Siblings’ gift to Historium is scrapbook of Gainesville’s appreciation for former doctor

The children of the late Glen and Geraldine Lovan have donated an historic gift to the Ozark County Historium: A  scrapbook that details the appreciation program held Jan. 29, 1965, at Gainesville High School to honor the late Dr. M. J. Hoerman and his wife, Judy, and celebrate their 25 years of service to the people of Ozark County. 

Geraldine Lovan had worked as an assistant in the Hoermans' medical office here from 1959 until their deaths in 1972.

One of the highlights of the program was the group of several hundred of the "babies" Hoerman had delivered at area homes and later in his office, now occupied by the Ozark County Health Department on Third Street. 

The appreciation program was sponsored by the Gainesville Lions Club and marked the 25th anniversary of the Hoermans' arrival here on Jan. 29, 1940, after moving from Milford, Kansas, where he had practiced a few years. Although not a trained nurse, for many years Judy Hoerman assisted her husband in their medical office. 

Those who remember Dr. Hoerman know he had a strong German accent and may be surprised to learn he was born and grew up in Kansas. Judy McSpadden Hoerman was born near Salem, Missouri.

The scrapbook includes newspaper stories about the Hoermans and the appreciation program plus several letters of congratulations (and a telegram) from friends, relatives and former professional associates along with dozens of photos taken at the program as well as family snapshots of the children the Hoermans had delivered before he discontinued his obstetrics work in October 1963. The collection gives an overview of the Hoermans' generosity and community service in their adopted hometown and helps viewers understand why they were so appreciated here.

Judy Hoerman died June 1, 1972, and Dr. Hoerman died of a stroke six months later. They were married 39 years and had no children of their own but claimed the many babies they had delivered. A story in the Dec. 28, 1972, edition of the Times that reported Dr. Hoerman's death described how their will specified how their estate was to be divided. Among other bequests, the Hoermans left 10 percent of their estate to the city of Gainesville and another 10 percent to the Gainesville School District. 

In 1973, the city and the school district cooperated in developing what is now the Hoerman Memorial Park, which adjoins the Gainesville School campus off Highway 160 east of the Gainesville square. Besides the Hoerman funds, the park was built using money that was donated in the Hoermans' memory and also matching government funds. The park is maintained by the city.

The appreciation program, which drew a crowd that filled the GHS gym, was reported in the Feb. 4, 1965, edition of the Times, which said, "The program was organized on a 'This Is Your Life' theme with Rex Ebrite, former GHS principal now teaching at SMS, as narrator. Dr. and Judy Hoerman were conducted to the stage by Roger Jarman and Patricia Hambelton [both Hoerman "babies"]. 

Among those who spoke was "Dot Blackburn and seven of her eight children the Hoermans had delivered," the Times story said. Dot Blackburn's husband was Flay Blackburn. The Blackburns gave the Hoermans a chain of wooden blocks carved by Claud Kirkland with the children's names inscribed.

Earlene Holmes Ledbetter also spoke, describing how Dr. Hoerman had saved her life two weeks after her son, Shane, was born in May 1964 in a Springfield hospital after the Hoermans ended their obstetrical practice. After being discharged, Earlene was back at the home of her parents, Earl and Martha Holmes, when she started hemorrhaging. They called Dr. Hoerman, “and he came immediately and took care of me,” Earlene told the Times Monday. “I can still remember hearing him say, ‘Right there is her problem.’” she said. “He did what he needed to do and got the bleeding stopped but said I needed to go to the nearest hospital, which was in West Plains at the time. So they called Bob Usrey at the funeral home, and he came and got me in that little white ambulance.”

Earlene’s husband, Dwight, rode in the ambulance too, and her family also brought Shane, who was nursing and needed to be with his mother. Earlene had blood transfusions and stayed in the hospital about two months as an infection was treated. “I will always be grateful to Dr. Hoerman for saving me,” she said.  

The Hoermans' civic support and generosity and their community service were also reviewed during the appreciation program, including their support of 4-H, Boy Scouts, Little League baseball, the Gainesville Schools and other youth activities as well as their portrayal of Santa and Mrs. Claus during many Christmas holidays in Gainesville (although, with Dr. Hoerman's distinct accent, there was never any doubt just who was wearing the costume). 

First patients treated – before an audience

The story of the Hoermans' time here was outlined in the Jan. 21, 1965, Times, which said when they lived in Kansas and were looking for a place to relocate in 1939-1940, they asked Dr. William Wetzel of the Ozark Osteopathic Hospital in Springfield for suggestions. A few days later, they received a collect phone call from him that they almost didn't accept because they weren't sure they could pay for it, Dr. Hoerman told the Times.

Wetzel told the Hoermans about Gainesville, "where Dr. J. E. Van Winkle had started practicing and was going well until he died in the Central Hotel fire here on Jan. 8, 1940," the Times story said. 

They visited Gainesville the next week on a very cold day when, Dr. Hoerman said, the temperature didn't rise above 6 degrees all day. They moved here a little over three weeks later. 

Dr. Hoerman opened his first office over what was then the Amyx garage (now Gainesville City Hall), and they rented two rooms from Lenora Tompkins in a house where the Century Bank of the Ozarks training center now stands on the northeast corner of the square. 

Their first patient was a Mr. Collins. "And before they had unpacked, Mrs. Audie Ingram became their second patient. She had fallen off a horse, almost scalping herself," the Times said in its story. "While treating her, Dr. Hoerman said that he had such a large audience he could hardly walk around the patient. She recovered very well, and Dr. Hoerman got off to a good start."

