Multnomah County OR Archives Biographies.....Coe, M. D., Henry Waldo  November 4, 1857 - February 15, 1927
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/or/orfiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Ila L. Wakley iwakley@msn.com May 25, 2007, 11:54 am

Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company

     HENRY WALDO COE, M. D.  One of the most interesting chapters in the 
history of Portland is that which has to do with the life and activities of 
Dr. Henry Waldo Coe, who not only ranked as one of the distinguished 
physicians of the northwest, specializing in mental and nervous diseases, but 
who made life brighter, better and more beautiful by his efforts to uplift his 
fellowmen and by his contribution to the art interests of Portland. He met 
every individual with a smile—that smile which indicates a broad mind and a 
loving nature, that recognizes the brotherhood of mankind and reaches out in 
helpful spirit to every individual. Memory of association with him is a 
cherished possession of a large percentage of Portland’s citizens.
     Dr. Coe had reached the age of seventy years when he passed away. He had 
become a resident of Portland in 1891. His birth occurred in Waupun, 
Wisconsin, November 4, 1857, his parents being Dr. Samuel B. and Mary J. 
(Cronkhite) Coe. The father was a pioneer physician of Wisconsin and served as 
a surgeon in the Union army during the Civil war. The mother still survives, 
living in Gresham, Oregon, at the notable age of ninety-three years, and two 
brothers of Dr. Coe also make their homes in this state, Charles A. being a 
resident of Gresham, while Dr. J. Coe is living in Klamath Falls.
     In the youthful days of Dr. Henry W. Coe the family removed to Minnesota, 
so that he pursued his early education in the schools of Morristown, being in 
due time graduated from the high school. Later he attended the University of 
Minnesota, where he pursued his classical course, and then having determined 
to make the practice of medicine his life work, he matriculated in the 
University of Michigan at Ann Arbor as a medical student, while in 1880 he was 
accorded his professional degree upon graduation from the Long Island College 
Hospital at Brooklyn, New York. He sought his opportunity in the growing west, 
removing to Mandan, North Dakota, soon after receiving his diploma. While 
there residing he formed the acquaintance of Theodore Roosevelt, who had 
recently graduated from Harvard and who sought health and adventure by a life 
in the open as a cowboy on a Dakota ranch. The two hunted together and thus 
developed a friendship that was terminated only in the death of “America’s 
greatest statesman.” Dr. Coe ever remained a most ardent follower of 
Roosevelt, hesitating not to follow where he led on matters of public policy. 
It was during the period of his residence in North Dakota that he first became 
actively interested in politics and was chosen to represent his district in 
the state legislature for the term extending from 1885 until 1887. In the 
meantime he was making rapid progress in his profession as the result of his 
thorough preparatory training and his ready adaptability in applying his 
medical knowledge to specific needs. A recognition of his ability on the part 
of his colleagues and contemporaries came to him in his election to the 
presidency of the North Dakota Medical Society.  He continued in that state 
until 1891, when he removed with his family to Portland and here specialized 
in mental diseases. He became the founder and owner of the Morningside 
Hospital, which was devoted to treatment of cases of that character and which 
was awarded the government contract for the handling of Alaskan insanity 
cases. In 1893 Dr. Coe became the editor of the Medical Sentinel and so 
continued until his demise. At one time he was professor of nervous and mental 
diseases in Willamette University and was consulting neurologist and 
psychiatrist to various state and local hospitals, including the state 
hospital at Salem, the Washington state institution for Defective Youths at 
Vancouver, the Multnomah County Hospital and others. His own hospital—
Morningside—with a capacity of three hundred beds, is the largest privately 
owned institution for the insane in the United States.  He held membership in 
the American Medical Association and other local and national medical bodies 
and was a life member of the American Association for the Advancement of 
Science. He was president of the Portland City and County Medical Society, of 
the Oregon State Medical Society and of the American Medical Editors 
Association and served as delegate from Oregon to the American Medical 
