Dr. William Max Rohrbacher (1887-1972)
A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY
Born
on November 28, 1887 in Big Grove Township, a farm community near Iowa
City, William Max Rohrbacher was determined, as a young man, to avoid a
career in farming. He tried business school, book-keeping and other odd
jobs until, while waiting tables at Merchant's Restaurant in Iowa City,
he befriended a homeopathic professor who encouraged his enrollment in
the UI Homeopathic Medical College. On June 12, 1912, after four years
of study, Rohrbacher graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine
and, that night, married Elizabeth Petsel, also of the Iowa City area.
After he served a one-year internship at the Massachusetts Homeopathic
Hospital in Boston, they returned to Iowa City and Rohrbacher worked as
a staff doctor and substitute lecturer for the UI Homeopathic Medical
College until its close in 1919.
Soon after the college closed, the Rohrbachers purchased a building at 811 East College Street in 65.
The back section became their home and the rest was converted into a
homeopathic hospital, which they named "Rohrbacher's Sanitarium."
Although the hospital burned down in 1931, it was rebuilt soon after,
functioning a total of 51 years.
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Dr. Rohrbacher died at age 85,
after his 60th wedding anniversary in 1972. Today, "Rohrbacher's
Sanitarium" is an apartment building; two of his four daughters are
still living, both in California, and numerous Johnson County residents
remember his service to their families.
Source: The University of Iowa Homeopathic Medical Department. Medical Museum - University of Iowa Health
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Dr. John G. Mueller (1870 - 1918)
OBITUARY
DR. MUELLER DIED HERE LAST NIGHT
Dr.
J. G. Mueller died at a local hospital here last night after a hard
fight against pneumonia, influenza and other complications. He had been
very low for several days and his friends had been expecting the
summons.
Dr. Mueller was born in Iowa City, March 29, 1870, his
parents, Adam and Mrs. Justina Buettner Mueller, being of the pioneers
of the place and with the exception of one year , 1895 - 1896, his
entire life was spent in this community.
Dr. Mueller graduated
from the State University of Iowa in 1895 after three years work in the
College of Liberal Arts followed by a medical course and later by
post-graduate work in bacteriology and was for several years after
assistant in gynecology in the Medical College at S.U.I.
During
his college life he was prominent as a debater in Irving society, and a
member of the football team, and had the rank of major in the
university military batallion.
On October 15, 1895 Dr. Mueller
was married to Miss Catherine Miller of Gilbertville, Iowa, who died in
February, 1912. Five children of this marriage survive - Elizabeth, a
graduate nurse; Lucille, a senior in training in Glockner sanatarium,
Colorado Springs; Mary, a senior in St. Mary's high school of this
city; John, aged 12; and Catherine, aged ten years.
October
31st, 1913 he was married to Miss Margaret Corridan, who survives him.
Other relatives surviving are four brothers, Dr. A.J. Mueller, a
dentist of Waterloo, Iowa; W. P. and L.F. Mueller, local merchants; Dr.
Otto H. Mueller, lieutenant in the U.S. medical corps, now at a point
of embarkation; two sisters, Mary and Margaret Mueller and an aunt,
Miss Margaret Buettner.
He was a life long member of the
Catholic church, serving as an altar boy in St. Mary's church, and in
his later life a member of the Catholic Order of Forresters, the
Knights of Columbus and was but yesterday re-elected a member of the
national board of directors of the Roman Catholic Mutual Protective
Society of
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Iowa, now in session at New Hampton, Iowa, a society which his father helped to organize.
Other societies of which he was an active member are American Medical
Association, Johnson County Medical Association, Rock Island Surgeons,
and Association of Railway Surgeons, and the local lodge of Elks.
Dr.
Mueller was an honored and valued resident of the community and
numbered his friends by the hundreds. He was an upright and public
spirited citizen whose long service had endeared him to many. He will
be sadly missed by a large circle of friends.
The funeral will
beheld from the family residence Saturday morning, the hour cannot be
announced until word is received from distant relatives.
Source: The Iowa City Press Citizen, 18 Oct 1918, pg. 2
FROM THE EDITOR'S NOTE BOOK
Dr. John G. Mueller was the first
medical martyr to the influenza scourge in Iowa City. If a history of
the epidemic is ever written too much credit cannot be given to the
noble and self-sacrificing work of the physicians. Nearly fifty in Iowa
City, including some medical students, worked night and day for a long
period of time without thought of themselves that they might rescue
others who were in danger. It is said that Dr. Mueller was taking care
of sixty cases of illness when he contracted pneumonia, which with
other complications brought him to his death in a comparatively few
hours. He was a strong man in the community, a friend and advisor in
many households, and he gave his life for the sake of his friends and
neighbors. More than this no man could do.
Source: The Iowa City Press Citizen, 21 Oct 1918, pg. 7
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