CLARENCE D N GILFILLAN

GILFILLAN, MOON, HODAWAY

Posted By: Deb Barker (email)
Date: 11/8/2005 at 19:57:59

CLARENCE D N GILFILLAN, M D – Medicine is the profession which is associated throughout Iowa with the name of Gilfillan, a family which pioneered in the profession in the southeastern part of the state. Of this profession, Dr Clarence D N Gilfillan, is a distinguished member. With 3 of his brothers, all doctors, as were their father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, doctors, his is a founder and operator of The Gilfillan Clinic in Bloomfield, a medical center whose patients come from many states of the Union as well as Iowa.
Dr Clarence D N Gilfillan, was born at Mount Pleasant on January 1, 1906, the son of Dr Homer J (q.v.) and Clara (Moon) Gilfillan. His father, a noted physician and surgeon who, now in retirement, resides in Bloomfield after a half century of service to the state in various communities. He is the son of Dr George W Gilfillan, who practiced in southeastern Iowa from 1857 until his death in 1908, an honored pioneer, and the grandson of Dr Edward Gilfillan, who practiced medicine in Pennsylvania in the first half of the nineteenth century.
Dr Clarence Gilfillan was graduated from Milton High School at Milton, in Van Buren County, in 1924. He then entered Iowa Wesleyan University at Mount Pleasant, where he remained 2 years. For his professional training he went to the State University of Iowa, at Iowa City, where, in 1932, he was awarded the Degree of Doctor of Medicine, and followed this with a year’s internship at French Hospital, San Francisco, California. He also served at Letterman Hospital in the California City and afterward remained there a while in private practice.
Returning eventually to Iowa, Dr Gilfillan opened an office in Fremont. Subsequently he was in practice in Eldon. Then, when the United States became involved in World War II, he entered the Army with a commission as first lieutenant. He kept rising in rank until he reached that of a major. His last post was at Percy Jones Hospital in Battle Creek, Michigan, and he was separated from the service in 1945.
By the time he returned home and re-acclimated himself to civilian life and conditions, Dr Gilfillan’s brothers were ready to join him in partnership in establishing the group medical organization which so quickly attained a reputation, The Gilfillan Clinic. These brothers are Dr George W Gilfillan, surgeon; Dr Earl E Gilfillan, internist; and Dr Homer J Gilfillan, Jr, Specializing in eye, ear, nose, and throat diseases. Dr Clarence Gilfillan is himself also a surgeon in the group. The careers of the brothers are chronicled with the Drs Gilfillan in the clinic are R S Schoonover, urologist, and Dr S R Jaskunas, specializing in obstetrics and gynecology.
Dr Gilfillan is a member of the Davis County Medical Society, the Iowa State Medical Association, the American Medical Association, the Bloomfield Country Club, and the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, in which he holds the Thirty-second degree. He is a Republican and Methodist.
Dr Clarence D N Gilfillan married Janet Hodaway of Hawarden, and they are the parents of 2 children; James, who was born on August 13, 1936, and Victoria Jean, who was born on December 8, 1945. Dr Gilfillan and his family make their home in Bloomfield.