Volume XIV, Number 1 Spring 2003

Pestilence, Politics, and Pizazz:

The Story of Public Health in LasVegas by Annie Blachley is nowavailable from statewide bookstores, Greasewood Press, and theUniversity of Nevada Press. Thebook is $35 and can be purchasedat a book signing by Dr. OttoRavenholt, March 27, 11:00 A.M.at the Clark County HealthDepartment 625 Shadow Lane inLas Vegas. The book about thehistory of public health in ClarkCounty features Dr. Ravenholt’sbiography. He is “Mr. Public Healthin Nevada”and has served since1963.

Frederick M.Anderson, M.D.,

Father of the MedicalSchool

Las Vegas Book Signingof

Pestilence, Politics andPizazz

This past January threeextraordinary doctors, who hadgreat impact on medicine inNevada, died. Dr. Fred Anderson,who was the prime mover to startthe University of Nevada School ofMedicine, died January 17; Dr.Tom Hood, who was the last of the

Comment by the Editor

dynasty of Nevada’s six DoctorsHood, died January 24; and Dr. BobLocke, who was Nevada’s firstpulmonary physician and founderof Washoe Medical Center’stuberculosis ward, died January 26.This issue of Greasewood Tablettesis dedicated to their careers andaccomplishments.

Fred Anderson was born in 1906and raised in eastern Nevada on aranch in the Ruby Mountains. He re-lated that he was a cowboy beforeworking in a pharmacy in the smalltown of Ruth. According to his oralhistory, recorded by the University ofNevada Oral History Program, hepassed the state pharmacy board ex-amination, “worked one day as a phar-macist” and then attended the Univer-sity of Nevada in Reno. There, hecame under the influence of Profes-sor Peter Frandsen who persuadedAnderson to study medicine. Aftergraduation in 1928, he was awarded a

Rhodes scholarship at Oxford Univer-sity. Fred returned to the United Statesand medical school at Harvard wherehe graduated cum laude. Like Doc-tors Bob Locke and Tom Hood, he wasa military veteran and returned afterthe war to his roots in Nevada to prac-tice. “There might have been others whoearlier thought Nevada should have amedical school, but Fred had the vi-sion and the position to make it hap-pen. In the early 1960s, he was chair-man of the University of NevadaBoard of Regents and a member ofthe Western Interstate Commission forHigher Education. The commissionwas composed of three representa-tives from each of the western stateswithout a medical school. It initiated afeasibility study for a medical schoolin one of these states, and Nevada,under Dr. Anderson’s leadership, wasselected. The finished feasibility studywas presented to the university’s Boardof Regents in a contentious meetingon February 11, 1967. Chairman FredAnderson relinquished the gavel,stepped down, and fired the ‘shot’heard around the state. His motion fu-eled the north-south fight that wouldhaunt Nevada for years. It pitted the

surging growth of Las Vegas andClark County against the establishedtradition of the north. He moved to‘form a two-year school of basic medi-

extensive collection of Nevada brand-ing irons is on exhibit at the Nugget inSparks. It has been said that when Dr.Anderson asked for a branding iron to

be donated for histori-cal preservation, itwas not refused. TheHistory of MedicineLibrary in the newPennington EducationBuilding on the Renocampus is also exhib-iting some ofAnderson’s collection.Its museum is namedin his honor. The ex-hibit case in the en-trance of the buildingwill be arranged thisspring to house memo-rabilia related to Dr.Anderson’s life. Itwould be incomplete

from the state. He claimed that he gotlicense #1 because he was the onlydoctor who had the $1 fee. (The origi-nal license is on display in the officeof the Nevada Board of Medical Ex-aminers and a copy is in the DoctorsHood History of Medicine Library inthe Pennignton Building. ) Anotheruncle, Dr. Charles John Hood, cameto eastern Nevada in 1894. Tom’s fa-ther, Dr. Arthur James Hood joinedCharles John in Elko in 1903. He diedin 1958. Completing the six DoctorsHood were Tom’s two cousins, ArthurJ. II “Bart” and Dwight L. “Dutch,”who were leading physicians in Reno.Both Bart and Dutch graduated fromthe University of Nevada. There is adisplay honoring all six, in the Doc-tors Hood History of Medicine Li-brary on the University of NevadaSchool of Medicine campus in Reno.The library was named to recognizetheir contributions to the state and wasmade possible by a donation fromChuck Charleton, Dr. Bart Hood’sstepson. After graduating from high schoolin Elko, Tom attended Pomona Col-lege in California and WashingtonUniversity Medical School in St. Louis.Medical Officer Hood served in theU.S. Navy at the end of World War II,and then did a general surgery resi-dence in San Francisco. Returning toElko, Tom practiced for thirty yearsin the Elko Clinic before he retired.During his years of practice in Elko,Tom had a strong commitment to hisprofession (president of the NevadaState Medical Association), commu-nity (chairman of the Elko Civic Au-ditorium building committee), state(Distinguished Nevadan Award), andchurch (senior warden of St. Paul’sEpiscopal Church). He was a leaderin each of these endeavors. He iscredited by Dr. George Smith, found-ing dean of the Nevada School ofMedicine, as being crucial to gettingsupport to start the school. Dr. Smithnoted that he was paid to establish theschool, and he marveled that Dr. Hood

