John Ridlon / [H. Winnett Orr].

  • H. Winnett Orr
Date:
[1936]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: John Ridlon / [H. Winnett Orr]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    at the Veterans Hospital from which he was transferred to the Edward Hines Jr. Hospital in Chicago when that institution was established. One of Dr. Ridlon’s outstanding characteristics was his generosity both pro¬ fessionally and financially to younger men. There was never a time when he would not give his energy or his money to assist especially one who was disposed to devote himself to the study and practice of orthopedic surgery. Many of the men of rising prominence in the middle west and even the far west have been Dr. Ridlon’s students in orthopedic surgery, a number having been undergraduates during his professorship at Northwestern University. In 1923 it was the privilege and pleasure of this group of students and a few other friends of Dr. Ridlon to gather in Chicago and to present to him and Mrs. Ridlon the fine portrait painted by Mr. Carl Bohnen which hangs in the Archibald Church Library of Northwestern University Medical School. At the close of the presentation exercises, Dr. Ridlon remarked that he realized for the first time that he had always had what he knew he had always wanted, namely, the friendship and regard of the men whom he had looked upon somewhat too formally as students and professional colleagues. After 1928 Dr. Ridlon retired from practice in Chicago to make his home at Newport, Rhode Island. Even as he approached eighty years of age, however, he remained active. During 1931 he conducted an inspection of the school children of Newport for physical defects. He traveled to meetings of his orthopedic asso¬ ciates in Boston, New York, and elsewhere, and in 1933 was guest of honor at the Washington, D.C. meeting of the American Orthopedic Association under the presidency of Dr. Arthur Steindler. For several years he applied himself almost daily to typewriting notes regarding the personalities and surgical experiences of his earlier days. He kept alive an extensive correspondence with many of the men in orthopedic practice in whom he always maintained a keen personal and professional interest. When he left Chicago, Dr. Ridlon distributed a small but choice collection of books on the history and practice of orthopedic surgery. Many of these are to be found now in the special collection accumulating under the direction of the writer in the library of the American College of Surgeons in Chicago. The forthcoming catalogue of this collection will contain many references to Dr. Ridlon and many quotations from his letters and conversations. Dr. Ridlon’s patients, pupils, and professional contemporaries will always hold him in high esteem. His devotion to his specialty and his ideals for the care of his patients were often expressed in criticism of those who fell short of his standards. Those who profited by his teaching and by the example of his methods, however, cannot but feel that they are much the better for his guidance, for his industry, and for his constant inspiration. PRINTED BY R. R DONNELLEY ft SONS CO., AT CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, U.S.A.
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