Biography of 	Devron, Cyril Gustave M. D., Orleans, then E. Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana
Submitted by 	Mike Miller September 2000

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Cyril Gustave Devron, M. D., formerly the able and popular pathologist at Our Lady of 
the Lake Sanitarium in the City of Baton Rouge, was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on 
the 30th of November, 1899, and is a son of Dr. John Alexander Devron, who was born in 
that city on the 20th of April, 1873, and who has continuously maintained his home in 
his native city during the intervening years.  Dr. John A. Devron is a son of Dr. Gustave 
Devron, who likewise was born in New Orleans, the year of his nativity having been 1832.  
The original representatives of the Devron family in America came from the vicinity of 
Rouen, France, and settled in Louisiana shortly after the close of the war of the American 
Revolution.  Dr. Gustave Devron, whose death occurred in New Orleans in the year 1900, 
received from the historic University of Edinburgh, Scotland, the degrees of both Master of 
Arts and Doctor of Medicine, and his final studies in his profession while abroad were 
prosecuted in the City of Paris, France.  He devoted virtually his entire active career to 
the practice of his profession in New Orleans, and was a distinguished physician and surgeon 
of his native state.  In the Civil war period he had charge of the only Confederate hospital 
that remained open in New Orleans at the time when that city was captured and occupied by the 
Federal troops under command of Gen. Benjamin F. Butler.  Dr. Gustave Devron wedded Catherine 
Fitzgerald, who survived him and who continued to reside in New Orleans until her death in 1916.

Dr. John Alexander Devron was graduated from the Jesuit College at New Orleans and received 
therefrom the degree of Bachelor of Arts.  The degree of Master of Arts was subsequently 
conferred upon him by Tulane University, in which he completed a post-graduate course, and 
he was later graduated in the medical department of the same University.  Since thus 
receiving his degree of Doctor of Medicine he has continuously been established in the 
practice of his profession in New Orleans, where he has a large and representative general 
Practice.  He was graduated in medicine when he was twenty-one years of age, and has been 
engaged in successful practice nearly thirty years, with high standing both as a physician 
and surgeon and as a loyal and liberal citizen.  In 1912 Doctor Devron organized the Field 
Hospital of the State of Louisiana.  He is a member of the Orleans Parish Medical society, 
the Louisiana State Medical Society and the Southern Medical Association.  He gave nine 
years of service as major in the Medical Corps of the Louisiana National Guard, and in this
capacity was in active service with the troops on the Mexican border at the time of the 
border troubles of 1914.  In the World war period he was instructor in tactics ~d also the 
French language at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, whence he was eventually transferred, in 
similar service, to Camp Beauregard, where he was tactician and French instructor with the 
One Hundred and Fifty-first United States Infantry.  He was examined for overseas service, 
and, much to his regret, physical disability resulted in his being honorably discharged in 
January, 1918.  Doctor Devron is a staunch advocate of the principles of the democratic party, 
is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Woodmen of the World, 
and he and his wife are earnest communicants of the Catholic Church.

At New Orleans, on the 21st of December, 1898, was solemnized the marriage of Dr. John A. 
Devron and Miss Mary Dickmann, who was there born in the year 1883, and of their children 
Dr. Cyril G., immediate subject of this review, is the elder, the younger of the two children 
being Leonhard Ernest, who remains at the parental home and who is (l924) a student in the 
medical department of Tulane University.

In the New Orleans High School Dr. Cyril G. Devron was graduated as a member of the class 
of 1913, he having completed in three years the prescribed four-years course and having 
won on his high-school record a scholarship in Tulane University, the academic department 
of which he entered in September, 1916.  He was graduated as a member of the class of 1921, 
with the degree of Bachelor of Science, after having lost a scholastic year of work at the 
time of the World war.  In the medical department of Tulane University he was graduated in 
1923, and after thus receiving his degree of Doctor of Medicine he served about one year as 
house surgeon of St. Francis Sanitarium at Monroe, Louisiana.  While in the academic 
department of the University the Doctor was captain of its basketball team in the year 
1917, in which year he was also wrestling and boxing champion of the university athletic 
department, as was he likewise in 1919.  In the latter year he represented Tulane in the 
championship competitions of the Southern Amateur Athletic Union.

After his service, during 1923, at the sanitarium at Monroe Doctor Devron was transferred 
to Our Lady of the Lake Sanitarium at Baton Rouge, the two institutions being under one 
corporate control.  At the latter sanitarium, one of the important and splendidly equipped 
health institutions of Louisiana, Doctor Devron was director of the laboratories of clinical 
medicine, bacteriology and pathology, and here he found a splendid field for effective 
scientific and professional service.  This sanitarium, one of the largest and splendidly 
equipped in the state, was erected at an approximate cost of $400,00O, and in equipment 
and service it is the most complete and modern institution of the kind in Louisiana.  
Doctor Devron severed his connection with Our Lady of the Lake Sanitarium in May. 1924, 
and spent the summer at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, gaining additional knowledge 
and experience for his life work.  In September, 1924, he entered practice at Lakeland, 
Pointe Coupee Parish.

Doctor Devron is actively identified with the East Baton Rouge Parish Medical Society, 
the Louisiana State Medical Society and the American Medical Association.  His political 
convictions place him loyally in the ranks of the democratic party, he and his wife are 
communicants of the Catholic Church, and in academic and professional college fraternities 
his affiliations are with the Delta Sigma Phi, the Kappa Psi and the Alpha Omega Alpha, 
the last mentioned being a national and honorary medical fraternity.

Doctor Devron was a student at Tulane University at the time when the United States 
entered the World war, and at the age of seventeen years he volunteered and was assigned 
to the Students Army Training Corps of the University at Camp Martin.  He competed in 
turn for appointment to the Officers Training Camp at Camp Pike, Arkansas, and Camp 
Fremont, California, passed both examinations successfully and obtained the appointment 
to Camp Fremont.  He was awaiting transportation to California at the time when the 
signing of the historic armistice brought the war to a close, and he received his honorable 
discharge December 10, 1918.

In New Orleans, on the 3d of November, 1923, was solemnized the marriage of Doctor 
Devron and Miss Grace St. Clare Ward, daughter of John J. and Katherine (McVey) 
Ward, the former of who died December 6, 1923, about one month after his daughter's 
marriage, Mrs. Ward being still a resident of New Orleans.  Mrs. Devron was graduated 
from one of the high schools of her native city of New Orleans, and in the period of 
American participation in the World war she gave three years of valued service as 
secretary to the commandant of the United States Naval Station at New Orleans, she 
having enlisted as a yeowoman of the third class and having won advancement to the 
rank of chief yeowoman.  Doctor and Mrs. Devron are popular factors in the representative 
social life of Louisiana's capital city.

A History of Louisiana, (vol. 2), pp. 61-62, by Henry E. Chambers.  
Published by The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, 1925.