cal sciences, taking the first class inthe fall of 1971 or 1972.’ It passed sixto two. Southern Regents DickRonzone and Dr. Juanita G. White ex-pressed doubt whether the state couldfinancially support the school and votedagainst it.” (This quote is taken fromBetter Medicine: The History of theUniversity of Nevada School ofMedicine. The full story in BetterMedicine will be published in the booklater this year.) For his role in the drama of creat-ing the University of Nevada Schoolof Medicine, Anderson was named the“Father of the Medical School.” Fur-thermore, the first building in theSchool’s complex is the Fred M.Anderson Building. In addition to hisrole in education, Fred had a sense ofhistory that was uncommon. As hetraveled around the state consulting onmedical cases, he amassed a collec-tion of nineteenth-century medical in-struments, antique books, Indian arti-facts, and items related to ranching. Fred never forgot his ranchingbackground and time in the saddle. His

Dr. Thomas Knight HoodThe Last of the Hood

Dynasty

to relate the above information with-out saying something about Dr. Ander-son as a physician. Attorney RalphDenton who practices in Las Vegasand served on the advisory committeeto the dean of the medical school wasa good friend of Dr. Anderson. Mr.Denton recalled when his son had afatal burn and Dr. Anderson heard ofthe accident, he immediately traveledto Las Vegas to comfort the family andtreat the boy. He wouldn’t take apenny in payment. Governor MikeO’Callaghan summed it by saying,“Anderson was extremely intelligent,but also compassionate.”

Frederick M. Anderson, M.D.

Thomas K. Hood was born on May13, 1921, in Elko into Nevada’s mostprominent family of physicians. Hisuncle, Dr. William Henry Hood, cameto Battle Mountain in 1886, and in1899, received the first medical license

GREASEWOOD TABLETTES © is a quarterly publication of the Department of Pathology, Great Basin History of Medicine Division,University of Nevada School of Medicine. The editor is L. Dee Brown and the associate editor is Phyllis Cudek. Anton P. Sohn is our chiefhistorian and Lynda D. McLellan and Gussie Burgoyne is our production assistant. The newsletter is printed by the University of NevadaPrinting Shop. The cost of publication is paid for by a grant from Parks, Ritzlin and Sohn, Ltd. The editor solicits any items of interestfor publication. Suggestions, corrections and comments are welcome. Please feel free to write or call us. The address is Department ofPathology/350, University of Nevada School of Medicine, Reno, NV, 89557. Our telephone is (775) 784-4068. The name GREASEWOODTABLETTES © is derived from the greasewood plant or creosote bush, a plant that was used by Native Nevadans for medicinal purposes. Itis still the subject of pharmacological research today.

was not paid, but nonetheless workedhard to make the school a success.Just as important was his devotion tohis family and Irene his wife of 58years. Dr. Hood’s obituary in the Renopaper states, “Tom will be rememberedfor his altruism.” The editor of theGreasewood Tablettes has neverknown Tom to say “no” when askedto help others. He truly was dedicatedto helping others. In 1993 when theeditor was researching 19th centurymilitary medicine and Nevada’s sevenpermanent forts, Dr. Hood volunteeredto arrange visits to eastern Nevada’stwo forts, Ruby and Halleck. He ac-companied us on the excursions andhelped locate the ruins.

