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Show THE OGDEN VALLEY NEWS Volume VI, Issue VIII Page 21 August 1, 2002 John Floyd Wikstrom, M.D. Compiled by Stanley F. Wangsgaard, Ogden Valley Historian Dr. John Floyd Wikstrom was born 7 July 1898 in Jonesburg, Missouri, a son of John F., a cabinetmaker, who had learn his trade in Sweden. When John Floyd was a small boy, his father died and his mother had no way to support her children. With the help of her brother, the mother moved their belongings in wagons to Ponca, Nebraska where the she and the children would be near some of her family. Here John went to school. During the period of World War I, John Floyd was a member of the Reserve Officers Training Corps while a student at the University of Nebraska. He graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1922 with Bachelor of Science degree. Continuing his studies at the same university, he was awarded a degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1923 and the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1925. He pursued his internship at the County Hospital in Omaha, Nebraska, and at the Dee Hospital in Ogden, Utah. While attending the University of Nebraska, he was a member of the boxing team, and one of his athletic feats was a kayo over Wayne “Big” Munn, who later won the World’s Heavyweight Wrestling Championship. Deciding to remain at Ogden, Dr. Wikstrom entered into an association with the noted physician, Dr. E.R. Dumke, on the 6th floor of the Eccles Building. He remained in this partnership for eleven and a half years. In 1937, he established himself independently, and practiced with continuing success until the time of his death. About the time he finished his internship and went into practice, he had heard about the need of a doctor in Ogden Valley to replace Dr. A.W. Shields, who had died in 1926. Dr. Wikstrom soon extended his practice as a country doctor for the people there, making house calls. If anyone needed his services, they would leave a message for him with the operator at the telephone office in Huntsville. His patients were scattered throughout Ogden Valley. Dr. Wikstrom smoked a cigar, but not when examining a patient. The aroma of cigar smoke on his clothing whenever he entered a home was always present. People didn’t seem to object, because he was down to earth and a sincere gentleman. He was a robust man with a big smile, always cheerful, joking a lot with the men of the house. Most people addressed him more formally as Doctor Wikstrom, but close friends or business associates called him Doc, as will be done in this treatise. He always had a flower in his lapel, usually confiscated from the bouquet of a hospital patient while making his rounds in the Valley. Many times, after his flower had wilted, if someone had some suitable flowers growing in their garden, he would pick a fresh one and replace it. His pet saying when leaving a home after a visit was, “See you Tuesday!” Doors were never locked at homes in Ogden Valley, and he always walked right in with maybe a tap on the door as he opened it. He knew which homes he could walk into and open the refrigerator door saying, “whatcha got to eat,” without the family members taking offence to it. The doctor’s attitude was always upbeat and encouraging. He had the old farmer approach, which is why he was so readily accepted and endeared to the people in the Valley. In December 1929, Dr. Wikstrom bought a piece of property 31 feet by 132 feet which was part of Lot 6, Block 12, Plat A Huntsville Survey, and had a Doctor’s office built. Here he set broken bones, and performed minor surgeries, such as a tonsillectomy or circumcision. Births and more serious surgeries, such as for appendectomy, hernia, thyroid and goiter, were done at the Dee Hospital in Ogden. When the St. Benedict Hospital was opened in 1945 in Ogden, he was Chief of Staff and, as such, required his patients to go there. He brought his two nephews Jack and Francis Wikstrom to Ogden from Missouri, and made sure they received an education, because their father (his brother) couldn’t afford to send them to college. Their first two years were at Weber College. Jack went to school another two years at Utah State Agricultural College, then went on to get his Master’s degree in Forestry and Land Economics at Oregon State before going into the army in July 1942. Francis was in the first pilot training class that was taught at Weber College. He next took advanced training sponsored by Boeing and flew for awhile for Western Air before the army took him, which was soon after Pearl Harbor. He lost his life in World War II. After Doc Wikstrom opened his office in Huntsville, the school nurse identified 14 children who needed their tonsils removed. The day before they were to operate, nephew Jack went there and scrubbed the whole place down with a strong disinfectant. Shanna Wangsgard was Doc’s surgical assistant. She came and sterilized all the instruments. They had obtained army cots from the CCC camp for the young patients to