Multnomah County OR Archives Biographies.....Woodruff, M. D., Wylie G. March 4, 1866 - ************************************************ 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 31, 2010, 9:19 pm Source: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. III, Published 1928, Pages 382 - 383 Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company DR. WYLIE G. WOODRUFF, M. D., who established and conducts the Oregon Sanitorium of Portland and who in his practice has specialized in gynecology, obstetrics and abdominal surgery, was born in Tecumseh, Nebraska, March 4, 1866, but was largely reared in Friendsville, Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, where he attended the public schools. Later he became a pupil in the Mansfield State Normal School at Mansfield, Pennsylvania, and afterward entered Wyoming Seminary at Kingston, Pennsylvania, where he was graduated with the class of 1883. He next went to Cincinnati, Ohio, in company with his brother, George Woodruff, and there began acquainting himself with the oil refining business, to which he devoted two and one-half years, mastering the subject of lubrication. He was afterward in Chicago, where he was associated with the George H. Welton Oil Company for about a year, and though but twenty years of age, he supervised the works with twenty men employed under him. Leaving that city, he removed to Kansas City, where he arrived with no capital, but luckily meeting with an old friend, he soon became established there in the oil business, in which he met with notable success, carrying on his interests most profitably until the widespread panic of 1890-91, when with thousands of others he lost everything. Nothing daunted, he at once set about the task of obtaining employment and after a short time went upon the road, selling pickles at a salary of fifty dollars per month and expenses. The courageous spirit and determined purpose which have ever characterized Dr. Woodruff enabled him to succeed in that undertaking and he remained upon the road until 1893, when he gave up his position in order to enter the University of Pennsylvania. He was then twenty-seven years of age. Four years later he was graduated with high honors, making not only splendid standing in his studies but also making for the university a notable athletic record. For four years he played on the "wonder team" of that school and as proof of his pronounced ability in athletics won nine letters: 1893-1896 — football; 1894- 1895 -- crew; 1896-1897 — track and field; gymnasium, as wrestler; and in 1897 he broke the world's hammer record. The football team was regarded as the greatest of all time and for three years Dr. Woodruff was on the all-American team as left guard. His skill was a contributing factor to the notable record of the university team, which in four years never lost a game, this being the greatest record ever made and unequalled by any other team. Of the members of the team during the first year in which Dr. Woodruff was associated therewith only two were with it at the time of his graduation. In 1894 this team cut out Princeton, who the year before had been crowned the world's champions. Having won his degree at the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Woodruff went to Lawrence, Kansas, where for two years he coached the football team of the University of Kansas. At the same time he began the practice of medicine and in addition thereto he also coached the Haskell Indian football team for two years. He became equally well known as a writer on subjects having to do with physical conditions and training of boys and young men, and during that period the Spanish-American war occurred and for seven months he was in command at Fort Riley, Kansas. It was in 1901 that Dr. Woodruff came to Portland, where he soon gave demonstration of his athletic prowess by wrestling with Joe Acton, whom he threw, and during the succeeding seven years he played on the football team of the Multnomah Club. It was not for athletics, however, that Dr. Woodruff came to Portland. On his arrival here he opened an office and has steadily progressed as the years have passed until he occupies a place among the city's leading physicians. In 1910 he organized and opened the Oregon Sanitorium, which he has conducted to the present time. For years he received only his own patients, but others are now admitted. The sanitorium is not a hospital but a home, providing the home touch in its music, its games and its interests, all of which feature as factors in the restoration of normal healthful conditions. With the passing year Dr. Woodruff has largely devoted his attention to gynecology, obstetrics and abdominal surgery and in this particular field is regarded as an expert, his wide reading and broad experience developing his powers to a point where few surpass him in this particular line. Dr. Woodruff was married to Miss Edith I. Green, of Menominee, Michigan, and they have two children: Cormella, who married E. McCurdy and has one son, George Wylie; and George W., who married Helen Penney, of Portland. The Doctor is a life member of the Loyal Order of Moose and also belongs to the Knights of Pythias and the Dramatic Order of Knights of Khorassan. For years he has been an active member of the Multnomah Club and he also has membership in the Alderwood Country Club, the alumni association of the University of Pennsylvania and in Scout Young Camp No. 2 of the Spanish War Veterans. Dr. Woodruff certainly deserves great credit for what he has accomplished, as he has overcome many difficulties and obstacles and worked his way steadily upward. He has always believed in the system of maintaining health through athletic exercise and thus it was, although he attended medical college between the ages of twenty-seven and thirty-one years and weighed over two hundred pounds, he nevertheless made his place on the great college teams and made a record of one hundred yards in ten and three-fifths seconds. When he was a youth an uncle agreed to send him or his brother to Yale but not both. They matched and Dr. Woodruff lost. He faced the situation of making his own way and when twenty years of age had proven that he was competent to do this by filling an important managerial position. When he was a young man he resolved that he would give an hour a day to study and two hours to his physical well¬being. Today he has the physique, the strength and the endurance of a man of half his years. He made records in football, on the track, in rowing, in wrestling and boxing and his own life illustrates the value of such training. He can accomplish what many a young man in his twenties can scarcely do and he has made his physical prowess the basis of a mental development that has been proportionate and placed him with the eminent representatives of the medical profession in Portland. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/or/multnomah/bios/woodruff1119gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/orfiles/ File size: 7.3 Kb