John Francis Veltman, M. D. (1967)D

VELTMAN, PARKINS, AGNEW, SLADE

Posted By: Mary Welty Hart (email)
Date: 2/24/2006 at 16:56:52

DOCTOR JOHN F. VELTMAN Long Career of Service Ends

Winterset Madisonian
December 1967

Dr. John F. Veltman, a distinguished Winterset physician for 31 years, died Sunday, Dec. 17, 1967, at a Des Moines hospital where he had been a patient at intervals since last October. He was 73 years of age.

Doctor Veltman had come to Winterset in 1925 as a young physician, having just completed his internship at Iowa Methodist Hospital in Des Moines. For the next 31 years he devoted himself, with unusual energy and dedication, to the practice of his profession in this community.

During his years here he took an active part in many phases of life in the community. He was a member of the United Presbyterian church of Winterset, serving as an elder for 26 years. He served on the Winterset school board, was Madison County coroner, and was active in the Winterset Rotary and Lions Clubs.

Twice he interrupted his career to serve in the armed forces of his country in two World Wars. He left college in World War I to serve overseas in France with a field artillery unit, rising to the grade of sergeant. When the second World War broke out, he was commissioned a captain in the U. S. Army Medical corps, and served 27 months overseas in the Pacific war zone. He was in the campaigns on Leyte, Luzon, and Zamboango in the Phillippines.

During his 31 years of practice in Winterset, Doctor Veltman delivered nearly 1,800 babies in the Madison county area, unquestionably an all-time record in this community.

Doctor Veltman was born near New Era, Mich., and attended Hope college in that city. There he obtained his B.A. degree, and in 1920 his M. A. degree. He graduated from the college of medicine of Northwestern University at Evanston, Ill., in 1924, and took his medical internship at Iowa Methodist hospital in Des Moines.

After serving in general practice at Winterset for 31 years, Doctor Veltman retired in 1956 and joined the staff of the Veterans Administration hospital in Nashville, Tenn. After five years there he transferred to the VA clinic at Knoxville, Tenn. There he became ill last October, and came to Des Moines for treatment.

He is survived by his wife, Esther; a son Dean Kay Veltman, who is serving as a chaplain in the U. S. Navy; three daughters, Mrs. Darrel Parkins of Denver, Colo., Mrs. James Agnew of Des Moines and Mrs. James Slade of Leon; 10 grandchildren; three sisters and a brother.

Funeral services were held this Tuesday from the First Methodist Church in Winterset, conducted by the Rev. Dr. Paul Hann of Des Moines and Rev. Jerry Evelsinzer, pastor of the Christian Church in Leon. Services will be held from the Stevens Mortuary in Knoxville, Tenn. Thursday afternoon with burial at the National Cemetery.

Gravestone Photo
 

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