Dr. A.H. Millard, Minonk's Illustrious Doctor
Submitted by
Jari Lynn Oncken
- January 05, 2011
Dr. A.H. Millard, Minonk's Illustrious Doctor
 Last month while looking through the list of former church members in the record book of 1872-1892 I came upon the name of Dr. A. H. Millard and thought his life story would make an interesting article. Many people remember going to him as a patient and walking up all those steps to his office on the second floor of the old Lichtenstein building, the home of the present Country Financial and Country Florist businesses in the north business block in Minonk. Dr. Morrison also had his office on the second story but on W. 5th Street at a later time. I guess any patient who could make it up those steps couldn't have had too much wrong with them. For those who couldn't, the doctor made house-calls. Dr. Homer Alanson Millard was born in Lamar, Missouri on March 11, 1867, the son of Homer and Elizabeth Millard. In the spring of 1890 he and his mother came to Minonk and resided at 320 Maple Avenue. His father had passed away in 1885. Dr. Millard joined our church on December 6, 1894 and Elizabeth on January 20, 1895. While living in Lamar Dr. Millard earned his B. S. medical degree at the local college and in 1890 he received his M. D.
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at the Hahnemann Medical College in Chicago. The following year he began practicing medicine in Minonk, first in a small frame building just east of the old Odd Fellows building. Dave Uphoff now owns this building that houses the Minonk Historical Museum. In 1903 Homer took his post graduate work in Berlin, Germany and Vienna, Austria. On December 7, 1890 Dr. Millard married Eura Kellar who was part Sioux Indian. She was baptized in our church on February 13, 1892. During their short marriage they became the parents of three children, two died in infancy. Eura passed away on April 13, 1896, the year her son Homer was born. Homer grew up in Minonk and was raised by his dad and grandmother Elizabeth. On April 11, 1907 he was baptized and joined the First Baptist Church.
Dr. Millard was a member of many medical societies and associations. He was on the staffs at Mennonite and Brokaw Hospitals in Bloomington and St. Mary's in Streator. Many of his articles were published in medical journals and read before medical congresses. They became the medical authority and were kept on file in the medical records of the Congressional Library at Washington D. C.
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Dr. A.H. Millard, Minonk's Illustrious Doctor
Shortly before his death he had been honored by his profession and invited to read one of his papers at the American Medical Association World Congress at St. Louis, Missouri. Due to his ill health he had to decline this honor that was given to only a few physicians. He practiced medicine in Minonk continuously for 48 years and passed away on July 18, 1939 at the age of 72. His mother outlived him by one year. She was cared for by Mrs. John Antons until her death at the age of 92 on May 9, 1940.
Most of the information on Dr. Millard's life came from his obituary and from Minonk's history but the best source of all is his grandson John "Bud" Millard. I called him on Monday, November 28 at his home, introduced myself and asked him to share information and stories about his grandfather. John is retired and living with his wife June in Hot Springs Village, Arkansas. John is the son of Homer and Viola Vissering Millard. His mother's family owned and operated Vissering's Mercantile Co. In 1889 his grandfather John Vissering Sr. organized the business and operated it with his partner Henry Juden.
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One year later Conrad Kohl became John's partner in the business known as Vissering and Kohl. Conrad retired in 1918 and the name was changed to Vissering Mercantile. After John's death in 1940 his daughter Viola and son Herman became the proprietors. They retired in 1963. In 1915 Homer and Viola graduated from Minonk High School, they were married and then divorced a few years after their son was born. John's accomplishments are many. After his sophomore year in high school he enrolled in the Western Military Academy in Alton, Illinois. Then in 1937 he began to realize his dream to become a pilot by taking courses at the University of Illinois in Urbana in flight training, instrument rating and airport management and he received his commercial pilot license. During World War II John spent five years as a navy pilot, mostly in the Pacific campaign. He then became a commercial pilot with United Airlines, his career of 35 years. John said that he was assigned by United Airlines to pilot President Harry S. Truman's aircraft during his campaign for the presidency.
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Dr. A.H. Millard, Minonk's Illustrious Doctor
What a coincidence for John to learn that President Truman's birthplace was the same as his grandfather's, Lamar, Missouri. John loved his grandfather (June said that the feeling was mutual) and remembered him as being a wonderful man who always had a kind disposition. His grandfather was not only a physician but also a surgeon with an operating room, two recovery rooms and an office. It was almost a complete hospital. Dr. Millard also had an office in his home. He compounded his own medicine and it was said that his homemade liniment was sold at Eugene Hogdson's drug store. If he was unable to diagnose a patient's illness he paid for an ambulance to take him or her to Mayo Brothers and would follow to make sure they arrived safely. He made house calls when he expected little or no pay and his reasonable charges won his patients' gratitude. John remembers three of his grandfather's cars. Many a time John went out with his grandfather to a house call in the country in the old Model T because it had smaller wheels that could navigate on the muddy roads. Most of the information on Dr.
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Millard's life came from his obituary and from Minonk's history but the best source of all is his grandson John "Bud" Millard. I called him on Monday, November 28 at his home, introduced myself and asked him to share information and stories about his grandfather. John is retired and living with his wife June in Hot Springs Village, Arkansas.
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