Newspaper Articles, Drs. Love and Halley, Ballinger, Runnels Co, TX ***************************************************************** USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.rootsweb/~usgenweb/ Submitted by Mary Love Berryman - marylove@tyler.net 15 Nov 2000 ***************************************************************** District Medical Association, Coleman, TX - May 1904 A district medical association was organized at Coleman last week. Fourteen counties are embraded in the association and a fair attendance is reported. Dr. A. S. Love of Ballinger was elected president of the district association and all presidents of the various county associations were made vice-presidents. Source unknown - probably Ballinger newspaper ------------------------------------------------------------------ The Ballinger Ledger, 50th Anniversary Celebratrion, 1936 Love and Halley Physicians In Ballinger for 38 Years Drs. A. S. Love and W. B. Halley came to Ballinger in September, 1898, to establish a practice and both are here today, active in their work, after 38 years of ministering to the sick and suffering in this section. Coming direct from school, physicians and surgeons, into this sparsely settled region, their work was arduous for a time and took them on many long trips, usually in a livery stable buggy. Their experiences of the trials of a pioneer doctor with poor means of transportation, make stories that bring both tears and laughter. It was hard work and often gave them very little time for sleep and rest. Dr. Love and Dr. Halley have been associated for the past 42 years. They attended school together and came west to form a professional partnership. Dr. Love stated that he had started to Abilene and stopped for the night in Trickham, Coleman county. In some way it was learned that a doctor was staying over night at the hotel and calls from the sick came which kept him at work there for a month. When he caught up he came on to Ballinger and decided to remain. At first there were no telephones and most calls were a "hello" ringing out in the night as a distressed relative on horseback or in a buggy gave directions how the place could be reached. There were no electric lights and night surgical work was next to impossible in the rural sections. Just before coming to Ballinger, and during the Philippine insurection, Dr. Love had decided to enter the army. He was to meet a recruiting officer at Santa Anna, but remained on a case for several days and arrived too late to sign up. "I have driven a buggy over almost every foot of Runnels county," said Dr. Love, "and it was doing this that I learned to sleep while driving, a habit I still have since the advent of automobiles." On long trips the doctors usually hired a livery stable rig and driver so they could sleep. Dr. Love did that at one time on a call to a patient near Crews. Fences were just being built at that time and while a boy did the driving that night, Dr. Love had to open and close 23 gates which kept him fairly well awake. From the patient's house, he made five other calls before arriving at the Hatchel store the next day, very hungry. When they arrived home the young driver remarked that he was through driving for doctors. Dr. Love recalls a June 29 celebration in 1899 that he was very anxious to attend. Early on the day of the celebration he was called to near Sweetwater for a consultation and without a driver, set out to find the patient's home. After being lost a number of times he followed a telephone line which extended from Robert Lee to Sweetwater into the neighborhood and arrived where a sick child was near death. The doctor attending refused to give an anesthetic while he performed the operation. In order to save the child and finish the task before night, Dr. Love did the job alone, and the child lived. He drove back to Hilton to spend the night and citizens in the community where the child lived made up a purse of $60 and brought it to him. In this way citizens of Hilton found out he was a doctor and it was three days before he arrived home. Both doctors could tell experiences by the hour, some humorous, some sad. "Practically every kind of an experience has come our way during the 38 years," Dr. Love said. In 1905 the two physicians founded the Halley & Love Sanitaariium, which is still being operated, and in 1912 started the Ballinger Training School for Nurses. No records has been kept of the number of operations performed, but more than 4,000 appendectomies have been done in the institution. Drs. Halley and Love performed the first Ceasarean operation known of in Texas, in which the mother and bby both survived. The operation was performed at the hospital here. Both doctors admit there is a great difference in their practice today as compared to that of the past. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Source and Date unknown Ballinger (RNS) - Two landmarks - the old Ballinger Clinic-Hospital and the First Baptist Church - soon will be only memories to local residents as the historic buildings are being rased to make way for progress. Established in 1905 by the late Dr. W. B. Hally and the late Dr. A. S. Love, the hospital was one of the first in Abilene area. Dr. Halley and Dr. Love had been college roomates and began to practice medicine as partners in Ballinger in 1898. By 1912, the hospital had grown to meet the demands of an expanding Ballinger, and a nurses' training school and a nurses' home were established. Grew Up in Clinic Charles F. Bailey, a nephew of Mrs. Halley who had grown up in the clinic after the death of his mother, became associated with the Halley and Love Hospital in 1928. He assumed many of his uncle's responsibilities when he retired from practice in 1941. Dr. Bailey became head of the hospital upon the death of Dr. Love in 1943, and the name was changed to Bailey Clinic-Hospital. In 1956, the institution had three physicians, Bailey, Dr. O. H. Chandler and Dr. John E. Green Jr. The name at that time was Ballinger Clinic- Hospital. Drs. Chandler and Green built a new clinic across the street from the old hospital two years ago and the hospital was closed. Razing of the old structure is now about half finished, and the older Ballinger residents are saying their last farewells the building which has played such a big part in their lives. Church Being Razed The First Baptist Church, built in the early 1920's of stone taken from the basement excavation and hand dressed by stone masons, is in the final stages of being torn down. At the time of its construction the building was appraised at $59,000. Membership stood at 719 and the church was built for an expected expansion. It lasted over four decades. The new $255,000 church is located on the lot just north of the existing educational building, part of which has been remodeled to complement the over-all design. Huge stones taken from the old building have been placed in yards and gardens of local residents as a memory of their church. Soon there will be nothing left of the church but those beloved memories. Permission granted by Ballinger Ledger for publication in the Runnels County TXGenWeb Archives