Obituary for Dr. James Elwood Stubbs

The Illinois Medical Journal, 1916

DEATHS. JAMES ELWOOD STUBBS, M.D., Chicago; University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1864; aged 78; a member of the Illinois State Medical Society and Physicians' Club of Chicago; formerly professor of theory and practice of medicine in the Harvey Medical College Chicago; died at his home, June 15, from cerebral hemorrhage.

(Continued on pages 209-10.)

DR. JAMES E. STUBBS

In the demise of Dr. J.E. Stubbs the medical world lost a splendid practitioner, and humanity, a noble benefactor.

It is the old, old story coming up through the pangs of fighting one's way through college, standing at last in the great world where great events chase each other, and the door opens to the brave man. He was an enthusiast in his profession. His patient must be saved at any cost. To him humanity was above price, and many a struggling family has cause to bless him for the unpresented bill.

A careful student he was in his profession. His rich medical library and his support of medical journals attest his devotion to his calling. He was posted and progressive. New theories did not sweep him off his feet. What he adopted had been carefully weighed; nor was he slow to discontinue an idea because it, for the time, was unpopular.

He was state medical examiner for Illinois for the Royal Arcanum for nearly twenty-five years.

Men are apt to be narrowed by their professions, especially if they are enthusiasts. Not so with him. There were so many qualities rich and generous that made him brother to all men. A lover of nature, nay, a devout worshipper of earth's grandeurs, for many years his vacations were spent in western Colorado, mountain climbing and trouting. Those crags and peaks will miss his bold climbing. Yet behind mountain grandeur and lovely scenery he found a resting place in the All-Father.

How he could be an omnivorous reader surprises one. His library is graced with biography, travel, history, noblest fiction, with which he was most familiar.

The great questions that affected his fellows made him an enthusiastic student, and where any were to be settled by ballot, he conscientiously gave his vote for the betterment of the race.

His home was all in all to him, and if anything earthly can be called paradise, that described the life within the walls of his habitation.

For many years the cross statements of Bible students made him restless, but he struck the happy truth that God is outside of the Bible, while He may inspire it, and like a good God, He is giving His life to uplift humanity. There he rested.

For many years he was a member of a scientific club, in which he took an active part.

For fifty-two years his office was open, an though oft with faltering step, he was there to hear the call of the suffering. When he obeyed the last call his friends, devoted and loving, covered him with myriads of flowers he loved so well.

A member of the Phi Gamma Delta, cherished by its members, six stalwart youths bore his noble form to its last resting place.

Member of the Chicago Medical Society, Royal League, Royal Avenue Congregational Church, Plymouth.

CONTRIBUTED.