August 10, 2019
Saturday Mornings with the Pioneers
Continuing the Conversations 2019
West Volusia Historical Society re-enactors will be in the DeLand House Parlor again this summer. Come join them to talk informally about early 20th Century West Volusians who helped shape the culture we enjoy today. DeLand House Front Parlor, 137 W. Michigan Avenue, DeLand.
Dr. Charles E. Tribble, M.D. (1904-1981), a Stetson University (1926) and Yale University School of Medicine (1931) graduate, chose to practice in DeLand when his older brother Lewis joined the Stetson law faculty in 1934. His account of his years on the DMH medical staff provides a clear picture of life as a small town doctor working in a hospital with a used X-ray machine, no laboratory, and an operating room open only to whites. He helped sneak black patients from Burgess Pavilion into DMH after hours for needed care. - Portrayed by Jerry Horton
June 8, 2019
June 22, 2019
Amanda Walker Worthy (1872-1932), unlike some of her colleagues, is often named in accounts of acute health care in West Volusia. She began working as a laundress and probably was trained by an older, more experienced midwife. She became Dr. S.R. Coleman’s nurse when he opened his DeLand practice in 1918. He gave her additional training before she attended a birthing school in Buffalo, N.Y. Before the Burgess Pavilion opened in 1926, it was to her house, just west on East Howry from Dr. Coleman’s, that seriously ill patients were taken after treatment in the doctor’s office.- Portrayed by Patrice Tankard
July 20, 2019
Amy Rose Mann, R.N. (1885-1983) has been called the mainstay of DeLand Memorial Hospital. In June 1918 she had just finished nursing school in New York City and planned to return there to work after visiting her parents in DeLand. But family friend Arch Wood (later mayor), and Dr. George Davis convinced her she was needed more in her hometown. She stayed, first to help Dr. Davis open a clinic downtown in time for the Spanish Flu epidemic, and then to head the nursing staff at the city’s first modern hospital for more than two decades. - Portrayed by Caryn Long
Dr. George Augustus Davis, M.D. (1858-1948), one of West Volusia’s earliest doctors, was a catalyst for decades of health care progress. When a clinic or hospital, trained nurse or surgeon was needed, he started the ball rolling or made the contact. The Georgia native opened the first clinic, staffed by Nurse Amy Mann, in time to fight Spanish Flu. He headed the first modern hospital, again with Nurse Mann, and persuaded another Georgian, Surgeon Hugh West, to join him. His worn bag is part of the Doctor’s Office exhibit at DeLand Memorial Hospital and Veterans Museum. - Dr. Davis is portrayed by Stanton O’Neal
Kate McCallum Page (1863 -1921) and her husband Theodore, a lumber magnate of Oswego, NY, were among the relatively unknown "colony" of DeLand winter residents. In 1916 the Pages built a large home (seen on the left) at 431 East New York Ave. where they spent the winters in DeLand. Kate gave the lead gift of $5000 to launch the community campaign to build DeLand Memorial Hospital. Her gift publically endorsed the plan to make the hospital a memorial to those local men who died in WWI who "offered their all in the interest of humanity". She served on the fundraising committee for DMH and the Board of Directors. The Kate McCallum Memorial Nurses Home (for which she may have purchased for the hospital association) was named in her honor. Mrs. Page is portrayed by Deborah McShane.