Dr. Robert Locke:Reno, Iwo Jima, and

Back

Dr. Bob Locke was a quiet,modest man, who did not bragabout or mention his bravery dur-ing World War II. Although it wasknown that he had been awardedthe Navy Cross, his account of pri-vation with honor on Iwo Jima wasfound after his death, and his in-volvement in the tuberculosistreatment is described in PeopleMake the Hospital: The Historyof Washoe Medical Center. Henever forgot his university andserved as a full-time physician atthe student health facilities. Bob was born in Mt. Pleasant,Utah, in 1920. The family moved

to Reno ten years later. When he at-tended the University of Nevada, hecame under the influence of famedProfessor Peter Frandsen, who wasresponsible for many Nevada studentspursuing careers in medicine and den-tistry. While Bob was attending theUniversity of McGill Medical Schoolin Montreal, Japan bombed PearlHabor. The following year, Bob en-listed in the U.S. Navy, and in 1943 af-ter graduation, Ensign Locke reportedfor active duty at Treasure Island inthe San Francisco Bay. He volun-teered for Marine Corps duty, but fur-ther training was interrupted by thedesperate situation in the Pacific. Hurry-up exercises on Maui’sbeaches did not prepare Battalion Sur-geon Locke for the horror that was tofollow on Iwo Jima. He wrote, “In-tensive education as to the exact land-ing location occupied the last twoweeks prior to landing, along with DDT

dusting and wax impregnation of allcombat clothing to prevent typhus andother pest-borne disease.” Then, whathistory would record as one of thebloodiest battles of the Pacific ensued.The Japanese deliberately ignored thefirst wave of U.S. troops on the beachof Iwo Jima in order to trap them andthe second wave on the narrow stripof sand. Senior Officer Locke was placedin charge of the second wave of ve-hicles on the right flank, but as his leadvehicle reached its goal, “The radiofairly screamed us back to sea in thatwe were definitely in Japanese terri-tory.” As they regrouped, intense mor-tar fire erupted destroying all landingcraft and pinning them down on 30feet of beach. During the intense en-

Dr. Thomas Knight Hood

emy fire, Locke remembered, “I madea flying leap off the front of the ve-hicle and landed in neck high waterand waded on in to my unit.” A fewseconds later his vehicle and the re-maining occupants were annihilated. “For the next 72 hours we weretotally confined to the narrow beachstrip.” Locke’s Navy Cross citationsread, “An adjacent unit was in thecenter of the heaviest concentrationof artillery and mortar fire and wassufferingextremecasual-ties be-yond theabilitiesof its de-p l e t e dmedicalsections. With total disregard for hisown safety, Lt. J. G. Locke voluntar-ily left his covered position and enteredthe shelled area four times and helpedcarry wounded to the evacuation sta-tion.” Locke: “almost every foxholethat I visited blew up within secondsof my leaving.” During the following 21 days, theJapanese continually killed Americansby creeping out of the tunnels at nightand infiltrating their positions. Locke:“ It was discovered that the Japanesewere infiltrating in American uniformsduring the night in small groups andwere swimming to sea and coming

Footnote to Dr. T. ParryTyson: A Serious Case

of Over Study

A few days after we published thearticle on Dr. Tyson, we received acall from Dr. Ed Cantlon, a longtimeReno Surgeon. Ed remembers vividlythe day Tyson was killed in February1923 in the Nevada House. Ed wastwelve at the time and living inWadsworth on the family ranch. Hewas sent down to get the mail fromthe Columbus Hotel, which is acrossthe railroad tracks from the NevadaHouse. Authorities would not let any-one cross the tracks because a “crazyman,” in the Nevada House, wantedto kill white folks for what they did tothe Indians. Joe Bazzini owned theNevada House, also called the BazziniHotel. Ed was in the post office whenTyson was shot so he didn’t hear thegunshots. According to Dr. Cantlon,the hotel was eventually sold to JoeBianchini who became a longtime pa-tient of his. We are always glad to hear fromour readers. We also got a call fromDr. Ralph Mabey from Las Vegas, andhe enjoyed the story.

back in on the beach.” The second part of Locke’s cita-tion notes that under enemy fire Lt. J.G. Locke waded out to a small boatevacuating the wounded and forcedthe crew that refused to leave becauseof the intense fire to take the woundedoff the island. At the end of the Iwobattle Dr. Locke wrote, “Actually, theflag raising on Iwo was very prema-ture to those of us there and was farfrom the climax. Probably the true cli-

max was our cem-etery trips, the lastfew days before fi-nal securing of theisland, through thethousands of deadlined beside rows ofcrosses, attemptingto identify and lo-

cate lost friends.” After Dr. Locke returned to Reno,he was appointed to the Washoe Medi-cal Center medical staff on July 2,1947. In 1951 the Washoe Trusteesagreed with the medical staff’s rec-ommendation that he manage all pa-tients on the TB ward. He practicedinternal medicine for three decadesbefore retiring. Dr. Locke died at theage of 82.

Locke: “almost every foxholethat I visited blew up withinseconds of my leaving.”