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| Doctor Bowen, Christmas 1973 |
Doctor Bowen was the
archetype of a country doctor: he was chubby, somewhat unkempt, and he
seemed to perpetually have a wet, half-smoked cigar hanging out of
the corner of his mouth. His bedside manner did not always include an excess of tact, and over the years he had his share of
detractors as well as staunch defenders. I never remember him
having any kind of secretary, and his office was consequentially a mess, stacked almost to the ceiling with years'
subscriptions of detective magazines and old medical journals.
Janette was the daughter of Aunt Zadie, my paternal grandfather's sister. Zadie and Janette and sister Louise and their brother Ralph (see Aberdeen Hotel musing) and their extended families all lived in particularly close proximity in various houses on the same block around Aberdeen's Main Street. Janette was the only one of the Leach family who never married, and thereby lies the tale.
Doctor Bowen had done part of his residency at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, where he had roomed with a Sandhills native. When Moore County Hospital was completed in Pinehurst in 1929, his ex-roommate enticed him into joining the team as a resident surgeon. He subsequently found himself one afternoon at the Pinehurst Country Club in the offices of a certain Mr. Nelson, one of the village's millionaire movers and shakers, seeking advice about an appropriate place to live. He had begun his employment living in the hospital, a situation he quickly tired of as he felt it too close to work to maintain any kind of decent privacy.
It so happened that Janette worked as secretary to Nelson. These were the early years of the Depression, her family had recently given up the Aberdeen Hotel, and she volunteered that her mother would be agreeable to rent a room in the family home in nearby Aberdeen where the new doctor could find a certain anonymity several miles away from the hospital.
Doctor B. thus discovered both the Leach family and Aberdeen where he soon set up a private practice which he maintained for the rest of his life.
I do not know if Janette and Doctor B. were already friends before he arrived in Aberdeen. I suspect not, as the rather draconian rules of propriety prevalent in little Southern towns of the day would have certainly discouraged the bringing of a boyfriend into the bosom of the family, as it were. Still, at whatever stage their friendship blossomed into something more, it appears in hindsight surprising that townspeople never seemed to raise the slightest eyebrow.
After a respectable number of months living with Janette and her family, Doctor Bowen purchased a handsome diamond ring and popped the eternal question.
Janette was the daughter of Aunt Zadie, my paternal grandfather's sister. Zadie and Janette and sister Louise and their brother Ralph (see Aberdeen Hotel musing) and their extended families all lived in particularly close proximity in various houses on the same block around Aberdeen's Main Street. Janette was the only one of the Leach family who never married, and thereby lies the tale.
Doctor Bowen had done part of his residency at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, where he had roomed with a Sandhills native. When Moore County Hospital was completed in Pinehurst in 1929, his ex-roommate enticed him into joining the team as a resident surgeon. He subsequently found himself one afternoon at the Pinehurst Country Club in the offices of a certain Mr. Nelson, one of the village's millionaire movers and shakers, seeking advice about an appropriate place to live. He had begun his employment living in the hospital, a situation he quickly tired of as he felt it too close to work to maintain any kind of decent privacy.
It so happened that Janette worked as secretary to Nelson. These were the early years of the Depression, her family had recently given up the Aberdeen Hotel, and she volunteered that her mother would be agreeable to rent a room in the family home in nearby Aberdeen where the new doctor could find a certain anonymity several miles away from the hospital.
Doctor B. thus discovered both the Leach family and Aberdeen where he soon set up a private practice which he maintained for the rest of his life.
I do not know if Janette and Doctor B. were already friends before he arrived in Aberdeen. I suspect not, as the rather draconian rules of propriety prevalent in little Southern towns of the day would have certainly discouraged the bringing of a boyfriend into the bosom of the family, as it were. Still, at whatever stage their friendship blossomed into something more, it appears in hindsight surprising that townspeople never seemed to raise the slightest eyebrow.
After a respectable number of months living with Janette and her family, Doctor Bowen purchased a handsome diamond ring and popped the eternal question.
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| Janette ... once a little girl |
Aunt Zadie was of another era. She
had some doubts that the young doctor's financial means would quite come
up to her expectations, and she counseled that it might be in
everyone's interest to slow down, to wait another year
or so before taking the final plunge. Janette rather obliviously
reported back that she was pleased to be engaged, but that she and
her mother felt it best to put off making any hasty, precise marriage
arrangements.
Doctor Bowen, who had been exceedingly patient up until this point, reflected briefly on the turn of events, then retorted : "So be it. Wear the ring as long as it pleases you, we will be engaged, if that is your wish. But make no mistake about it, it will be a cold day in hell before I ever ask you to marry me again!"
There was of course no cold day in hell, he didn't, and they didn't!
Doctor Bowen, who had been exceedingly patient up until this point, reflected briefly on the turn of events, then retorted : "So be it. Wear the ring as long as it pleases you, we will be engaged, if that is your wish. But make no mistake about it, it will be a cold day in hell before I ever ask you to marry me again!"
