Evening star., 1936-04-04
TRIBUTE IS PAID
TO DR.. WILMER
Widow and Children and
Friends Gather at Serv.
ices in Cathedral.
BY JAMES WALDO FAwCETT.

associates in medicine and teaching,
former patients and students, comrades
of the A. E. F. and fellow churchmen
gathered at an impressive service in
the Great Choir of Washington Ca
thedral yesterday to pay tribute to the
memory of DIR. William Holland Will
mer, worldfamous eye specialist, who
died March IL.
The rites were led by Right Rev.
James E. Freeman, Bishop of WASH
ington, assisted by Canon G. Freeland
Peter, Rev. DR.. Ze Barney T. Phillips,
rector Of Epiphany Parish and chap
plain Of the Senate, and Rev. DR..
Arthur B. Kinsolving, rector of st.
Pauls Church, Baltimore.
Col Henry Breckenridge, secretary Of
the Wilmer Foundation, New York,
was the eulogist.
THE strident clamor Of faction will
disappear into oblivion" he said.
Schemes and combinations will fail
and disintegrate. Systems of this and
that will be heralded, installed and
scrapped. But the work of the saint
anu SClentLSC enQureS.
Name Will Be Remembered.
"The name of DR.. Wilmer will be re-
membered by many here and abroad as
long as the human eye requires the
ministrations of the skillful physician.
His place in the history of opthal-
mology will resemble that of Fuchs of
Vienna, who was first his predecessor,
then his teacher, and finally his COL
league.
''Dr. Wilmer inspired and created
the Wilmer Opthalmological Institute
OF the Johns Hopkins University and
Hospital. For nine years he was the
director, drawing to his side from many
lands and all sections of our own prom
ising students attracted by his person.
ality and professional genius. And they
went forth again as SO many beams
OF light from a central source to carry
to humanity his message of healing.
And Wilmer the scientist was built
on Wilmer the man. To him, the eye
was not an isolated organ of the body.
1t was the window of the soul. Through
it. he plumbed the depths of human
nature. In his judgment, the rich
and the poor, the lowly and the ex-
alted were the same. His family,
his friends, his students, his profession,
his country and his God received his
answering devotion"
Praised as Christian.
Bishop Freeman praised DR.. Will
mer'S character as a Christian. saying:
"Dr. Wilmer was a great physician
and surgeon, scholar and a high
minded Christian gentleman. 1t is
most fitting that his body should find
sepulchre in the Cathedral he SO long
helped to build. He is the first of his
profession to be buried here"
The Cathedral Choir of men and
boys. directed by Robert G. Barrow,
sang the musical portions of the sacred
program. and members of the Ca
thedral Chapter and Council acted as
ushers
Those present at the service in
cluded Mrs. Wilmer. William Holland
Wilmer. jr.; Mr.. and Mrs. Richard H.
Wilmer, Mr.. and Mrs. Russell E.
Sard, Miss Miriam Scott, Wilmer
Scott, Richard H. Wilmer, jr.; Grant
Wilmer, Miss Betty Maury, Dr. Frank
lin Maury. Mrs William Waters. Dr.
and Mrs. j. Hall Pleasant. Miss Lydia
F. Warner, Mr.. and Mrs. John w.
Grant. Mrs. Breckenridge, DR.. Ben
jamin Rones and DR.. Plinio Montal-
van.
Also Dr. Winners secretary. Miss
Elizabeth Kerr. and William Henson,
Cora Hubbard, Katie Banks, Ben
Jones and Wyman Williams, servants
in his household.
Friends seated in a section Of the
choir reserved for their use were:
Rev. DR.. w. Coleman Nevils of
Georgetown University, DR.. and Mrs.
Abraham Flexner. Dr. and Mrs.
Thomas Brown, Blanchard Randall,
Mrs. j. Bassett Moore, Henry D. Max
well, j. c. Dawes, Dr. and Mrs. w. T.
Longcope, DR.. John Stewart Bryan Of
William and Mary College, Mr.. and
Mrs. Donald Geddes, Mr.. and Mrs.
Daniel Willard, Mr.. and Mrs. Henry
Harlan, DR.. Henry Barton Jacobs,
former Secretary of the Interior James
r. Garfield, Benjamin S. Minor, DR..
and Mrs. Walter Parker. DR.. William
c. Rives, Mrs. william Cabeu Bruce,
Mrs. Hugh Campbell Wallace, Mrs.
Gibson Fahnestock and DR.. and Mrs.
William Cabell Moore.