What Do You Remember About Rippey?
The Rippey, Iowa, Sesquicentennial will be held on Saturday, August 1, 2020. If you have personal remembrances of Rippey, you are invited and encouraged to share those memorable stories. Just send your remembrance via email and we’ll get it posted on the Rippey News Web site, as well as on Facebook sites of the Friends of Rippey and the Rippey Sesquicentennial. You write down the anecdote or story–a page or two–and we’ll do the rest. Phyllis McElheney Lepke is serving as our volunteer coordinator and stories may be sent to her at Rippey150@gmail.com.
If you lived in or near Rippey in the 1930s, ‘40s, ‘50s and early ‘60s, you remember Doc Chase. In this remembrance his son, David, provides us with a loving inside look at Doc and Pearl, who meant so much to our small town. We invite our readers to share their stories about Doc and Pearl. Thank you.
Country Doctor by David Chase
Walter E. Chase (my Dad) was the doctor in Rippey for 33 years. Born and raised in St. Louis, he worked his way through pre-med and medical school at Washington University there. He then interned at Iowa Methodist Hospital in Des Moines where he met Elsie Pearl Henry (my Mom). She was just finishing nurse’s training. They married on July 31, 1933, and immediately headed to Rippey which was at the time advertising for a doctor. Dad was that guy and Mom was his nurse. Despite having very little money, in the fall they opened an office in a small white frame building just south of Killam’s Hardware Store. It rented for $15 a month and had been vacant for some time, so there was some fixing up to do. It had a small entrance/waiting area, a drug room and a treatment room. Soundproof? Hardly! They kept a radio on in the waiting area to shelter from curious ears the patient/doctor consultations going on in the next room. Office hours were from 9 to noon and 2 to 5 on weekdays and 7 am to 9 pm on Saturdays. House calls (yes, house calls!) were made before 9 and after 5 except for emergencies which were tended to any time. They kept the drug room stocked and their charge was only for the cost of drugs dispensed. Doc also fit glasses. After 10 years of practice, they increased their office call charge to $2 a visit plus drugs. House calls were $3 plus drugs.
The Greene County Hospital was opened in1939 and Doc was on its first medical staff. He saw patients both there and at the Dallas County Hospital in Perry. Rounds at either or both were made either before or after office hours. Prior to the opening of the hospitals, babies were delivered at home. Many a bed or kitchen counter were made into makeshift delivery tables. They made their trips to these delivery sites in a 1930 Model A Ford battling mud, snow and an occasional blizzard. On some occasions, farmers had to come and get Doc and Pearl in a bobsled!
In between their busy/stressful lives of a country doctor and nurse my folks managed to have three children, Dolores, Paul and myself. Doc delivered all three of us. We were the true benefactors of the quality of life in Rippey, even the trials and tribulations of being a country doctor’s kids. Many an evening meal was interrupted by a knock at the door or an emergency call. I recall farmers arriving at the front door with injuries from their work, many times with fingers, hands, arms, etc. dangling due to a run-in with a grain auger or a disgruntled sow. Without exception, it was “Doc, patch me up; I have to get back to the field!” Which he did. (Mom, pass the green beans!)
Doc found time to become first President of the Rippey Lions Club and Pearl was choir director at the Methodist Church for many years. They loved to travel and that wanderlust was passed on to their children. Stress release for Doc was on the golf course where his mild-mannered demeanor sometimes gave way to an “Incredible Hulk” persona, especially if he missed a two-foot putt! But he never carried that back to his practice or his beloved patients. He could be described as a Master of bedside manner and the soft touch.
Doc and Pearl “retired” from country practice in 1966 when Doc accepted the Director of Student Health position at the University of Northern Iowa. They retired to Sun City, Arizona, in 1973. Pearl died in 1986 and Doc died in 2000. Both are buried in the Rippey Cemetery under a headstone that declares: “Served Rippey for 33 Years”. They loved their time here and all of their wonderful patients who were also their friends. Accordingly, this is where they wanted to finally rest.