Book: Wintersville Citizen

              VOL. 2, NO. 10                                   THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1964- TEN PAGES                                        $5.00 per year, 10,


WALTER MILLS -


SCOUNTRY DOCTOR


     By EVE SEITER
  If you can remember a time
  when your family Doctor was
  available whenever you be-
  came ill, when the medicine
  he dispensed was measured
  from fascinating little, vials
  in a mysterious black bag or
  from =ven more fascinating
  bottles and jars in a back
  room of his -office; if you can
  .remember a time when the
  same family Doctor Delivered
  your baby sister, set Junior's
  broken ann and gently eased
  Grandmother through her last
illness, performing each skill-
ful act of mercy .and. service
within your home; then you
have- known someone like
Doctor Mills of East Spring-
field!
  Walter Mills, General Prac-
  titioner, has been serving the
  community in which he lives
  for fifty years. Tall and quiet,
with   a ready   wit, Doctor
Mills typifies all that was
best in the country Doctor of
fifty years ago and the family
Doctor today., At seventy-five
years of age, he keeps regular
office hours five days a week
from 12 noon till -2 o'clock and
from 6 till 8 o'clock in the
evening. His conscientious
practice of medicine has not
changed as it has become
easier.
  Walter Mills was fresh out of
medical school in July, 1915,
when he came to East Spring-
field to hang out his shingle.
He   was-- to quote him-----
C"really poor." He had gone
from his farm home in Harri-
son County to Franklin Col-
lege: where 'he earned     a
Bachelor's Degree. From
there he traveled to Starling
College to acquire his medical
degree. There were 54 members
in his graduating class, in-
cluding one woman. Of the
54 graduates 18 survive, 17
men and the lone woman. Th ese
18 mil hold their 50th class
reunion at Ohio State Univer-
sity in April. O.S.U. took over
the Starling College Medical
School in 1915.
  Following his internship at
Mt. Carmel Hospital, Dr. Mills
journeyed to East Springfield.
He had thought that he would
begin his professional career


in Bergholz or Amsterdam but
he discovered that Berahclz
already had three established
Doctors and Amsterdam had
four! A friend suggested that
the Warner Coal Company,
near East Springfield, might
welcome a Doctor. With a
light Palm Beach suit, a top-
less buggy and one horse, his
education and his youth, Wal-
ter Mills came to serve the
area. Today he laughingly
reflects on the appearance of


the light suit after a visit to
the mines. He recalls that an
topless buggy was a little
chilly in the winter, too.
  There   were no improved
  roads in the area in 1915 ex-
  cept the cobblestone pike tio
  Steubenville. The   country
  Doctor sloshed through mud and
  slush, rain and snow, to reach
  his patients. There were no
  ambulances and oil lights were
  the norm.
  Dr. Mills must have pros-
  pered, for almost immediately
he bought a car.! It was an
Alter, a four cylindered, black
Roadster which he would use
only in the summer on dry
roads. He paid $750 for it,
$250 as a down payment and
the balance in two notes. Of
course, at the time he was
paid   $15 for delivering a
baby!
  Car, notwithstanding, he had
to keep four horses in the
winter in order to reach hi's
patients in their need! He was,
afterall, on twenty-fourhour
call and there were countless
babies to be delivered. Dr.
Mills estimates that he has,
in all, delivered about 4,000
babies, often as many as ten
in one family!
  Naturally an earnest, good
looking young man, a Doc-
tor wiith a car, was bound to
end up married! Walter Mills
fell in love with Madeline
Frost, who was born and
reared in Crawtord County.
He confided to this writer that
he. thought then he couldn't
live without her and that he
now knows he couldn't.
  About Ten years ago Walter
Mills gave up ushering babies
into the world. Continually
delivering- children was "just
too hard." His final delivery
had all the earmarks of his
first! One night in February
he traveled to the home of an
expectant mother as a violent
thunderstorm  lashed     the


area. As labor progressed the
lights went out and the wee
babe was delivered by iunp-
light and Walter Mills' flash-
light.
  Dr. Mills applauds medical
advances, drug discoveries
and increased hospital facil-
ities. He finds them good in
the light of his remembranc-
of another day. He recalls, too,
the hardiness of patients who
survived without such aids.
Forty years ago, for instance,
Walter Mills was called in a
frightful emergency. A farm
woman had been horribly gorea -
by a cow. Treating her re-
quired   replacement "of her
vital organs and a simple
sewing up of her abdomen!
She lived, bore another child
and died recently of a mali-
gnancy.
  Following an appendectomy
in 1955 Dr. Mills decided
to retire. He. did--for a couple
of weeks! He "couldn't stand
it!" He plans to practice
medicine till he-is "automa-
tically retired." He makes
fewer house calls these days
because of impaired vision
which     necessitates   his
wife's service as cnauffeur.
He has made a solemn pro-
mise, however, to continue
always to call on one of his
patients, a 95 year old woman
whom   he has served these
fifty years!
  Dr. Mills and :his wife live
in the home they built when
they were married. ,They have
a daughter living in Cadiz and
"a wonderful twelve year old
grandson." Dr. Mills actively
manages a 215 acre farm and
serves on the Board of a bank
which he helped organize in
nearby Amsterdam. This tall,
quiet man with the ready wit
has served his community with-
out stint for fifty years-- a
truly dedicated Country Doc-
tor, Walter Mills.


                  Dr. Mill's home and office.


Boy Scout Week Proclaimed


Left to right-Bob Snyder, Master of Cub Pack 2 and Bud Wilson,
Master of Cub Pack 12 witness the signature of Mayor Thomas
Albaugh to a Proclamation, proclaiming the week of February 7-
13 as, Boy Scout Week.. The Proclamation reads in part: Wheras,
February 8, 1964, is the 54th anniversary of the founding of the
Boy Scouts of America as a program, for all boys, and Wheras, the
Boy Scouts of America has affected the lives of 37,500,000 boys
and men, and now has an active enrollment of more than 5.410.000
of whom 300 are locally active I, Thomas Albaugh, Mayor of the
City of Wintersville in the state of Ohio, do hereby proclaim the
week of February 7-13 as Boy Scout Week.

  STRENGTHEN AMERICA


NOTICE


t per copy


Dr. Walter Mills


NOTICE: Temporary change
in traffic control signal at
the intersection of Route 43.
Traffic will be required to
stop on red signal of the
light. Traffic heading east
on Route 22 may turn left,
with caution, on red or
green signal light.
           Thomas Albaugh
                     Mayor