History of the Georgia Chapter of the American College of Surgeons – 1951-1965
Unfortunately, there are no surviving minutes of the council meetings of 1951 or 1952. Also, no minutes for the annual meetings during these years have been found. Significantly, according to records from the central office of the American College of Surgeons, the Georgia Chapter was officially chartered in August 1951. Remarkably, this event was not noted in the Chapter minutes.
The next annual meeting occurred in Macon on October 12, 1953 at the Dempsey Hotel. At the council meeting, it was noted that three prizes were awarded for the 1952 surgery resident papers. The recipients of these prizes and the titles of their papers was not recorded.
The next annual Chapter meeting occurred at the King and Prince Hotel at St. Simons Island on October 1, 1954. There is no notation in the minutes of speakers or resident papers.
An “open meeting” occurred at the Bonaire Hotel in Augusta on Tuesday, May 3, 1955. The visiting speaker was Champ Lyons, Professor and Chairman, Department of Surgery of the Medical College of Alabama in Birmingham. At this meeting, a committee was appointed to draw up a code of ethics to guide the practices of the members. The next two meetings occurred at the King and Prince Hotel on September 30, 1956 and September 25, 1957. Apparently, there were no resident papers presented at either of these meetings as, according to the Council minutes, there were no disbursements to surgical house staff. A financial report at the council meeting on September 25, 1957 recorded that Joe Read was reimbursed $5.00 for long distance calls to arrange for the 1956 meeting. This is a prime example of the strict financial accountability for which the Georgia Chapter is well known.
A significant Council meeting occurred at the Piedmont Driving Club in Atlanta on January 19, 1958. At that time, a part-time executive secretary, Mr. Milton Krueger was employed.
The 1958 general meeting occurred on April 28th at the Elks Club in Macon during the meeting of the Medical Association of Georgia. An additional 1958 meeting occurred at The Cloister on September 20th. This is significant because it was the first time the Georgia Chapter met at The Cloister. A new committee to consider residents’ papers was appointed with Holt Womack serving as Chairman. Apparently, the tradition of resident papers at the annual meeting had lapsed and this was a move to reinstate this feature of the annual meeting.
The 1959 meeting was held at the Bon Air Hotel in Augusta on May 19th. A second 1959 meeting occurred on September 26th at The Cloister. The 1960 meeting on September 28th was also held at The Cloister. Despite the appointing of the committee for resident papers, no resident papers were presented at the 1959 meeting. However, at the 1960 annual meeting, a committee was appointed to consider a resident’s paper contest with Charles Richardson, Jr. serving as Chairman. At this meeting, John Paul North, the new Director of the ACS, gave a talk on “Recent American College of Surgeons Activities”.
In 1961, there were two meetings of the Georgia Chapter. The first occurred on May 8th at the Biltmore Hotel in Atlanta with Mark Ravitch as the guest speaker. The September 14-16, 1961 meeting at the Cloister is well documented because a program exists in the Chapter archives. (No programs from 1948-1960 have been found). At this meeting, there were four outstanding guest speakers, Donald Effler of the Cleveland Clinic, Paul Hoxworth of the University of Cincinnati, Joseph H. Pratt of the Mayo Clinic and H. William Scott of Vanderbilt. There was a place on the program for one resident’s paper which was billed as the “Prize Winning Surgical Resident’s Paper – Title to be Announced”. Unfortunately, there is no record of the winner of this prize.
Records of the 1962 meetings exist in the form of a “Bulletin” issued by S.A. Roddenberry, Secretary. The meeting occurred at the Biltmore Hotel in Atlanta on February 19th. The membership voted unanimously to sponsor a guest speaker for the Atlanta Graduate Medical Assembly, a guest speaker for the MAG meeting and to continue to sponsor a resident paper contest.
In 1963, two luncheon meetings were held. The first was held on February 19th at Fan and Bill’s Restaurant which was next to the Biltmore Hotel in Atlanta. Interestingly enough it is recorded that the cost of the luncheon including tax and tip was $4.75 each. Kenneth W. Warren was a special guest and spoke at the luncheon. The second 1963 meeting was convened during the annual MAG meeting at Jekyll Island on May 6th. It was noted in the “Bulletin” that there were sixteen new members of the Georgia Chapter.
In 1964, there were two meetings. The first was at the Biltmore Hotel on February 18th and was billed as a “Day of Surgery” which was jointly sponsored by the Georgia Chapter and the Atlanta Graduate Medical Assembly. The visiting speakers included Hugh Lynn of Rochester, Minnesota, Harwell Wilson of Memphis and Champ Lyons of Birmingham. The second 1964 meeting took place at the Dempsey Hotel in Macon on May 4th and the guest speaker was Edward Woodward of the University of Florida.
In 1965, two meetings of the Georgia Chapter were held. The first was at the Biltmore Hotel and another “Day of Surgery” during the Atlanta Graduate Medical Assembly was presented on February 16th. The guest speakers included George Crile of Cleveland, George Pack of New York, G. Valter Brindley, Jr. of Temple, Texas, Amos Koontz of Baltimore and Rene Menguy of Lexington, Kentucky. There was a luncheon which included round table discussions and a business meeting that afternoon followed by a cocktail party. The second 1965 meeting occurred as a breakfast meeting at the Augusta Town House Motor Inn on May 4th.