FRANK CURTIS SPENCER

His preliminary education was received at Elgin High School, following which he entered the University of Washington. To finance his education he sold cherry pies to spectators at the crew races on Lake Washington, was a hash slinger, a dishwasher, worked in a laundry, was night watchman at the University National Bank (for which he was given a cot in a back room to sleep on), and sold his blood periodically. One summer he worked in a salmon cannery in Alaska. When he graduated from the University in 1923, he and his younger brother, Dean, went to southern California to work on the oil rigs. After a couple of years at that, he applied and was accepted at Rush Medical School. Not having the train fare from Los Angeles to Chicago, he solved the problem by paying the hired train dishwasher $5.00 and taking his place on the train to Chicago. In 1929 he received his M.D. from Rush, and from 1929 to 1930 he interned at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan.

Dr. Spencer married Miss Jannya Lucille Anderson at St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Chicago, on August 31, 1928. Two daughters were born to the Spencers: Suzanne (Mrs. John W. Goldsmith) and Kathryn S. (Mrs. Howard R. Onstott).

On the completion of his internship, Dr. Spencer came to Honolulu to accept a position on staff of the Straub Clinic. After some five years of clinic practice, he opened his own office. In 1946 he decided to specialize in obstetrics and gynecology and went for special training at the New York Post Graduate Medical School and to the Margaret Hague Maternity Hospital in Jersey City. He also took a month's course in caudal anesthesia with Dr. R. A. Hingson at the University of Tennessee.

Returning to Honolulu in 1947, Dr. Spencer began his specialty practice. During the ensuing years he served as Chief of Staff at Kapiolani Maternity and Gynecological Hospital, was civilian consultant in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Tripler Army Hospital for 14 years, and contributed numerous articles to the "American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology". He invented the trachelotome, an instrument to aid in the detection of uterine cancer, which he often described as an inside-out pencil sharpener. However, his most outstanding achievement was the establishment of a cytology laboratory in 1949 in conjunction with Dr. Quisenberry and Dr. Tilden. For the twelve years that this laboratory was in operation Dr. Spencer gave his services voluntarily and was one of its main supporters. In 1962 the Hawaii Division of the American Cancer Society honored him for his years of service by presenting him with a plaque.

Dr. Spencer died May 3, 1964, in Honolulu at the age of 64.

He was a member of the Honolulu Medical Society, Hawaii Medical Association, American Medical Association, American College of Surgeons, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the Pacific Coast Obstetrical and Gynecological Society, to which he was elected to life Fellowship in 1963. He was also affiliated with Sigma Chia and was a member of the Pacific Club.

In his leisure Dr. Spencer painted in watercolors and sketched in pencil and charcoal. He also had a great love for the theater and had studied drama at the University of Washington under Glen Hughes and worked in college productions. He played the role of the milkman in the Honolulu Community Theater's production of "Our Town". In his later years he took up carpentry as a hobby and made many fine pieces of furniture.

Known for his droll humor and his delight in hamming up situations, for some 15 years he gave out the golf prizes at the annual State Medical Association meetings. In 1952 he created the annual award of the Fractured Cane given to the incoming president of the Association, which became a hallowed tradition.

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