Northwestern University Dental School - Purple and Gold Yearbook (Evanston, IL)

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IN MEMORIAM During the past yea.r the Faculty, students, alumni and friends of the Northwestern University Dental School have been called upon to mo-urn the death of its honored secretary, Dr. Theo. Menges, whose decease occurred o-n June I, IQOO. On Friday night, May 2 5th, he was taken suddenly ill' with sympto-ms which indicated ap- pendicitis, but as some of the usual prominent symptoms of this trouble were absent, the illness was attributed to another cause. The follow- ing Sunday, however, Dr. Fenger was called in consultation by the attending physician, and, to-gether, they decided upon an immediate operation. He was removed fro-m his rooms in the Palmer House to the Passavant Hospital, where he was prepared for, and underwent the operation for appendicitis. ' A The surgeon, fro-m the first, ho-wever, offered but little encour- agement for his recovery, septic peritonitis having already develo-ped. From the condition of the parts involved it was apparent that this attack was a recurrence o-f a similar o-ne fro-m which he suffered about five years previously. He rallied fro-m the anesthetic and the gener- ally depressing effects o-f the operation as quickly as one in his phys- ical condition could have been expected to recover. His faculties were keen and alert, and, while realizing the gravity and danger of the situation, his mental attitude was quiet and hopeful. He asked the surgeon what the chances fo-r recovery were, and was told that they were about equal. He then said: VVe will 'make the fight f-or lifef' His condition for the next few days was alternately hopeful and discouraging. On Friday unfavorable symptoms developed. Ad- hesions having formed on the left side, a seco-nd operation in this region see-med imperative, and accordingly was performed. Fro-m this he never fully recovered and in the evening death followed as the result o-f the shock. T9

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'Qu Molidayy june 4th, his remains were taken to Trinity Church. where funeral services were conducted by Rev. H. VV. I'homas, Prpsli dent Henry Wfade Rogers and Dr. R. D. Sheppard. From there t iey wereiconveyed to Graceland Cemetery- and deposited in the chapel. The next day the body was cremated, according to a wish expressed sometime before, and again repeated just preViOuS to F155 death- On Wfednesday, june 6th, the ashes were taken to Bristol, Ind.. his old home, where services were again held in the little church he had attended when a boy, after which they were finally laid to rest in the family lot in the churchyard. A brief sketch of his life might not be inappropriate here, and it may serve as an incentive to some, wh-ose early opportunities have been as limited as his own. Dr. Menges was born o'n a farm near Bristol, Ind., Maya 2, 1854. His early life was similar in most respects to that of all farmers' sons -hard work in the spring, summer and fall, with attendance at the country school for two or three months in midwinter. Early in life. however, he began to plan for. greater things than a farmer's life affords. At fourteen he cut and cleared ten acres of timber land to .earn money with which to attend school. At sixteen he was teaching x, in the winter seas-on and attending school in summer time. At twenty he had graduated from a normal school in Ohio, and later entered the Northern Indiana Normal School, from which he graduated two years later with the degreetof B. S. About 1878 he assumed the position of principal of the Bloom- 'fie'd CInd.j High School. Later on he organized the Bloomfield Normal School, which was very successful. It was here that he met Miss Alice Brown, also a teacher, who in 1880 became his wife. His connection with this school continued until 1885. In the mean time he took up the study of medicine and attended one course of lectures in a medical school in Louisville, Ky. Later on he began the study of law, and in 1883 was admitted to the Indiana bar. After admission to the bar he practiced law in addition to his school work until 1886. ' Then the western fever seized hini and he reinoved first to Nebraska, and afterward to Cheyenne, Nlfyo., where he en- gaged, and quite successfully, in law, mining and real estate. In 1892 he came to Chicago, and after a time secured control and assumed the duties of secretary of the American College of Den- . N 2 O . ,.. -..M... .. ... . .,.... . .4 . ..