Milford chronicle., 1958-12-19
GEORGETOWN
Mrs. Constance Brown
Phone: Georgetown $3.50

the young men of medicine who are
bringing out the new miracle drugs
and new techniques.
But the medical profession it.
self pauses now and then to pay
tribute to the old time general
practitioners who used their own
understanding and ingenuity to
save life in isolated farm houses be-
fore the days of accessible hos
pitals and penicillin.
Such a physician is DR.. Joseph
B. NAPLES, Jr., of Georgetown, and
the Delaware Chapter of the
Academy of General Practice re-
Gently honored him at a banquet
in Wilmington for his many years
of service to humanity.
DR.. NAPLES has been a physician
lin Georgetown for 4S years but
his father was a physician before
him and between the two of them
they served the people. of the area
for 100 years from the same loca-
ton on w. Market st.
DR.. NAPLES, Jr., estimates that
he has delivered more than 1000
babies.
At "A, he is still a general prac-
titioner and still responds to calls
/ for help from wide area.
But he doesn't think that the old
days were the best.
ut was rugged life," he ex-
planned.
He named the antibiotics and
'psychiatric drugs" as the tremen-
dous advances in the work of the
physician.
He said that there was no hos
pital south of Wilmington when
he started to practice and no am
balances.
"But the automobile wasn't in
use then so we didn't have so
many accidents" she added.
DR.. NAPLES, Sr., and Jr., kept six
or eight horses behind their home
here and they would respond to
calls at any hour of the day or
might, sometimes when mud was
knee deep in the roads.
I'VE didn't even have lights on
the buggies then and the great
luxury canse when we added
1
They usually got their calls
Through someone riding into
town on horseback and urging
them to hurry.
The flu epidemic of 1917 kept DR..
NAPLES from sleep for six days and
nights and in many cases he first
had to chop wood and build fires
for his patients.
The delivering of babies, then as
now, was among the most import
ant bits of Doctors business and
DR.. NAPLES said that he had had
his share of odd experiences and
frequently no help at all in deliv-
cry. He mentioned one occasion
when he asked woman's husband
to hold chloroform to his wife's
nose at a crucial point but that the
husband tainted and he had an
added patient to look after.
There weren't any incubators in
the old days but DR.. NAPLES said
he was able to keep several small
infants alive including a baby who
weighed only / lb. IL o., and whom
he kept wrapped in cotton and hot
water bottles. 49,
The too-large baby was a worse1
problem, he explained, since they
did not perform Caesarians at that
time.
There were several Sussex Coun-
ty physicians practicing when DR..
NAPLES, Jr., started who are still
active today, including DR.. James
Beebe, Sr., Lewes; DR.. Roscoe V.
Elliott, and Drs. Sam and William
Marshall, Milford.
DIR. NAPLES is married to the
former Florence Thoroughbred,
daughter of the late Mr.. and Mrs.
William ]. Thoroughbred. They
have one daughter, Mrs. Carl Flops.
Wilmington, and three grandchil-
dren.
Ray Lloyd, community chairman
for the Boy Scout Drive, has sub
mitted his final report, showing
that a total of $1,125.80 was col
lected in the town.
The total for last year was $1,705.
This years total is the second high
est amount ever collected from
Georgetown. The highest, STATS.
in 1856, was possible as a result
of a bequest of a large sum.
Assisting in the campaign this
year were James E. Goslee, Jr..
chairman for advanced gifts, and
Mrs. RAYMOND A. Rust, chairman
for general solicitation.
Captains working under Mr.. Cos
lee were James F. Walls and John
L. Briggs. Each of these had four
workers.
Under the leadership of Mrs. Rust
were four majors one for each OF
the four sections of the town.
These were Mrs. Charles Maillet.
Mrs. Preston Workman Mrs. VIII
liam Stevenson and Mrs. James F.
Walls. About 10 volunteers helped