Audie Ingram was one of the speakers at the appreciation program, describing her treatment by Dr. Hoerman and her successful healing. 

The problem with cows roaming the streets

After high school and two years working with his uncle in the broiler-chicken business in Kansas, M. J. Hoerman enrolled in the Kansas City College of Osteopathy and Surgery, graduating in 1931. 

He first practiced in Camdenton during the Depression and "nearly starved," he told the Times, adding that he once "missed four meals in a row before he had a paying patient." 

He had practiced in other places before working in Milford, Kansas, and then moving to Gainesville. Six months after arriving here, Dr. Hoerman gave Judy a birthday gift: the deed to the property he had bought on what is now Harlin Drive on the top of the town hill. They built a home there, which still stands, and next door they built a house for Judy's parents. 

In fall 1944, they started construction on their new office building (now the health department). Construction was not without some setbacks. 

At the time, Gainesville had a "stock law" that prohibited pigs, goats and horses from running loose and roaming the streets – but not cows. During construction of the office building, blue shingles were delivered by mistake. "The cows ate the cardboard boxes from around the shingles. I was afraid they could not be returned, and I was mad. I got a clipboard and went around to all the residents except those few that still had cows and got signatures on a petition to include cows in the stock law," Dr. Hoerman told the Times. 

He presented the petition to Gainesville Mayor Everett Herd, who called a city council meeting that night. "From then on, no more cows on the streets," the Times reported. The office building was completed in June 1945 without further incident.

A busy life serving their community

In 1948, the Hoermans built another building next door to their office for a dentist, Dr. E. H. Barrett, who moved here from Linnville, Iowa, and set up practice based on an agreement with the Hoermans. In 1960 the Hoermans "sold" the building to the Gainesville Lions Club for $1, and today it serves as the Lions Club Building. 

Dr. Hoerman also "induced Dr. J. B. Stoll to locate in West Plains and Dr. D. R.Sams in Bakersfield," the story said. 

The first baby delivered here was James Dale McGuffey, born March 23, 1940, to Mr. and Mrs. Dewey McGuffey of Mammoth. Five hundred more babies were delivered in homes, the Times reported, before the Hoermans oversaw their last home birth when Dr. Hoerman delivered a baby girl, Janice Gaddy (Blisard) to Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Gaddy of Tecumseh. 

After that, babies were delivered in their office building. Their first baby delivered there was Thelma Ruth Harris, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Harris of Elijah. Their last baby (when they stopped obstetrics in October 1963) was Judy Lynn Stone, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Prestley Stone of Romance. 

The Hoermans were devoted members of the First Christian Church after joining in 1956. "They were to have been baptized at 12:45 p.m. on Sept. 18, 1956, by the Rev. G. B. Keeter of Mtn. Home, but a baby case interrupted the plans. The baby, Sherry Lynn Donley, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Eldon Donley of Isabella, held up the baptism until 4 p.m," the Times reported.  H. T. and Billye Harlin accompanied the Hoermans there. 

Dr. Hoerman was a charter member of the Gainesville Lions Club, organized in 1946, and served as president and secretary. He was also active in the Masonic Lodge here and Abou Ben Adam Shrine in Springfield. He was elected to the Gainesville School Board, and he and Judy were always supportive of the GHS senior class. They accompanied the class on a senior trip one year, and each year he offered a prize for the best essay written by a senior about one of the places the graduates were to visit. They also paid for a dinner for the seniors for several years' senior trips. 

Dr. Hoerman was also scoutmaster of the former Boy Scout troop here. 

Judy was a member of the Order of Eastern Star and the Daughters of the American Revolution. 

"The Hoermans were promoters of the first Christmas decorations and entertainments here," the Times reported. And in 1954 Dr. Hoerman promoted "a homecoming for Gainesville that had as a slogan, 'Clean up, paint up, we have company coming.' The homecoming was built on a historical theme and featured a big parade, old-time costumes and antique displays." 

  Dr. Hoerman led the effort to get Third Street designated as a state alternate highway through town that would be maintained at state expense. He collected signatures of property owners along the street on a petition and presented it to the late J. C. Harlin, who was a member of the state highway commission at the time. Harlin secured the commission's approval, and the street became U Highway, reportedly the shortest state highway in the state. (Third Street has since then reverted to local management and is no longer U Highway.)

A legacy of love

The committee overseeing the appreciation event, which included an open house at the Hoermans' office that day, consisted of M. J. Luna, Fred Oehring and Louie Wallace. Helen Marie Luna was program chairperson, Lou Anna Wade was in charge of decorations, Juanita Gaddy organized open-house refreshments and H. T. Harlin was project chairman.

The Lions Club had sponsored a "health and safety" contest in conjunction with the appreciation night. Judy Holmes (Crawford) won $15 for her essay, Diane Dreckman (White) won $10 for best poster and Janice McGinnis won $5 for best slogan.

The Hoerman scrapbook is available for viewing at the Historium. Several of their babies’ photos are unidentified. Those who were delivered by Dr. Hoerman are encouraged to stop by and see if their own picture is one of those without an ID.

The Hoermans lived only seven years after the 1965 appreciation program. They died in 1972, when Judy was 74 and Dr. Hoerman was 65. Now, nearly 50 years later, their legacy of love for their adopted community lives on in the park created with the gifts they left to the people of Gainesville, especially its children.