Los
Angeles County
Biographies
GEORGE GRAHAM
HUNTER, M.D.
Dr. George Graham Hunter, whose
untimely death occurred in Los Angeles December 12, 1933 was a psychiatrist and
neurologist of nation-wide reputation and was a most important figure in the
medical profession of Southern California.
Literally, he sacrificed his life in the performance of his professional
duties to which he had devoted his career and which he loved from the depths of
his heart and mind.
Doctor Hunter was born in
Carlinville, Illinois, on August 2, 1876 and was the youngest son of George and
Savilla (Graham) Hunter. George Hunter,
who was a captain in the Union Army during the Civil war, died when the doctor
was a child of two years. This
unfortunate occurrence left the widow and four children with only a pension of
thirty dollars a month upon which to live, and it was only through the heroic
struggle of the mother that they carried on through the hazardous years which
followed. When Doctor Hunter was twelve
years of age, he came to California with the others of his family to join an
older brother, who had previously come to this state. His first schooling was obtained in
Bakersfield. He had one year of college
studies at the University of Southern California, then was a student at the
University of California in Berkeley.
This latter institution conferred the Doctor of Medicine degree on him
in the year 1906, and for the following year he trained as an interne at the
San Francisco City and County Hospital.
In 1907 the Doctor came to Los Angeles and here became associated in
general practice with Dr. H. G. Brainerd.
Later, they became partners. Upon
the death of Doctor Brainerd in 1928, Doctor Hunter assumed his practice in
addition to his own. He began to
specialize in the field of neuro-psychiatry, in which work he was destined to
achieve most remarkable results, which led to his recognition as a leader among
the men who were engaged in this important phase of the medical profession. He held many professional affiliations in
connection with his practice, which are all indicative of the heights he
attained. From 1907 until 1910, he was
chief of the medical clinic of the University of California and from 1910 until
1922, he was a member of the neurological staff of the Los Angeles General Hospital. Also, from 1922 until the time of his death
he belonged to the neurological consultation staff of this same
institution. He was a member of the Los
Angeles Lunacy Commission for twelve years, and was also a member of the staffs
of the California Lutheran, the Cedars of Lebanon, the California, and the St.
Vincent’s hospitals in Los Angeles. He
was a fellow of the American College of Physicians and Surgeons, and belonged
to the American Medical Association; the California Medical Association; the Los
Angeles County Medical Association, of which he served as president in 1929;
the Psychopathic Association of California (vice president in 1929); the Los
Angeles Society for Neurology and Psychiatry; and the Los Angeles Clinical and
Pathological Society, of which he was a secretary and treasurer from 1924 until
1931, and president for one year immediately after. He was a member of the board of managers of
the Norwalk State Hospital, and was consulting neurologist for the Santa Fe
Railway Company, also on the staff of the Santa Fe hospital. During the period of the United States
participation in the world war, Doctor Hunter served in the American
Expeditionary Force for nine months and was neuro-psychiatrist, with a
captain’s commission, at the United States Army Base Hospital No. 35 in
France. Doctor Hunter was a constant
student of his profession, and was always eager to improve his knowledge and
technique. At various times during his
brilliant career he augmented his education by study in Boston, New York,
Philadelphia, and Chicago. He gave
freely of his own knowledge and theories to his contemporaries or to the young
physician, for his conception of his mission in life was an inspired one,
closely approaching the ideal.
On December 20, 1910, Doctor Hunter
was united in marriage to Grace Geraldine Hildreth of Los Angeles, but a native
of Colorado Springs, Colorado, and a daughter of the Rev. Edward and Sarah
Geraldine (Carpenter) Hildreth, who came to Los Angeles in 1883. Doctor and Mrs. Hunter, became the parents of
a daughter, Geraldine Graham Hunter, who was born in 1915.
Doctor Hunter was a public-spirited
man in every sense of the term. He was a
republican in his political views, a Protestant in religion, and was a member
of the University Club.
As noted, the death of Dr. George
Graham Hunter occurred in Los Angeles on December 12, 1933, under most tragic
and regrettable circumstances. On the 9th
preceding, he was shot and wounded by a demented woman patient, and despite the
heroic administrations of his brother physicians the injury proved fatal three
days thereafter. Men and women of Los
Angeles, and wherever he was known, felt deeply his seemingly untimely passing,
but the memory of his great labors for the benefit of humanity is an imperishable
monument in the consciousness of those with whom he contacted and who knew of
his accomplishments. In closing this
brief biography of Doctor Hunter, it is appropriate to quote a portion of the
remarks made by his pastor, Dr. Carl S. Patton, of the First Congregational
Church in Los Angeles, at the funeral ceremony had at Shatto Memorial Chapel on
December 15, 1933. This follows:
“I need not say in this presence
what opportunities the doctor has of entering into the lives of his patients,
what sorrows and troubles of how many people he knows, with what secrets his is
entrusted, and how often he has to minister a comfort that goes far beyond the
mere physical relief he can afford. But
I can say without offense that not every doctor has the insight, the natural
sympathy, or the personal character to enable him to do all this as Doctor
Hunter did. He was, as I said, my
personal and family physician. And I was
his pastor. If only I could be sure that
he got as much spiritual help from me as I did from him.
“Doctor Hunter was a serious
man. Long years of struggle, beginning
when he was a boy, left their impress upon him, not to sadden him, but to
deepen his spirit and enlarge his understanding of human life. He had much ill health to contend with, and
met his share of the disappointments and troubles that come to us all. The character of his work was such as to
impress him with the tremendous issues of life, and with the part played in
human happiness or misery by habit, temperament and character. He always worked hard. It was impossible for him to take a flippant
or frivolous view of life. Yet he had a
keen sense of humor, which was only one side of that sense of proportion so
characteristic of him. He had a high
ideal of what is appropriate, fitting, seemly; and I cannot imagine his ever
doing anything that would fall below that standard. He had balance, the instinct for fair play,
an innate sense of justness. Honor was
ingrained in him, part and parcel of him.
He had great intellectual breadth. . . He was a man of deeply religious
nature. He had the essence of religion
in him. He stood in awe before the
mysteries of life, he had a deep appreciation of its spiritual values, and a
high reverence for the sanctities of human personality.
“Words and names and outward
professions mean little or nothing here.
The question of the ancient prophet goes to the root of the matter: ‘What doth the Lord require of thee but to do
justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.’ So Doctor Hunter did, and so he walked;
seeking not his own but the good of those who trusted so much to him, and in
the steps after the pattern of the Great Physician. I have not known a better Christian man.
“His attachments were deep and
permanent. He gave his friendship
without stint, and his love without recall.
And what he thus gave was returned to him in full measure. He carried his family and his friends always
on his heart. And what he was to those
outside, that and vastly more he was to his own. One of his friends said of him: ‘He wove himself into your life, so that
having once known him you could not get along without him.’ There is a motto which hung and still hangs
in his house: ‘If lives were measured by
the joy we give, not by the years we chance to live, you, whose fine spirit
helps and lifts and cheers so many of us, would live a thousand years.” And so he does live, and so he will live,
among us, as long as we live.”
Transcribed by
Mary Ellen Frazier.
Source:
California of the South Vol. V, by John Steven McGroarty,
Pages 755-759, Clarke Publ., Chicago, Los Angeles, Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2013 Mary Ellen Frazier.
GOLDEN
NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES BIOGRAPHIES