R S T

A. O. A.

WOM AIl

CE NT RAL

I N

O F F ICE

Eva 1:1. Magoon Somer ville, D. a .St. Johnsbury, Vt .

. . .

Many of my friends in the professionhad told me of the days long gone, sothat I was well prepared for my part inthe life of our national association(A .O.A.) in the 1920 's and following.By the time I gr aduat ed from the Chica­go Colle ge of Ost eopat hy in 1922, therevTas a large contingent of student mem­bers in t he A.O.A. Hhen my f at her andmot her gave me a hundred dollars as agraduation gift , they sug ges ted t hatI use it f or a t r ip to Los Angeles toattend the A.a .A. Convention. It mor ethan paid my fare t her e and back to myhome in Pr ovi dence, R. I. This tripto the convention changed the course ofmy life for t he next year.

vli t h my portable t ypevrrit er I t r an­scribed a speech of one of the doctorson the special train whi ch carried itsload of convention goer s West . Vli t hmy shorthand I IIcovered" the Eye, Ear ,Nose and Throat specialty convention,following the A.a . A. meeting, and somissed out on a trip t hat had beenscheduled to the Sunny Slope Labora­tory of the A. T. St i l l Research I nst i ­tute .

Being independent, I took the elec­tric interurban train the followingday to s ee t he r esear ch wor k at t helaboratory for mys el f . I had been toldthat another gr oup was going by auto,but I was t oo r et icent t o ask to jointhem .

I began what promised t o be a longwalk from the t r ain and as I stopped ata f ork in t he road to consider whi ch way

July, 1961

I should go, ' I heard a hail . 'Sweepi ngaround t he bend behind me and paus i ngfor t he same r eason was the carload ofosteopathic celebri ties, who had beendelayed because they had lost t heir wayoutside of Los Angeles . They invited meto join the group. After our visit att he laboratory, I vras urged to r eturnto Los Angeles liit h them.

This gave me a chance to get betteracquainted with t he doctors in thegr oup. They were A.a.A. Pr es i dent ,

, Sam L. Scothor n; Pr es ident - Elect ,GeorGe \1. Goodc jIncoming Secr et ar y ,Cyrus J . Gaddi s ; past Pr es i dent , C. D.'S,Tope; and F. M. Ni chol son. Dr . Ni chol ­son had been my chief in the laboratorydepartment and head of the Department ofHi st ol ogy and Pathology at t he ChicagoCollege all t hrough my year s as a student .Because I had made good as his assistant,he was ni c e enough to praise my wor k,and to t el l the other men abotffi my back­gr ound, because he knew t hat they werelooking for an assistant f or the newA.a .A. office to be set up in Chicagothat summer. Becaus e of t his i nterview,Dr . Gaddi s asked me t o consider thepos i t ion and after he was formally in­stated as Secr et ar y by a post - conven-

< tion meeting of the A. O.A. Trustees, hecalled me and practically bound the bar­gain as far as he could do so at t hatt i me .

On what a smal l incident can a changei n pl ans hi.nge ,' I went home to t ake my

; ; -Rhode EsLand a nd neighboring state boardexaminat i ons and these were behind mebefore I heard from Dr. Gaddis again.

( cont inued on next page)

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Page 9: A.O.H.S.BULLETIN - ATSU · 2019-04-11 · A.O.H.S. BULLETIN Published by the AMERICA N OSTEOPATHIC HISTORICAL SOCIEIY An affiliated organization of the American Osteopathic Association

Eventually I received a wire statingt hat he was on his way from Cal i f or ni ato Chic ago, t hat I was chosen as hisassistant, and asking if I would comeout as soon as possible to help him andthe other very snall staff get s et t l edand started. Aft er receiving Pr es i dentGoode's O.K. , I returned t o Chi cago asthe first woman D.O. to work in ourA.O.A. Cent r al Office.

The office at 623 South \labas h Avenuewas di ngy , dusty, and noisy, but a lotwas accomplished there . Dr. Har r y L.Chiles,* the pioneer Secr et ary, had per­suaded his assistant to come to Chi cagofrom Or ange , N. J ., where she had workedwith him, and help us keep the "r opes "straight, as he had them laid out . Hername was Madeline Rosche and, after ayear or two, she returned to New Jerseyto marry Marty Roger s , a traffic offi­cer in Orange. I kept in touch withthem for many years until their deaths,not too long ago .

Mr . R. H. McCl ur e was hired as Busi­ness Manager and he used Hi ss Rosche aspart-t ime assistant, as well as Mi ssRose ·Mary Moser , who did a gr eat deal ofthe financial work , collecting dues anddoing the bookkeeping. In 1934, afterproving her capabilities, Hi ss Hoser be­came Treasurer of the Associ at i on. In1957 she r etired and became the wife ofDr. Wayne Dool ey, of Los Angel es . Weare st i l l close friends and meet occa­sionally t o r eminisce on the old dayswhen we three women and t he t wo men ranthe A.O.A. office i n its Chicago begin­ning- -a considerable advancement overthe small room in Dr. Chi l es office­home in the East .

That year of being gener al assistantto Dr. Gaddi s involved taking hislengthy dictation, filing his mail, so ­liciting and arranging material forThe Journal of the A. O. A. and OsteopathicMagazine, sending copy to the printer,reading proof, making up the dummiesfor the two publ i cat i ons , and some-times writing editorials and articles .There was also r evie.nng of books andarranging and cataloguing t he smalllibrary t hat was accumulating in t heheadquarter s office.

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Not t he least of my duties, was themeet.Lng of the many visitors, member s of

. the pr of essi on and others, and somet imesmeet i ng t heir trains and guidi ng themto t he office if they t-rer e strangers toChi cago. I have counted among my bestfr iends many of those contacted in thisway and kept in touch with t hem overthe years. Hor e t han one urged me t otake Dr. Gaddi s ' pl ace; even after Dr.C. N. Cl ark came in as Bus iness Manager ,taking over Mr. l-IcCl ure ' s post followinghis deat h . After much pr ayer f ul con­s i der at i on , I decided that, since Ihad been educated for the practice ofosteopathy, it was about time I got atit. So I left Habash Avenue late in1923, feeling grateful for all I hadga i ned and glad that I could have givena ye ar of my career to the wor-k of thenational headquarters.

* Edi t or ' s Note: Dr. Chiles served asSecr et a ry of the A.O.A. for 15 years,first being elected in 1904 .

Not es on ~embers of Fi r st Class(c ontinued from pa ge 5)

J . (John L. ) Por t er , who is my uncle,and H. (W.T. ) Por t er , his son, never stud­ied osteopathy . I asked my Uncl e Johnabout t his picture. He t old me that heand his son wer e walkir~ around t he Dubl i csquare and Dr . St ill and t he ot her s askedt hem to join t he gro up vThich was t o haveits pi cture taken . This t hey did. UncleJ ohn Porter ' s sister .18s the ,.ife ofMr . Rober t Har r i s , of t-rhom Dr . Stillspeaks so highly on pa ge 27 and otherpages of his autobiography. His son,W. T. Porter, wrote up the first A. S. O.incorporation papers, of which Dr . Stilla.lways strongly disapproved. The secondincorporation was built upon the basisof the laws governi ng teaching institu­tions and was much better all around .

Of the others in the photograph Iknow nothing at this time . Dr . Still andDr . Laughlin had copies of the picture.Dr. Still's copy was lost and Dr. Laugh­l in's was put in the Smithsonian Insti­t ute .

A.O.H.S . Bull et i n