Following is an obituary which ran in the Feb. 3, 1966 edition of the Olds Gazette: Dr. C.C. Hartman, a practicing physician in this community for the past fifty-five years, passed away quietly in the Olds Hospital Thursday, January 27th.
Following is an obituary which ran in the Feb. 3, 1966 edition of the Olds Gazette:
Dr. C.C. Hartman, a practicing physician in this community for the past fifty-five years, passed away quietly in the Olds Hospital Thursday, January 27th.
Clare Clifford Hartman was born at Aurora, Ont. August 6, 1886, the son of a dairy farmer. At the age of nine he started his schooling in a small rural school, completing his high school in Aurora. After five years in the Faculty of Medicine at Toronto University, during which time he was a member of the track team and president of his class, he graduated shortly before his 21st birthday. He served his internship at Toronto General Hospital, after which he spent some time in the mining and lumbering areas of Northern Ontario. In 1910 he came to Olds and began his practice of medicine.
Many an interesting story he could tell of those early years of his practice when he answered calls and made perilous trips as far east as Trochu and west to the Yaha Tinda Ranch, travelling by horseback, California cart, Bennett buggy and cutter to perform minor operations and deliver babies in the then primitive farm homes. One of his proudest boasts was that he had cared for as many as five generations of the same family.
In co-operation with the late Dr. Arthur Mann, he assumed his full share of the responsibility in maintaining and operating the town's earliest hospitals, for it was not until the mid twenties that the Olds General Hospital, which was located immediately west of the Olds United Church on 50th St., was officially opened.
During the flu epidemic of 1918, along with other doctors, nurses, and volunteer helpers, he was on call night and day, caring for patients in their homes and at the then O.S.A., where one of the buildings had been converted into an emergency hospital. During World War II, he and the late Dr. Ruth Johnstone Harvey worked tirelessly to serve an area formerly served by five doctors.
In addition to the demands of his practice, Dr. Hartman showed his concern for civic matters. He served on the local school board, was an active member of the Olds Board of Trade, Medical Officer of Health and District Coroner. He was a past master of Mountain View Lodge No. 16, A.F. & A.M., Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Alberta, A.F. & A.M. and Past Patron of Mountain View Chapter No. 1, Order of the Eastern Star. Always a lover of the great outdoors, his relaxation was found in hunting, fishing and curling.
In the later years of his practice, he enjoyed the co-operation and the affectionate relationship of the doctors of the Olds Associate Clinic who, in 1962, saw fit to honor him on completion of 55 years in the practice of medicine with a testimonial dinner and presentation. In 1954, he was presented with the Kiwanis International Distinguished Citizen Award by the members of the Kiwanis Club of Olds. This award was presented in recognition of his service to the community.
Dr. Hartman was a man who had a deep sympathy for his fellow man because he had known great personal sorrow. In 1917, he lost by death, his first wife, Florence, and their infant son. In 1919, he married Mabel Cox of Bowmanville, Ont., who, in the prime of life, was stricken with paralysis and remained an invalid until her death in 1961. In 1943, his son, Clifford left school to serve with the RCAF and was reported missing and presumed dead in a flight over Germany.
In the summer of 1960, in company with Mr. and Mrs. Tom Smith and family, "his family," he enjoyed visiting many parts of England. Returning from this holiday and with the loss of Mrs. Hartman, he accepted the quiet routine of hospital visitations and office consultations.
He delivered the last of his many, many babies in December, 1965 and though knowing he had fallen victim to an incurable disease, he was in his office until six days before his death.
Thus he gained the goal of the vision he had of his life's purpose: to bring help and comfort to others, to serve and be useful until the end and to depart this world quietly and with dignity, a burden to no one.
He is survived by his sorrowing family: his daughter Helen and son-in-law Tom Smith, and his grandchildren: Alan and Rickey, Marilyn, Bill and Kathy Smith and his sister, Miss Laura Hartman, all of Olds.
Funeral services were conducted on Monday, January 31st at 2 p.m. from the Olds United Church with Rev. James Forsythe officiating. Burial was in the family plot of the Olds Cemetery.
During the service at the church, Norman Craig, Master of Mountain View Masonic Lodge, read a memorial eulogy on behalf of the fraternity which had attended in a body. Also attending in a body were the officers and members of Mountain View Chapter No. 1 Order of the Eastern Star, the doctors and staff of the Olds Hospital.
When the history of Olds and District is finally written, the name of Dr. C.C. Hartman will shine forth as one of her respected and beloved citizens, a real pioneer. With his passing, we come to the end of an era in the medical history of this community.
He was physician, friend and counsellor.
"He held no cult of new and subtle arts,
Yet his keen skill, their pretence might have shamed.
Father confessor to a thousand hearts,
He solved more woes than those their bodies claimed,
Strong, human, wise, he eased their souls of pain,
And made both flesh and spirit whole again."
Honorary pallbearers were Dr. George Burland, George Clark, W.D. Craig, Dr. Phil Galbraith, Wm. Jackson and Frank Wong. Active pallbearers were Russell Berscht, Rob Cruickshank, Harold Jensen, Ralph Maybank, W.R. Newsom and Dr. Dave Shaw.
Mountain View Funeral Chapel of Olds was in charge of funeral arrangements.
