Tarrant County TXGenWeb - Dr. Cummins obit

Tarrant County TXGenWeb

John B. Cummins, MD

Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Thursday, January 1, 1959
Researched by Rita Martin and compiled by Barbara Knox

Dr. Cummins, 100, oldest practicing physician in the United States, died Wednesday night at a local hospital. He has finally retired - in the manner he always predicted. "The day I retire will be the day I die. "He had entered the hospital for a checkup last week, and as he was dressing to leave on Sunday, slipped and fell, fracturing ribs and his right hip.

Funeral services will be held Friday afternoon in Magnolia Avenue Christian Church, Rev. R. W. Foor and Rev. L. D. Anderson officiating, with burial in Mount Olivet. Members of the Tarrant County Medical Society will serve as honorary pallbearers.

Less than two months ago Dr. Cummins made a trip back to Cooksville, Tenn where he celebrated his 100th birthday at his boyhood home. He first went to New Orleans where the Southern Medical Association presented him a birthday cake and then took his first plane ride on to Tennessee. Since he was not one to leave his patients for very long, it was a whirlwind trip, taxing enough for a person half his age.

He was teaching school in Navarro County, Texas when he decided to go to medical school and obtained his MD from the University of Nashville (Vanderbilt) and the University of the South. He came here from Indian Territory in what is now the state of Oklahoma. He was from a family of doctors - his father and two brothers also chose medicine as a career. When Dr. Cummins and his wife (of three years) came to Fort Worth in 1903, they bought a house on Hemphill which remained his home until his death. Mrs. Cummins died in the 1917 influenza epidemic, but he continued to live in the two-story home, renting out one floor to couples.

In Fort Worth, Dr. Cummins made house calls for years in his old model T Ford. He gave the care up only after admitting, "my eyes aren't what they used to be." But he never gave up his old practice of mixing many of the prescriptions he gave patients and always carried a small kit of vials containing the powders and medicines.

In 1950 Dr. Cummins was chosen General Practitioner of the Year by the Tarrant County Medical Society. He was a lifetime member of the Southern Medical Association and honorary staff member at Harris Hospital. He had been a member of the Woodmen of the World for 57 years and a charter member of the Magnolia Avenue Christian Church.

As he became recognized as the oldest practicing physician, attention frequently focused on him, but he never neglected his patients for prestige and refused to appear on a national television program because he didn't want to be away from them.

He is survived by a number of nephews and nieces, including Mrs. J. P. Berry and Mrs. A. B. Pumphrey of Fort Worth, Mrs. B. A. Meadors of Haskell and D. L. Cummins of Belton.

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