HOLMAN, Dr. Delavan

HOLMAN, PECKETT

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 11/11/2014 at 15:37:32

The Globe Gazette
Mason City, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa
Saturday, February 01, 1941, Page 16

THEY STARTED HERE
No. 45 in a Mason City Series of Success Stories

Dr. Holman, Consulting Specialist

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Long and difficult indeed is the transition from an Iowa schoolroom to the offices of a prominent Park avenue heart specialist in New York City, but that is the metamorphosis accomplished by Dr. Delavan Holman, former Mason Cityan.

For Dr. Holman, after years of study and hard work, has established himself as one of New York's outstanding specialists in his field and his growing practice in the world's greatest city is a tribute to his ability and prominence in his field.

Delavan Holman was born 35 years ago [May 13, 1905] in Rockwell, where his parents, Dr. and Mrs. H. D. Holman, now of Mason City, then lived. As a boy he attended the Rockwell school for a time and when his parents came to Mason City, he entered a local grade school.

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Young Delavan showed two characteristics in his grade and high school work which have been responsible for his success in the field of medicine - great ability and the willingness to work hard.

He was a husky lad and in his high school days he placed a fine game of football in the Mohawk line, being a teammate of Phil Foster and other Mason City high school youths of that period who have since been successful in their chosen fields.

Delavan Holman was not only a good athlete, he was also a good student. And his brawny physique made him a good worker. Summers he worked at the Mason City Brick and Tile company's brick yard, carrying bricks from the kiln.

After being graduated from high school, the youth attended junior college for a year and then enrolled at the University of Iowa in Iowa City. At this time he had not yet definitely decided on a career in medicine, but later while he was at Iowa he finally made up his mind to be a doctor.

At Iowa the Mason City youth was a member of the Phi Gamma Delta social fraternities and his brilliant work in science earned him a membership in Sigma Xi, honorary science fraternity. He also was active in football for one year, playing in the Hawkeye line as a teammate of "Spike" Nelson, now head coach at Yale, and "Cowboy" Nick Kutsch. In his senior year Delavan Holman was elected to A. F. I. honorary senior men's society.

But by this time he had moved into the school of medicine and Delavan Holman found little time for athletics in the rigorous scholastic schedules of the school. So he dropped football and concentrated on his studies.

Dr. Delavan Holman was graduated from the University of Iowa school of medicine in 1930 and immediately went to Montreal to take his internship in the McGill university hospital. He stayed at Montreal for three years after completing his internship.

His second year there he was a resident physician in internal medicine and his third year was spent at the Royal Victoria children's hospital. Following this he taught a year in the McGill school of medicine.

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One summer during his residence in Montreal, Dr. Holman studied abroad, specializing in heart work in London.

Then he had an opportunity to go to the Rockerfeller hospital for medical research in New York City and there he worked in the heart section for two years.

The prestige of the Rockerfeller hospital for medical research is great with many of the world's finest scientists working there. Many valuable additions to the world of medical knowledge have been made from this hospital.

It was here that Dr. Delavan Holman completed the work that made him an outstanding cardiologist.

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Following his two years at the Rockerfeller hospital Dr. Holman began his practice on Park avenue.

Four years ago, shortly after moving into private practice, he married Miss Katherine Peckett, prominent in eastern society. Mrs. Holman was educated in Switzerland and Paris and was an especially enthusiastic supporter of the sport of skiing. Dr. and Mrs. Holman are the parents of one son, Derek.

Since beginning his practice on Park avenue, Dr. Holman has also been teaching in the New York university school of medicine.

Now the former Mason Cityan is firmly established as a consulting specialist in heart diseases. His practice is growing and for a man of 35 he has reached a position of unusual prominence in the field of medicine. And it's probable that he will be even better known in New York and among his colleages everywhere in the years to come.

NOTE: Dr. Holman died in Staffordshire, England, on July 16, 1964.

Photograph courtesy of Globe-Gazette

Transcription and note by Sharon R. Becker, November of 2014

Cerro Gordo Biographies maintained by Lynn Diemer-Mathews.
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