Association. His contributions to the literature of the profession were 
frequent and his opinions, written or oral, always carried great weight in 
medical councils. He studied closely, read broadly and his researches and 
investigations made him an acknowledged authority upon mental diseases. In 
addition to his professional activities Dr. Coe had important real estate and 
business interests in eastern Oregon, making extensive investments in that 
section of the state. He contributed to the development of the town of Kelso 
as one of the founders of the First National Bank there, frequently visiting 
the town to assist with many details of the organization in 1907. He became 
its first vice president and in 1908 was elected to the presidency, continuing 
to serve until 1910, when he disposed of his interests in that bank. He was 
the founder of the town of Stanfield and he was the president of the Bank of 
Stanfield, which remained closed throughout February 19, 1927, in respect to 
his memory, and, moreover, all of the business houses of the town which he 
founded remained closed from two until three o’clock, the hour in which the 
funeral service was being held in Portland.  Other communities besides 
Stanfield profited by the labors of Dr. Coe, for his was a constructive spirit 
that took joy in building for the present and the future.
     While residing in Mandan, North Dakota, Dr. Coe was united in marriage to 
Miss Viola May Boley and his three children were born of that marriage: Earl 
Alphonso, of Stanfield, Oregon; George Clifford, of Lovell, Maine; and Wayne 
Walter, of Portland. All survive their father. In March, 1915, Dr. Coe wedded 
Miss Elsie Ara Waggoner, of Los Angeles. When he reached the age of sixty-
three years he retired from active practice and through the succeeding seven 
years of his life he traveled extensively in company with Mrs. Coe, visiting 
various sections of Europe, Africa, South America and Asia. Dr. Coe continued 
his residence in Portland, where he held membership with the Masonic lodge, 
the Multnomah Club, the Arlington Club, the Progressive Business Men’s Club, 
the Realty Board, Chamber of Commerce and the Sons of the American Revolution. 
He was long a loyal and devoted member of the First Congregational church and 
he took the deepest interest in civic affairs, being untiring in his efforts 
for Portland’s advancement and for the upholding of its intellectual, 
municipal and moral standards. He always expressed great happiness at being a 
resident of Portland and during the period after which he had retired from 
professional activity he arranged for the gift of four magnificent statues to 
the city in which he had lived and prospered. His love of art led to his 
adoption of this form of gift, and his friendship of long standing with 
President Roosevelt caused his first gift to be a Roosevelt memorial—a 
splendid bronze statue of the “Rough Rider” by A. Phimister Proctor. A member 
of the Sons of the American Revolution and ever keenly interested in his 
country’s history, he selected Washington and Lincoln as the figures for two 
of his other statues. The former is by Sculptor Pompeo Coppini and that of 
Lincoln by George Fite Waters. It was a queer coincidence that on the day when 
Dr. Coe was laid to rest the Washington statue arrived in Portland, having 
been brought to the city by steamer. His fourth gift of statuary was a replica 
of Joan of Arc by Emmanuel Fremiet. He saw the original of this in the Place 
des Pyramids in Paris and was so impressed by its great beauty and its spirit 
that he resolved that Portland should enjoy the pleasure and the inspiration 
which comes from such great works of art. Thus four magnificent statues stand 
as an expression of the public spirit of Dr. Coe. He presented a magnificent 
bust of Browning to the library of Willamette University and in October, 1925, 
he gave a rare Japanese piece that dates back to 1578 to the Multnomah Club, 
it being a small bronze depicting an incident of the battle of Kawan-kajina, 
showing a hand to hand fight between two Japanese generals. He was extensively 
interested in the development of copper mining properties at Spirit Lake and 
ore from one of his mines, brought out by teams, was used in casting 
the “Sacajawea.” It is fitting that the Progressive Business Men’s Club, under 
the leadership of Judge Rossman of the state supreme court, are planning for 
the erection of a memorial to Dr. Coe in which there will be a plaque of him 
in bas relief made by Pompeo Coppini, whom he had chosen to make the 
sculptured semblance of Washington. Aside from appreciation of his gifts to 
the city of Portland her people had great love for Dr. Coe because of his 
worth as a man. In search of health he went to Glendale, California, where he 
