VIVIA BELLE APPLETON

She received her early education in Tama, attended Rockford College in Illinois and as an upperclassman transferred to Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, where she received her Bachelor of Arts degree. In 1906 she was graduated from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

After a general internship at the New England Hospital for Women and Children, Dr. Appleton traveled abroad to study in hospitals in London, Berlin and Paris, pediatrics being her chief interest. She studied German in Neuwied-am-Rhein and in Dresden so she could work in the Berlin clinics. She also studied French at the University of Grenoble.

On her return from Europe, she served a second internship at the Babies Hospital in New York, after which she was appointed Assistant and then Instructor in Pediatrics at the University of California and worked at the University Hospital in San Francisco. She became associated with Dr. Lucas, Professor of Pediatrics at the University of California, and when he went to France during World War I as Director of the American Red Cross Children's Bureau, he asked Dr. Appleton to join him. Infant mortality in France was very high at that time. During the summer of 1918, Dr. Appleton went to France and had French nurses working under her.

After a year in France with the Red Cross Bureau of Child Welfare, Dr. Appleton was sent to Labrador in the fall of 1919 by the National Board of the Y.W.C.A. to do special work as recommended by a conference of women physicians held in New York. She was also in charge of Dr. Grenfell's hospitals in Labrador. Dr. Appleton was the first American woman to remain in Labrador during the long, hard winter. With one companion and cut off so completely from the outside world that mail was received but once during the winter, Dr. Appleton threw herself heroically into the work of introducing to the people standards of health and sanitation. Beri-beri was rampant that winter and her particular interest was in the field of deficiency diseases. She had taken with her a new book, one of the first on vitamins. Bundled up in heavy furs, she traveled up and down the Labrador Coast teaching people how to keep well. She also established a playground for the children. Back in the Islands in 1921, Dr. Appleton lectured on her winter on the Labrador Coast.

In August of 1921, she was a passenger on the "S.S. Empress of Asia" headed for her next assignment -- a three year stint in Shanghai, China, on the staff of the Council of Health Education to administer a public health program. She had a directing hand in developing a child health program and instituted the use of colorful health habit posters. Not tied to a desk, she had the unique opportunity to travel throughout the country and observe an ancient civilization undergoing the difficult process of modernization. For a year she lived with a Chinese family where she learned to speak Chinese, but in her widespread traveling in China with its many dialects, it was necessary for her to use an interpreter. In one epic journey, she traveled by horseback for two weeks across the plains of north China into Mongolia, accompanied only by two female friends and a Chinese guide.

In 1924, Dr. Appleton returned to the Islands and, during a short rest period, proved to be an accomplished speaker and lecturer to various organizations. Among them were the Pan-Pacific Club, the DAR (Aloha Chapter), the Mokihana Club, League of Women Voters, American Association of University Women and the Hawaiian Trail and Mountain Club. Not only did she speak on her travels and foreign experiences but also on "Mountain Trails and Pilgrimages".

Dr. Appleton later went back to obtain her Master's Degree in Public Health at the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health.

Dr. Appleton became interested in working up a series of studies on the height and weight of Chinese children, using figures she secured while in China. She continued her growth studies with a comparison of children in China and Hawaii.

On July 1, 1925, Dr. Appleton was put in charge of the activities of Infancy and Maternity in the Territory of Hawaii. On August 19, 1925, approval was given of her appointment as Director of the newly created Division of Infancy and Maternity, a department in the Territorial Board of Health. The purpose of the aforementioned Division was the prevention and reduction of maternal and infant mortality, the promotion of the health and welfare of little children from conception through infancy and the pre-school period up to school age. The program initiated was outlined and developed by Dr. Appleton. Under her guidance, sixty-six child health centers were established throughout the Territory. Her staff comprised the Director (the physician), one full time nurse on each of the Islands (Kauai, Hawaii, Oahu and Maui), fourteen part-time district nurses and a stenographer. They also cooperated with the plantation doctors. Dr. Appleton received her license to practice in Hawaii in April, 1926, after having practiced under a temporary license.

At the 6th Territorial Conference of Social Work in April, 1926, she was elected to the committee-at-large and spoke to the group on child hygiene work. In January, 1927, Dr. Appleton attended the Director's Conference, Division of Maternal and Infant Hygiene, in Washington, D.C.

In 1927 there was friction in the Board of Health. Reorganization plans included the abolition of the position of supervising nurse under the Tuberculosis Bureau and the combining of the Bureau of Maternity and Child Hygiene and the Tuberculosis Bureau under the direction of Dr. Appleton. Another doctor was employed as Physician Director of the Tuberculosis Bureau in charge of the office work while Dr. Appleton continued to supervise all the nurses. Dr. Appleton was released from service on July 3, 1927, in order to remove any source of friction in the operation of the Health Department. Investigation of the conditions surrounding the release of Dr. Appleton, which was not accompanied by any accusations of inefficiency, revealed that during the last year, the work of the bureau which she directed had expanded 100% and had reduced infant mortality among children examined and cared for by her department approximately 100%.

In 1956, a Medallion Award from the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, was bestowed upon Dr. Appleton for fifty years of service to humanity. She was a staunch supporter of her Alma Mater, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and at her death left money for scholarships.

Beyond her work as a physician, Dr. Appleton was active in the Hawaii Chapter of the Pan-Pacific and Southeast Asia Women's Association, acting as a Vice-President and a delegate to its International Conference in Tokyo in 1963. In 1972, Dr. Appleton, a long time supporter of the Honolulu Symphony, was one of the recipients of the "Golden Baton" award.

The fascinating and exciting experiences of a young woman doctor in China during the 1920's were compiled by Dr. Appleton into a booklet in 1976, entitled "A Doctor's Letters from China Fifty Years Ago", taken from a collection of letters she had written to her mother, Mrs. S.C. Huber of Honolulu.

Other outside interests included the American Association of University Women. Women's Association of Hawaii and Honolulu Symphony Society Women's Association. She was also a member of the American Medical Association, Iowa State Medical Society and Central Union Church.

Dr. Appleton died at her home, 2601 Ferdinand Avenue, Honolulu, on October 23, 1978, at the age of 89.* She was survived by many cousins.

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* 3/13/2003: The birthdate of Dr. Appleton and age at time of death was corrected based on information from RootsWeb.com [Online]. MyFamily.com Inc. (producer). Available: http://ssdi.genealogy.rootsweb.com/ [2003, March 3].

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