Man loses a good friend in Dr. Forrest Buell

To the editor::

Dr. Forrest Buell was the first physician that I had the opportunity to contact before coming to Clay County. In 1961, I received a letter from the late Mis Lorraine Evans, who had found my address from the licensing board and wrote to me to come to this county. I then contacted Dr. Buell who was the Secretary of the Clay County Medical Society and subsequently came from New York to several places in Indiana to decide where to locate my office, and one of the locations was Brazil.

Mr. Dickerson, the hospital administrator, suggested that I should meet with Dr. Frank Maurer, the only surgeon practicing in the community. That same night the Hook Drug Store, at the corner of Jackson and Walnut, was opening. Doctors were attending, and I was invited by Dr. Maurer to go and meet other local physicians, among them, Dr. Forrest Buell. The physicians I met appeared to be professional, competent and devoted. I chose to locate in Brazil in June of 1962.

Dr. Buell and I became close professionally, and he referred practically all of his patients requiring surgery to me and Dr. Maurer, and he was kind enough to assist in all of the cases, and any other time that I needed him as well. For example, one night I had a cesarean and needed help and I called him at 1 a.m. He didn't show up immediately and arrived 25 minutes late. Everything went well and I later asked him why he was late. He said that he was in the middle of his house calls and told me the following story:

"He said that when he had knocked on the person's door that had called him, the lady that answered the door said, "We are not sick, we just want to get married (at that time, you had to have a blood test for marriage). As he went into the other room, he saw a 95-year-old man sitting there and asked, "Is that your candidate?" She said that she had brought him there so they could share their incomes. Dr. Buell asked why did they want to get married? The woman said, "The neighbors are talking!" Many times Dr. Buell shared humorous stories.

I remember when I operated on him for acute appendix, and he was waking up from anesthesia, his first words were, "What will happen to my patients?" The second day after surgery, he was busy visiting with his patients on the third floor of the Clay County Hospital.

Forrest Buell cared for his patients, his community and his profession with the utmost devotion. On my last visit to see him at Westminster Village, he was walking unassisted and gave me a name of someone on the state level of the Board of Education to contact, showing his continued interest, still, in education.

Dr. Forrest Buell was kind to his patients, and I do not believe he ever refused anyone care. For all of his patients in the community, he gave his best. I lost a good friend and colleague, and may God Bless his soul.

S. Rahim Farid, M.D.

Clay County