passed away in a sanitarium on the 15th of February, 1927. When some days 
later the funeral services were held in Portland, flowers from every state in 
the Union expressed the high regard in which he was held. His was a most 
genial nature. He met every individual with a smile and shed around him much 
of life’s sunshine. One of the Oregon papers said of him:  “His was a life 
lived in the fullest—beautiful in all its acts; carrying in his heart, as a 
guiding star, the thought of making the world better for having lived in it.  
He was kind, thoughtful, considerate and courageous; kind towards all 
fellowmen, the widow and the orphan, the great and the small; thoughtful and 
considerate of others and their happiness at all times; courageous to the 
last. He was nationally known as a man who fought for that which he thought 
was right. While he gained much publicity by his willingness to give liberally 
to charitable and public causes, the world knew only a part of the good he 
did.” The main auditorium of the First Congregational church was opened for 
the first time in several years for a funeral service, which was attended by 
the prominent men of Portland, showing their high esteem for this public-
spirited citizen and genial friend. He once voiced his ideas of life in the 
following: “It’s a funny proposition, this life, after all. We at times, as to 
some phases, try to get the best of it. Perhaps that is quite a large portion 
of our efforts. But you can’t beat the game! Regardless of how well laid are 
our plans we cannot circumvent eventual balancing of the books. We have got to 
pay the price. In spite of every effort we may conscientiously make, every 
hour of over time we may throw into our work of brain or brawn, or both, 
failure for years may keep us up against the wall. Sorrows may find us, 
disgrace dog our steps and the sense of ingratitude eat out our heart. Then we 
may say that life is not worth it. But there comes a change, and now we reap 
reward. We have been paying the price, in some ways, and a change comes over 
the scene. Happiness which suffering has taught us to realize, in the 
balancing of life’s recompenses for efforts not shirked, is now our own. 
Appreciation, the greatest and pleasantest pay, we have overmuch.  Success in 
proportions unlooked for comes along. Honors far above what is deserved are 
showered upon us. We may play the coward and shirk. We may not play the game. 
But life will get us then in another way. It is a queer thing, this life. But 
it has its recompenses if we play it according to the rules of the game.”
     When Dr. Coe had passed from this life the Oregonian said 
editorially: “The project that was nearest the heart of Dr. Henry Waldo Coe 
does not come to an end with his death. By his gifts of statues to this city 
he had thought to teach the more enduring truths of history, as exemplified in 
the lives of Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt and Joan of Arc. It was his wish 
that these representations of the great ones who are gone should be an 
inspiration to the daily lives of those who saw the statues, silent, calm and 
enduring. This wish will come to pass, for it is so with all worthy dreams 
that have taken shape in actuality. The dreamer cannot escape the common lot 
of men. When his day comes he must pass on, but the dream lives after him. 
There are many types of citizenship that rise above the usual standard of the 
commonplace. All are characterized by service. Surely the citizenship of that 
man who as his own journey nears its end, takes thought of others is of a type 
as shining and noble as any. This man said in effect, ‘The inspiration that is 
in the life of Lincoln, of Joan of Arc, of Roosevelt and Washington should be 
a source of strength to the many. It is my privilege to remind you of them—-my 
privilege and my duty.’ This was a clean thought, true and good, and when next 
you see Joan glinting in the sunshine, or Roosevelt in the saddle, darkly 
bronze, you will comprehend that the excellent doctor knew what he was about, 
and had conceived a splendid means of public benefaction.”
     While Dr. Coe met with a substantial measure of material success, it is 
doubtful if any man was ever richer in friendships or in the real love of his 
fellows. His memory is a benediction to many and an inspiration to all.


Additional Comments:
History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Pages 218-221

Photo: http://www.usgwarchives.net/or/multnomah/photos/bios/coemd359gbs.jpg

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/or/multnomah/bios/coemd359gbs.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/orfiles/

File size: 14.3 Kb