Ames, Arthur, MD (1936-2014)

AMES, DENEUI

Posted By: Paul Nagy (email)
Date: 11/1/2014 at 20:14:18

Dr. Arthur Ames
November 7, 1936 - September 30, 2014

Dr. Arthur Ames, age 77, of Storm Lake, Iowa, died on Tuesday, September 30, 2014, at the Methodist Manor Retirement Community in Storm Lake.

Arthur Ames was born on November 7, 1936, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His indomitable spirit and sunny disposition served him well throughout his life. Born with a club foot, he underwent more than a dozen operations to walk normally, and at age sixteen, he contracted polio. He overcame these early adversities to lead an athletic life filled with tennis, squash, both water and snow skiing, sailing, and ice boating.

After growing up in Mount Holly, a small town in New Jersey, he attended Brown University. Elected vice president of his class and president of his fraternity, he, even, had the honor of driving Eleanor Roosevelt from the airport to the college in his 1955 ragtop Chevy for a speaking engagement. Throughout high school and college, he worked at an array of jobs including picking blueberries, digging ditches for the New Jersey Turnpike, waiting on tables, delivering mail, and selling men’s clothing. He earned his medical degree at the University of Pennsylvania and attended Yale University as a surgical resident. There, he met a nurse named Karen DeNeui. After a whirlwind romance, he proposed, and they married in April, 1965, at East Friesland Presbyterian Church in Ackley, Iowa.

Drafted into the Air Force, he was stationed as a surgeon at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota. There, he and Karen started their family with the birth of their first child, Katherine. After his honorable discharge in 1967, the family moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he continued his surgery training. After a year in Milwaukee, their second child, Mary, was born. At that point, Arthur decided to focus on more family-centered medicine and spent another year training in family practice.

In 1969, Arthur and Karen moved to Storm Lake, Iowa. One of fewer than ten doctors in town, he quickly developed a booming practice and a third child, Jonathan, was born. After eight years, he joined the Buena Vista Clinic where he remained until he retired in 1996. The family continued to grow with the birth of David in 1974 and Julie in 1978.

Arthur deeply loved being a doctor and taking care of families, and he would work at all hours when needed. By the time he retired, he had delivered over 1,000 babies (including some of his own), and on a few occasions, he drove a snowmobile across the lake in a snowstorm to reach the hospital in time. He did his best to help his patients anyway he could including making house calls and seeing patients in his own home on weekends. His door was always open to those in need.

An avid fan of cars known in town for his red Porsche 911, Arthur, often, invited his patients and friends to take it for a spin. Moreover, he enjoyed teaching his children to drive. He, also, loved being on the water. His favorite activities included swimming, sailing, boating, skiing, and teaching his children to ski. After he retired, he and Karen enjoyed spending their days working in the garden together. He traveled across the U.S. on vacation and to visit family, but he felt most comfortable back in Storm Lake with his wife.

Arthur passed away after a long battle with cancer, during which he never lost his sense of humor and gratitude. He will be missed by Karen, his wife of forty-nine years; his daughter, Katherine, and her three children, Jayde, Oceana, and Aloha; his daughter, Mary, his son-in-law, Ken, and their two children, Zephyr and Indigo; his son, Jonathan, his daughter-in-law, Brenda, and their two children Arthur and David; his son David, his daughter-in-law, Noelle, and their two children, Bria and Rielle; and his daughter Julie, his son-in-law, Daniel, and their son Asa.

Funeral services will be held Saturday, October 4, 2014, at 10:30 a.m. at Lakeside Presbyterian Church in Storm Lake. Burial will follow in the East Friesland Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Ackley, Iowa. Visitation will take place Friday, October 3, 2014, from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the Fratzke & Jensen Funeral Home in Storm Lake. The Fratzke & Jensen Funeral Home in Storm Lake is in charge of the arrangements.

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