DR. O. H. DAMRON

Dr. O.H. Damron, 78, 308 Jones Ave., Warrensburg, who served nearly 35 years as a general practitioner in Warrensburg, died May 29, 1981 at Johnson County Memorial Hospital.

During his long career as a physician, Dr. Damron treated thousands of patients. His first office was a small suite above the Buente Brothers drugstore at Holden and Pine streets. He moved to Warrensburg in 1941.

Later, Dr. R. Lee Cooper, Dr. Ralph McKinney and Dr. Damron opened the Warrensburg Medical Center on Market Street, which was first known as the Warrensburg Clinic.

The seven-bed hospital was expanded as the doctors’ practices grew. An additional wing was constructed to house a surgical room, delivery room, five private rooms and increased office space. The clinic had the first air-conditioned surgical room west of the Mississippi.

Dr. Damron, along with Dr. Cooper and Dr. McKinney, took turns operating a first-aid station at the glider base (now Whiteman Air Force Base) near Knob Noster in 1942.

At the end of World War II, the three doctors donated funds to help build a shoe factory which provided jobs for nearly 130 Warrensburg residents.

Hundreds of men inducted into the United States Armed Forces were examined by Dr. Damron when he served on the Johnson County Selective Service Board from 1941 until its dissolution in the early 1970s.

During his years as a physician, Dr. Damron delivered approximately 4,500 babies and performed numerous operations. A member of the American Medical Association, he became a charter member of the American Academy of Family Physicians in 1973. He was honored at ceremonies in Madison Square Garden at that time for being among American doctors who had earned 150 hours of professional courses in three years.

Dr. Damron retired in 1976 to pursue his hobbies of hunting, fishing and photography.

He was born Nov. 23, 1902 in Silex, the son of Oscar Henry and Mary Fortune Damron.

The son of a physician, Dr. Damron graduated in 1929 from St. Louis University Medical School, after attending Culver-Stockton College in Canton, Washington Lee University in Virginia and the University of Missouri Medical School in Columbia.

After practicing in Keytesville for approximately nine years, he entered St. Louis City Hospital for post-graduate work and moved to Warrensburg upon his graduation.

A member of the Missouri State Medical Society and the Johnson County Medical Society, Dr. Damron also was a member of the Elks and Shrine clubs. He was a member of Christ Episcopal Church.

His first wife, Jean Mudd Damron, died in 1967. He married Margaret Seifried in 1970. She survives, at the home.

Also surviving are one daughter, Mrs. John (Jean) Cramer, Sequim, Wash., and one grandson, Steve Cramer, Seattle, Wash.

Funeral services were held at 10 a.m. June 1 at Christ Episcopal church with Father James Pulliam officiating. Burial was in Sunset Hill Cemetery under the direction of Holdren Funeral Home.