JOHN MARTIN GILE
John Martin Gile, life trustee of the College and former member of the governor's council of New Hampshire, died at his home here at 5:30 Wednesday afternoon, July 15. Doctor Gile had been in failing health for some months but had seemed to rally lately. The attack of angina pectoris which caused his death overtook him while he was riding with his family in his car. Funeral services were held from his late home Saturday July 18, the Rev". Roy B. Chamberlin officiating. The exercises were characterized by extreme simplicity. President Hopkins, Dr. Percy Bartlett, Dr. Frost, Dr. Kingsford, Dean Gray and Mr. Edgerton served as bearers.
Dr. Gile, whose surgical skill won the characterization of "savior of the north country" as he received the degree of Doctor of Science from Dartmouth in June, 1924, was born in Pembroke, March 8, 1864. He prepared for Dartmouth at Pembroke Academy and received his bachelor's degree in 1887 and his M.D. from the Dartmouth Medical School in 1881.
He commenced practice at Tewksbury, Mass., but returned to Hanover in 1896 as professor of Practice of Medicine holding that chair until 1910 when he was given the chair of Clinical Surgery and made Dean of the Dartmouth Medical School, a position which he held to the time of his death. Under his wise leadership the school, although located m a small town, has maintained its reputation for scholastic excellence.
In 1910 Dr. Gile served as chairman of the Republican State Convention and in the following two years was a membef of the governor's council. In 1917-18 he field a commission as lieutenant in the Medical Reserve Corps and served as Medical Aide to the Governor.
Dr. Gile was elected a trustee of Dartmouth in 1912 and was re-elected at the expiration of each term until his election as a life trustee in 1923. He was a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and a member of the American Academy of Medicine. He was also a member of the New England Surgical Society serving as its president from 1920-21; and belonged to the American Medical Association and .the New Hampshire and Massachusetts Medical Societies. In college he was a member of Kappa. Kappa Kappa and of Phi Beta Kappa.
For several years he was at the head of the staff of the Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital of which he was trustee. He held membership in the Graduate, Hanover Country and Lake Tarleton Clubs and was a mason. On June 8, 1892 he married Vesta Fowler who survives him with their four children, Dr. John F. 'l6, Archie B. 'l7, Madeline and Dorothy.
The following appreciation of Dr. Gile's life and his service to College and community was written by Prof. E. J. Bartlett: Dr. John Martin Gile died at his home in Hanover July 15. The bare facts which we note for the life history of an eminent man are given elsewhere and are highly significant. I wish to place the emphasis less upon the positions held and the times of service, and more upon the qualities of the man himself whom we knew as neighbor and friend,—qualities which made the total of his life what it was.
For it was a rich full useful successful, life and a very happy one. As an independent life it began and continued in hard work. Relying upon himself and at some disadvantage he opened the way to success by his own unrelaxing efforts. After a laborious start in his profession he rose rapidly to a surgical practice almost unmatched in number and variety of cases and average of success. After the advent of motor cars he often responded to calls a hundred miles away, and operated in nearly all the small hospitals within that radius. His reputation soon ceased to be local. He was given every honor within the power of the medical profession of the state, and the very great honor, as he regarded it, of the presidency of the New England Surgical Club, a limited organization of which he was a charter member. He combined the experiences of the metropolitan surgeon with those of the old time widely-ranging country doctor. For his work was done by preference with the conveniences and safeguards of a well-appointed hospital; but if it had to be done in a remote farmhouse, a lumber camp or a summer hotel he gave his best to the emergency. He inspired great confidence; and he had the professional courage to take the course his judgment approved unhindered by the risk. He lengthened many lives. He was only sixty-one; possibly he tried his splendid endurance too far. Possibly; we cannot tell, but I think that he would have said that it was worth while.
His administrative qualities—ability to plan and to carry out—were excellent, and most serviceable in the Hospital, in the various offices to which he was called and to the College-of which he was trustee. These same qualities with the power of lucid exposition made ,him a much liked and respected teacher of medical students. He was always interested in the affairs of his home town; and his advice and the propositions he made in public meetings were seldom ineffective.
There was a period when politics seemed to attract him; but I think he decided not to divide his interest, but to postpone until the time came—as it does early to a surgeon—to retire from active practice. He was well endowed for public life through his genuine kindliness, his shrewd insight, his unprejudiced mind and his reasonable persuasive speech.
His nature was deeply and essentially friendly, and he disliked to weaken friendly ties by any small differences of opinion. When his principles or convictions were involved he was decided and firm.
He loved nature and life out of doors; and one of the attractions and rewards of his long-distance calls was in moving through the ever-beautiful woodland roads and over the inspiring upland slopes in a high-powered car driven by one of his family. He loved his beautiful garden of flowers which he visited only a few hours before his death. In the spring he often caught a few hours' rest by taking a hasty run to some special trout stream, and in the autumn by a trip to the woods with a gun, from which he brought home a bird or two. Greatly to the advantage of the College and himself were his journeys to the northern timber lands, where his judgment based on early experience was highly valued.
He was happy too in a devoted family none of them far away.
Another physician friend, in full health and prosperity, told me not long ago that, while he was in no haste, he was looking forward with intense interest to this same great adventure upon which Dr. Gile has gone. This feeling must be frequent among these students of the highest work of Nature, upon which in the final issue they must depend, and which they find so baffling after all.
Dr. John M. Gile
