CROUSE, Eugene A., Dr. 1847-1932

CROUSE, WORREST, THORNDIKE

Posted By: Tammy (email)
Date: 9/4/2015 at 12:56:22

Dr. E. A. Crouse Oldest Grundy Dr. Died Last Friday

End Comes Very Suddenly From Heart Failure While He Was On His Way From the House To His Garage

Dr. Eugene A. Crouse, who practiced medicine in Grundy county continually for sixty years, died very suddenly shortly after one o'clock last Friday afternoon. He was on his way from his home to his private garage when he was stricken and he died instantly. Members of his family found him lying face downward in the garden a few minutes later.

Dr. Crouse's health had been rather frail for several months, though he was able to be at his office for several hours almost daily. His heart had been giving him trouble for some time.

The entire community to which Dr. Crouse had ministered for so many years feels his sudden taking away most keenly and they regard his passing as a deep personal loss.

Funeral services were held at the First Presbyterian church in Grundy Center Monday afternoon. All business in town was suspended during the funeral service. Auditorium and lecture room were filled during the service by friends of the family from all portions of the county. Members of the Grundy Lodge of Odd Fellows in Grundy Center of which Dr. Crouse was a charter member attended the church services in a body. Rev. R. B. Fisher, pastor of the church, conducted the service. The pastor paid a very fine tribute to the life and the achievements of Dr. Crouse. Burial was made in the Grundy Center cemetery.

Eugene A. Crouse, son of Levi H. and Mary Worrest Crouse, was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, Jan. 25, 1847, and passed peacefully at his home in Grundy Center, Iowa, April 8, 1932, aged 85 years. He was the third child in a family of seven children. His youth was spent in the --unreadable-- education was received in the school of the community and at the Millersville Normal School in Lancaster, Pa. Later he taught school for a brief period.

On March 11, 1870, he was graduated in medicine from the University of Pennsylvania. He practiced his profession in Bareville, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania for one year. Then attracted by the possibilities of the west he came to Waterloo, Iowa, with his cousin, Dr. D. F. Crouse, and on Friday, March 15, 1872, riding on horseback, he came to Grundy Center, which has since been his home. He entered into a partnership with Dr. Etter for a period of one year and after that he practiced independently. During part of those early days there was only one other doctor in the county. Many were the interesting experiences and hardships that he went through as he practiced his profession in a new section of the country.

On January 19, 1875, he was united in marriage with Lydia W. Thorndike, who has been his faithful and devoted companion.

In the spring of 1922 on March 15 when he had completed fifty years' service as a physician in this community, the Grundy County Medical Association gave a banquet in his honor and together with the citizens presented him with a beautiful loving cup. The toasts on that occasion gave evidence of the regard and esteem in which he was held by his fellow physicians and townsmen. It was his privilege to practice for ten years more and thus he had the unusual distinction of being an active practicing physician in one community for more than sixty years. In many, many homes he has been not only the trusted physician but a warm personal friend as well.

Not only as a physician but in other ways he was intimately associated with the business life of the town. For more than fifty years he had served as a director in the First National Bank and later the First Trust and Savings Bank. During that same period he also filled the office of vice-president.

Dr. Crouse became a member of the First Presbyterian church of Grundy Center on Oct. 24, 1897, and since Dec. 13, 1900, he had served as elder. In his whole church life every duty has been faithfully and willingly performed. He was proud of his record for Sunday School attendance and rarely missed a session. In very recent years he attended for a whole year without missing a single Sunday.

He was an active member of the Odd Fellows Lodge, having joined on July 21, 1874. During this long period of years he took an active interest in the upbuilding of the lodge. He had filled all the chairs, was for four years a representative at grand lodge and had been a trustee for almost forty-three years.

Besides his wife, the Doctor is survived by three sisters and two nieces: Miss Annie L. Crouse of Grundy Center, Mrs. M. W. VanNest of Washington, D.C., Mrs. Edward W. Herron of Dubuque, Iowa, Miss Clara K. VanNest of Washington, D.C., and Mrs. Alexander Halliburton of Jersey City, N. J.

Relatives residing outside of the county who were here at the funeral service were Mr. and Mrs. Edward W. Herron from Dubuque, A. E. Thorndike of Cambridge, Nebraska, Mr. and Mrs. Amos Sargent and Miss Grace Sargent from Cedar Rapids.

--The Grundy Register (Grundy Center, Iowa), 14 April 1932, pg 1, 6