George W. Guthrie / [Charles Harrison Frazier].

  • Frazier, Charles H. (Charles Harrison), 1870-1936
Date:
1929
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: George W. Guthrie / [Charles Harrison Frazier]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ROY MOODIE COLLECTION. Reprint from SURGERY, GYNECOLOGY AND OBSTETRICS July, 1929, pages 117-119 GEORGE W. GUTHRIE CHARLES H. FRAZIER, M.D., F.A.C.S., Philadelphia A GENTLEMAN of the old school, a surgeon of distinction, a cultivated leader of his community, a staunch and devoted friend. In this mental picture, still so vivid, of Dr. George W. Guthrie, who died at Wilkes- Barre, June 1, 1915, these attributes seem to portray his character. Born in Guthrieville, Chester County, Pennsylvania, he was a descendant of Scotch Presbyterians who had emigrated and settled in Eastern Pennsylvania early in the eighteenth century. He began his career as a teacher in the Public Schools and, because of his practical experience and interest in educational problems, he became a director of the school board, in which capacity he served for forty years and impressed his leadership on the reorganization and direction of the Public School System. In his twenty-fifth year he first turned his attention to medicine, beginning his studies under the old preceptor system and graduating later from the University of Pennsylvania. It is difficult adequately to sketch the career of the man, who, as I affection¬ ately recall him, represented an ideal, a prototype of what seemed finest and best in the profession of medicine. It was not so much that he had attained distinction in practice, first as family physician and later as surgeon—this was recognized by the community who elected him to the staff of the Wilkes-Barre City Hospital and consulting surgeon on the staffs of hospitals in adjacent communities; it was recognized by exclusive organizations as when he was chosen a Fellow of the American Surgical Association. It was the associated attributes, attributes which round out a man no matter what his profession, which made George W. Guthrie admired, respected, and beloved. In the blood of his veins there ran a strict sense of all that was honorable in manhood. All that he said rang so true and all that he did was so untainted with selfish interests, that he soon became the confidant and friend and the leader, guide, philosopher and friend, if you choose, of his associates. He was, in fact, the dean of the medical fraternity throughout the Wyoming Valley and it was largely the reflection of his influence that in Wilkes-Barre there was during his day a very unusual group of splendid physicians and surgeons. He recognized, as few do, his obligations to organized medicine and carried much more than his share of the responsibilities of upholding the standards and Copyright, 1929, by Surgical Pub. Co. of Chicago