Dr. Hubert Dickason Clapp

Obituary

Dr. Hubert Dickason Clapp, 93, died peacefully on April 11. Preceded in death by wife of 62 years, Eletha; survived by brother-in-law Ross Armstrong; sons Richard and Doug; daughters-in-law Sonja and Patti; and six grandchildren: Shawn, wife Miriam & daughter Emma; Hubert N., wife Kim and daughter Mackenzie; Chris and fianc¨ Matt; Katie, Haley and Devin. "Hubie' was born on April 17, 1912, in Columbiana, Ohio. He was an only child. His father, Charles, owned a drugstore and was a registered pharmacist. His mother, Lulu Dickason, taught school before her marriage. Dr. Clapp worked in his father's drugstore before graduating from Columbiana High School in 1930. He graduated from Oberlin College in 1934 and from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in 1939. He met his wife, Eletha, that same year at his father's drugstore. They were married on January 17, 1941, in Eletha's mother's living room in Lisbon, Ohio. Dr. Clapp spent five years training in obstetrics and gynecology at St. Luke's Hospital in Cleveland and then joined the Navy Medical Corps in January 1944. During World War II he was assigned to Corona Naval Hospital in California and served on the USS Deuel in Hawaii and the Philippines. He was a lieutenant in the U.S. Naval Reserve for seven years. After his discharge from the Navy, Dr. Clapp began a long association with Dr. Howard Taylor, who had a large obstetrical practice in Cleveland, delivering babies at the Salvation Army's Booth Hospital. He turned this work over to Dr. Clapp, who delivered 6 to 8 babies a month for a salary of $250. In the seven years that Dr. Clapp practiced medicine in Cleveland, he had full privileges at St. Luke's Hospital as well as Case Western Reserve University Hospital. In 1952, he and his family moved to Crookston, Minnesota, where Eletha continued her nursing career and Dr. Clapp delivered a generation of newborns at Northwest Clinic until the couple's retirement in 1981. In Crookston, Dr. Clapp served as an elder of the Presbyterian Church, and he and Eletha were active in church youth programs, Cub Scouting and many civic activities. Dr. Clapp is a Founding Fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, and a Diplomat of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology. He was the first president of the Riverview Hospital medical staff and was elected president of the Minnesota State Obstetrical and Gynecological Society in 1975. From 1975 to 1980, he served on the Minnesota State Maternal Mortality Committee, which reviewed all deaths associated with a pregnancy in Minnesota. The Clapps retired to Sarasota, Florida, but returned each summer to their cabin on Buckeye Island in Lake of the Woods, where friends were always welcome. Dr. Clapp will be remembered for his warmth, integrity, good humor and the amazing needlepoint projects he crafted for family and friends. A memorial for Dr. Clapp will be held at the First Presbyterian Church of Crookston, 510 N. Broadway, Crookston, MN on Saturday, August 19, 2006 at 2:00 p.m.