lie on during recovery. On the morning the operations were to be performed, here came the parents with their children, all fourteen. Doc offered a dime to the one who wanted to be first, and several volunteered. But when Shanna came out carrying the first child still anesthetized and limp, they weren’t so sure the dime was worth being next. Doc Wikstrom was a Godsend, and a good Samaritan to the people of Ogden Valley. So many couldn’t pay him, but still he came when called. He would accept whatever they could pay, many times in goods and services—eggs, milk or cream, a calf, a sack of potatoes or carrots. Someone had given him a horse on their bill, and he gave it to Clara M. Wangsard, a needy widow in Huntsville, because she didn’t have a horse and lived two miles from town. The following spring, he had his nephew Jack Wikstrom ride her horse for the first time, and also build a gate for her because the old one was falling apart. Many others were the recipient of this kind of good will. Those who couldn’t pay were never badgered for it. He just wrote it off. After his death, the estate tax people were tight there to make sure they got what was coming to the government. They couldn’t figure out his books, so his nephew Jack came and spent a half a day WE IMPORT CARS $10OFF Complete Brake Service Most Vehicles. Mag wheels might be slightly higher. Not valid with any other special. Participating stores only. Expires 9/30/02 SH $24.95 $56.95 DOMESTIC CARS P155/80R-13 P165/80R-13 P175/80R-13 P185/75R-14 P195/75R-14 P205/75R-14 P205/75R-15 . . . . . . . $20OFF SET OF 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $19.95 . $19.95 . $19.95 . $24.95 . $29.95 . $29.95 . $34.95 LIGHT TRUCK P215/75R-15 . . . . . . . $56.95 P235/75R-15 . . . . . . . $59.95 LT235/75R-15 . . . . . . $64.95 30/9.50R-15 . . . . . . . $69.95 31/10.50R-15 . . . . . . .$74.95 LT235/85R-16 . . . . . .$84.95 $10 00OFF BIG O ALIGNMENT Most Vehicles. Mag wheels might be slightly more. Not valid with any other special. Participating stores only. Most Vehicles. Mag wheels might be slightly higher. Not valid with any other special. Participating stores only. Expires 9/30/02 BRAND TIRES Expires 9/30/02 EPT: 90 D 737-4781 155R-12 . . . . . . . . . $19.95 175/70R-13 . . . . . . .$24.95 185/70R-13 . . . . . . .$24.95 195/70R-14 . . . . . . .$34.95 205/70R-14 . . . . . . .$34.95 ACC CRE D AYS IT CAR D SAM E AS S CA 1893 N. Washington Blvd., North Ogden $19.95 NOW No Carry Outs. Pricing Exludes Mount and Balance. FREE FLAT REPAIR Most Vehicles. Mag wheels might be slightly higher.Not valid with any other special. Participating stores only. Expires 9/30/02 explaining his method of bookkeeping. His books showed the names and the amount charged for an office or house call, but many of them just had an X in the amount column showing that they were John Floyd Wikstrom and wife Gladys Marie Kent, about 1920. not charged because he knew they couldn’t pay. A friend who was a doctor in Kemmerer, Wyoming couldn’t do surgery, so when one of his patients needed her goiter removed, Doc Wikstrom went to Kemmerer to do it. The husband of this patient worked in the mines for a small wage. It was pitiful that they had nothing and couldn’t pay for the operation. Doc felt he had to get them out of there because the wife was in such bad shape. He sent for his nephew, Jack, and they arranged for a truck and moved them out in the middle of the night because he was in debt to the company store. They were brought to Ogden. The doctor found them a place to live, and found work for the husband at the Union Pacific Railroad. Once in the wintertime, Mrs. Shaw called from Liberty while Doc was eating his supper. She said her children had a temperature of 103. He was upset because they had been sick all day yet she waited until night to call. But he was committed and called Jess Wilbur in Eden to arrange for someone to take him from there to Liberty in a sleigh, because he knew he could never make it in his car. Doc took nephew Jack along to help in case he got stuck, and he did. Jack had to shovel him out of a couple of drifts by the old power dam. When they reached Eden, they found that Jess had arranged for Mr. Chard to come from Liberty in his bob sleigh to get Doc, and Jack waited at Wilbur’s place until they returned. When Doc first started his practice in the Valley, he went to Eden one night on some calls and got stuck by the Eden school. The wind was blowing and it was cold. This happened just a block from Jess Wilbur’s. Since Doc knew that Mrs. Wilbur was living in Ogden for the winter to get their children in school, he got his bag out of the Model T and walked over to Jess’. It was late and the house was dark so Doc went right in and got in bed with Jess. Jess said he didn’t know it until Doc put his cold feet against his back. The two were good friends, and whenever Doc would come around, Jess would pull out two matches and Doc would pull out two cigars, which they smoked together. About a year after John Creamer DR. WIKSTROM cont. on page 22 |