There was of course no cold day in hell, he didn't, and they didn't!
From that day on, Doctor B. and
Aunt Zadie maintained an at-best polite, often frosty cohabitation.
He nevertheless did become a permanent fixture within the household. By
the time I came along (he delivered me, as he did my twin brothers) I
never questioned why he was there or quite how he fit into the
family.
The Leaches changed houses a couple of times over the years, always in the same neighborhood, and Doctor Bowen made the move along with the rest of them. In later years, he bought the neighboring house of Ralph (who moved with his family a few doors down), but never lived there. It just sat empty until he decided a few years later to rent it seasonally to a Danish sea captain.
Little Polly was Ralph's daughter and Zadie's grand daughter. Her family lived next door, and as a child she would regale me with tales of Doctor B's eccentric behavior. She used to laugh about watching him pace back and forth in his room clad only in boxer shorts, with the ever-present cigar hanging out of the corner of his mouth. But most memorable for us children was the fact that he always seemed to be counting a seemingly inexhaustible wad of paper money which he would then stash in boxes and drawers around the house.
The Leaches changed houses a couple of times over the years, always in the same neighborhood, and Doctor Bowen made the move along with the rest of them. In later years, he bought the neighboring house of Ralph (who moved with his family a few doors down), but never lived there. It just sat empty until he decided a few years later to rent it seasonally to a Danish sea captain.
Little Polly was Ralph's daughter and Zadie's grand daughter. Her family lived next door, and as a child she would regale me with tales of Doctor B's eccentric behavior. She used to laugh about watching him pace back and forth in his room clad only in boxer shorts, with the ever-present cigar hanging out of the corner of his mouth. But most memorable for us children was the fact that he always seemed to be counting a seemingly inexhaustible wad of paper money which he would then stash in boxes and drawers around the house.
(My grandmother's family had owned
the local bank which in 1934 –along with many depression-hit monetary
institutions across the country-- closed its doors, never to reopen;
and to the best of my knowledge no client's money was ever
recuperated. So it was hardly surprising that those with a steady
income like Doctor Bowen in the 1930's would harbor a lifelong
suspicion of banks.)
By the time he died some 40 years later, nothing had basically changed. Janette never removed her engagement ring, though in later life she would voice to family members her humiliation in wearing it throughout the decades, and she once confided that she felt the need to turn the gem side inwards when they occasionally traveled out of town together.
At the end of his life Doctor Bowen had only one remaining relation, a nephew to whom he intended to leave a modest bequest. However, in the days following the funeral, no will had been located, and Janette saw fate just about to deal her yet another slap in the face.
By the time he died some 40 years later, nothing had basically changed. Janette never removed her engagement ring, though in later life she would voice to family members her humiliation in wearing it throughout the decades, and she once confided that she felt the need to turn the gem side inwards when they occasionally traveled out of town together.
At the end of his life Doctor Bowen had only one remaining relation, a nephew to whom he intended to leave a modest bequest. However, in the days following the funeral, no will had been located, and Janette saw fate just about to deal her yet another slap in the face.
My main source for this part of the
family history is Little Polly. In her recounting, pieced together over the years, the surviving
nephew from South Carolina was virtually in the driveway waiting to
claim the inheritance while Ralph ordered the house
turned top to bottom until the will could be located. Janette had
seen the artisanal document being written, and the family knew it had
to be there somewhere amidst the piles of memorabilia and boxes full
of cash and general rubbish. Rugs and carpets were pulled up,
mattresses up-heaved. Janette, who in later years had developed a
penchant for bourbon, was in a state of both grief and confusion, but her brother was fully
in charge and determined to protect his sister's (and by extension
the rest of the family's) interests.
The will was ultimately located, inexplicably hidden under someone else's mattress, and Janette was declared beneficiary of the considerable estate. A lifetime of unfulfilled dreams of a certain officialization of her situation was finally realized, even though it was too late coming and undoubtedly offered her little satisfaction.
TO PAY OR NOT TO PAY ...
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| Doctor Bowen at his office circa 1955 |
For whatever reason, he never charged us for a lifetime of medical attention. Mother would periodically go into a kind of heavy anxiety, fearing he was going to wake up and send us a bill. That he or his survivors might one day present an invoice for all the years of office visits, house calls and various operations (Doctor Bowen was considered an exceptional surgeon) for our family of five !
In those days
it was just another example of living in a small southern town where
intertwining family ties created privileged codes of
behavior. Like many things growing up in Aberdeen, they were
thought best left unspoken.
Your input is welcomed: frank.pleasants@libertysurf.fr
CROSS REFERENCING … a look at other postings
Doctor Bowen is also mentioned in "Linwood and Doris" from Musings and Meanderings No. 14 and in "A Date With Dephie" from Musings and Meanderings No. 17; Aunt Zadie and the Leach family are also featured in "Babe Ruth's 60th Home Run" from Hotel Musings No. 26; Little Polly is mentioned in "The Caldwells Come To Paris", Hotel Musings No. 57 (to access, click on highlighted titles).
