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Charles S Norburn
Born in 1890 in Thomasville, North Carolina, he witnessed vast changes in the world before his death at the age of 100. He attended the University of North Carolina and the University of Virginia. ...view moreBorn in 1890 in Thomasville, North Carolina, he witnessed vast changes in the world before his death at the age of 100. He attended the University of North Carolina and the University of Virginia. He joined the Navy and served as a surgeon in WWI on hospital and transport ships. While he was in the Navy, his talent was recognized early. He was selected as one of the first 2 people to take a special course in surgery and was appointed by the U.S. Surgeon General as personal surgeon to President Harding on his Alaska trip. In the 1920s, he moved to Asheville, North Carolina and started a small, private hospital with his brother. When the Norburn Hospital Clinic outgrew its facilities it was moved to the former Normal School property. In 1950, the hospital merged into the group that formed Memorial Mission. In the ensuing years, his dream of a large hospital there, serving the region, has come to fruition as Memorial Mission Hospital. Dr. Charles S. Norburn's Medical Legacy Dr. Norburn brought nationally recognized physicians to the area such as Dr. Lewis Rathbun who changed the medical landscape of WNC. The Norburn Hospital patients had the latest and best medical technology. The Norburn Library had his personal, valuable medical library, consisting of several thousand volumes and was one of the most complete in the U. S. Memorial Mission came into being with a merger of small hospitals thereby inheriting the finest facilities, physicians, technology and library.A true Renaissance man, he had many interests: collecting antiques, paintings, and pipe organs, fine wood working and blacksmith tools; owned and managed a small guernsey dairy farm; had several patents that became standard on every pipe organ; was a craftsman who created many finely carved furnishings; and restored an 18th century beach house on Pawleys Island. He was well versed in music, literature, antiques, history, philosophy, architecture, and mathematics among other things. He loved to write throughout his life publishing 4 books (one with his brother) on the American monetary system in his 80s and 90s.view less