He is our friend, faithful and just to us, and we have much cause to love him. Here under leave of the homemakers, square dancers, family and all the rest, come I to speak at Dr. Womble’s appreciation dinner. He hath brought many babies to homes in Scotland County. (In fact, one year, we registered more than a half-dozen youngsters by the name of Edwin Cornelius at Scotland High. That was probably about 15 years after the weekend when he made nine deliveries from about three o’clock Saturday afternoon to three o’clock Monday morning, all of them but one delivered at HOME.)
His office was always full of our county’s ailing: Black, White, and Lumbee. Hattie B. Davis spent so much time in Dr. Womble’s office, she’s become an A Number One nurse without ever attending nurses training school. She is here tonight and has been an enthusiastic promoter of this event.
After office hours, other fingers busily dialed 369-2306, and not once did Lena say her husband was unavailable, nor did she fib about his whereabouts. If he was at the hospital, she had him call on his return.
Edwin is perhaps the last of the home-visit physicians. If John Buie had a nickel for every time he’s called Dr. Womble in the last 38 years, he’d be a rich man. I recall one Christmas Eve when a virus struck the entire Buie family, one by one. Edwin came four times that night between the time Kathy fainted in the bathroom at seven and Celeste’s throw-ups at 2 a.m. Each time he laboriously hitched up his trusty glucose bottles by twisting coat hangers into make-do gadgets and attaching them to the antique hall tree. No Santa ever spent a busier Christmas eve, but he had us all on our feet by Christmas morning.
Every winter, flu regularly wiped out Wagram’s prize basketball teams in January or February. On one occasion, our girls played with only four on the team rather than forfeit the game. Our second daughter always fell victim to the flu germ, and Dr. Womble on his daily visits demonstrated pivoting and faking to Ann while she kept the thermometer in her mouth.
Edwin, ever mindful of the high standards his Montpelier Presbyterian Church eldership required, never shirked an unpleasant duty. This devotion to both his religious faith and to the Hippocratic oath posed some problems. One such unforgettable occasion brought forth a joint effort of the doctor and Wagram’s in-residence duty sheriff to retrieve the former’s hat and satchel.
Dr. Womble not only made house calls and opened his office on Sunday when needed, he brought his patients more than medicine. In the 1950s, television sets became a part of nearly all the homes in our community. When Edwin came to treat our headaches or to clear out our sinuses, he also tinkered with our new but fuzzy set to clear up the picture.
He is indeed a man of many talents and unlimited interests. One June as we were preparing to leave Wagram for a Florida holiday, our youngest developed stomach pains on the eve of departure. As usual, we called Dr. Womble. Not only did he take care of Jim’s tummy; he also repacked our entire baggage load to provide more passenger room in the station wagon.
How will such an energetic fellow, used to giving more than 24 hours a day to others, adjust to retirement? Perhaps an anecdote from the past will help answer that question. Many of you may remember Mr. Dunlap, one-time sheriff and Wagram’s full-time tinkerer. When Dr. Womble began construction of his present office, Mr. Dunlap was startled one fine morning to see Edwin on top of the building rigging up his own air conditioning unit.
“Shucks, Doctor,” exclaimed Mr. Dunlap. “If you’re going to tinker in my line of work, then I’m going to start writing prescriptions.”
Well, now Edwin has stopped writing prescriptions and can enjoy limitless hours of tinkering. With this in mind and with much affection and appreciation, Dr. Womble, your many friends from all parts of Scotland County and beyond present this gift.
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