Life as a Medical Missionary edited from text provided by William C. Trimble CHARLES GARNET TRIMBLE, M.D. On the 16th of April 1884 Charles Garnet Trimble was born to Andrew Hill and Cynthia Wright Trimble in Essex, Ontario, Canada. He was the seventh son of ten boys and three girls in the family. Because he was the seventh son of Scot/Irish ancestry (his great grandfather immigrated to Canada from Ireland in 1821) and an old Irish belief, Garnet was destined to take up the practice of medicine by becoming a doctor. In 1890, the family packed up their belongings and headed west, and set up farming in the Red Deer area of Alberta, Canada north of Calgary. For the next several years, while his siblings worked on the farm, Garnet attended school. September 1904 found Garnet in Sioux City, Iowa enrolling in college and medical school. After surviving smallpox, which required him to leave school for a time, he entered Northwestern Medical School. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in June 1909. He graduated from medical school and took the state board exams in June of 1910. When he began his practice, an instrument to measure blood pressure was starting to be used and intravenous medication was unheard of. There was still an abundance of typhoid fever, tuberculosis (gland and pulmonary) and a treatment for syphilis was just coming out. While Garnet was working for a doctor in Hull, Iowa, a local man developed appendicitis and a surgeon was summoned from Sioux City and surgery was performed on a kitchen table. This was especially interesting to the young docter because his mother had died in 1887 and his stepmother 1909 from this affliction and there was no surgical cure for it at the time. 1913 was an auspicious year for Garnet. He married Edith Alford in January and applied for a position as a medical missionary in China. In October his first son, Edward was born and notice was received that Garnet had been accepted as a medical missionary. He joined numerous other Trimbles serving as missionaries in China. Upon arriving in Shanghai, they were assigned to Kutien and Foochuw (Futien) Province in southeast China where they began language lessons before moving to Yen Ping. During this time, several events occurred. Second son Robert was born in Kutien on November 15, 1915 and the third son Kenneth (my father) on October 15, 1919. Garnet established a street clinic with a drug store with plans for more in the future. This was a time of turmoil, an earthquake and marauding bandits; Japanese and Chinese soldiers roaming the countryside caused many casualties. A cholera epidemic broke out in Foochuw during summer of 1918 and Garnet was requested to form a Red Cross team to work in American Board Hospital. He had a medical baptism of fire, performing scores of amputations, eye surgery cases, and treating wounds of all kinds. There was no time to learn by observation or by graduate-refresher courses. There were no antibiotics or other miracle drugs that we find indispensable today. After four years, the family returned to the United States in 1920. Trimble witnessed the inauguration of Warren G. Harding and attended a baseball game where he saw Babe Ruth hit his 50th and 51st home runs of the season. The family returned to China in 1921, again to Yen Ping. Shortly after arriving, Garnet was honored with a membership in the American College of Surgeons. He became president of the Fukien Medical Society and introduced the x-ray machine at the meeting. Misfortunes that occurred at this time were malaria, a typhoon, political unrest, and the Japanese invasion, which made work in the hospital unsatisfactory. Soon it became apparent that life as a foreign in China was just too dangerous and the Trimbles, along with others resigned their positions and returned to America in 1927. They decided to settle in the state of Washington and opted for the city Tacoma where Garnet became an intern at Tacoma General Hospital. Work there was enjoyable but Garnet soon realized that his medical profession had passed him by while in China, so in April he decided to enter Northwestern University for more post-graduate studies in pediatrics and obstetrics. That summer the family returned to Tacoma and Garnet established his practice. A fourth child, daughter Margaret (Peg), was born in Tacoma in 1929. Once settled, Garnet became involved in the Boy Scouts and Red Cross. With their help, he established a first aid station at the Western Washington State Fair in Puyallup, Washington. He was responsible for setting up and running this station for over 26 years. In early 1936, Garnet became the focus of considerable publicity when he had the honor of delivering the first set of triplets in Tacoma. During World War II, Garnet was the chairman of Safety Services for the Red Cross and soon became the chairman of the local Red Cross board. He was also active in Civil Defense and established several First Aid Stations in different parts of the city. After the war, Garnet became the college physician for the College of Puget Sound and spent a lot of time attending football games, basketball games, etc. He continued in this role until 1958 when, at age 74, he had a "mild coronary." In 1965, his wife and soul mate Edith passed away and, two short years later, Garnet died at the age of 83, leaving four children and fourteen grandchildren, the oldest of whom (Charles) founded Trimble Navigation (GPS navigation systems), but that's another story. Charles Garnet Trimble, MD, was not a famous doctor to the rest of the world like Benjamin Spock or Albert Schweitzer, nor was he wealthy, but he was a great man in the eyes of his family and friends. He was an old-fashioned country doctor who made house calls often and took goods in trade for services rendered. * * * Charles Garnet Trimble Hall is named in his memory thanks to a gift from his son, Robert Trimble '37 provided through the Trimble foundation. Sharon Mihelich Contact: dos@ups.edu