Van Peenen, Hubert John III - Died 2023

VAN PEENEN, WARNER, BARNHART, GRIMES, VILLAREAL

Posted By: Joy Moore (email)
Date: 5/5/2023 at 12:00:09

Hubert John Van Peenen III, physician, professor, poet and painter, was a man of many talents, a latter-day Renaissance man who could (and did) converse knowledgeably and at length on almost any subject.

He was the youngest graduate of his 1954 medical school class at UC San Francisco. Following a general medical internship at Philadelphia General Hospital, he served two years as a Captain (MC) in the U.S. Army in Goeppingen, Germany and remained in the Army Reserves for several years thereafter.

Following residency training in pathology at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in NYC, UCSF, and the Veteran’s Administration Hospital, Oakland, California, he began his career at the University of Missouri Medical Center, Columbia, where he had a distinguished career as a professor of pathology (a Golden Apple award winner, voted best teacher by his students) from 1961 to1972. He subsequently became the Chairman of the Department of Pathology at the newly established University of Texas Medical Center, Houston, where he served from 1972 to 1974 before accepting a position as pathologist at Winneshiek County Hospital in Decorah, Iowa. He retired in 1990.

An accomplished writer and published poet, he read extensively on a variety of topics from history to science to religion to literature and the arts. He attended St. Mary’s Episcopal church, health permitting, and was an active member of the Eugene community. He and his wife Linda supported the Eugene Ballet, the Eugene Symphony, Chamber Music Amici, the Mozart Players, the Oregon Community Foundation, Cascade Manor Foundation and gave generously to numerous other local and national charities.

John was a hiker, a canoeist and an RV enthusiast. Between excursions to the coast, around Oregon, and into states beyond, he and Linda spent the last seventeen years of their life together at Cascade Manor, where he made many friends, served on several committees, organized Scabble on game nights and founded and chaired the Poetry Interest Group.

He is survived by his wife of 46 year, Linda Van Peenen, his son Fred Van Peenen, eight nephews, two nieces, one cousin, and many friends and correspondents. He was preceded in death by his father Admiral Hubert J. Van Peenen II, his mother Mavis Warner Van Peenen, his first wife Vindhya Kalia, his second wife Barbara Barnhart Van Peenen, his brother Peter Franz Dirk Van Peenen and his sisters Margaret (Polly) Grimes and Mavis (MImi) Villareal.

Source: Decorah Newspapers May 1, 2023