Dr. Arthur Ames

Dr. Arthur Ames, age 77, of Storm Lake, Iowa died Tuesday, September 30, 2014 at Methodist Manor Retirement Community in Storm Lake. Funeral services will be held Saturday, October 4, 2014 at 10:30 a.m. at Lakeside Presbyterian Church in Storm Lake. Burial will follow in the East Friesland Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Ackley, Iowa. Visitation will take place Friday, October 3, 2014 from 4-8:00 p.m. at the Fratzke & Jensen Funeral Home in Storm Lake. The Fratzke & Jensen Funeral Home in Storm Lake is in charge of the arrangements. Arthur Ames was born on November 7, 1936 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His indomitable spirit and sunny disposition served him well throughout his life. He was born with club foot and underwent more than a dozen operations to walk normally, and at age sixteen he contracted polio. He overcame these early adversities to lead an athletic life filled with tennis, squash, water skiing, sailing, ice boating, and snow skiing. After growing up in the small town of Mount Holly, New Jersey, he attended Brown University where he was vice president of his class and president of his fraternity, and was even given the honor of driving Eleanor Roosevelt from the airport to the college in his 1955 ragtop Chevy for a speaking engagement. Throughout high school and college he worked an array of jobs including picking blueberries, digging ditches for the New Jersey Turnpike, waiting tables, delivering mail, and selling men’s clothing. He earned his medical degree at the University of Pennsylvania and attended Yale University as a surgical resident, where he met a nurse named Karen deNeui. After a whirlwind romance, he proposed, and they were married in April 1965 at East Friesland Presbyterian Church in Ackley, Iowa. He was drafted into the Air Force and stationed as a surgeon at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota. There he and Karen started their family with the birth of their first child, Katherine. In 1967 he was honorably discharged and the family moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he continued his surgery training. After a year in Milwaukee, their second child, Mary, was born. At that point, Arthur decided to focus on more family-centered medicine and spent another year training in family practice. In 1969 Arthur and Karen moved to Storm Lake, Iowa, where Arthur was one of fewer than ten doctors in town. He quickly developed a booming practice and a third child, Jonathan, was born. After eight years, he joined Buena Vista Clinic, where he remained until retirement in 1996. The family continued to grow with the birth of David in 1974, and Julie in 1978. He deeply loved being a doctor and taking care of families, and worked at all hours when needed. By the time Arthur retired he had delivered over 1,000 babies (including some of his own), and on a few occasions he drove a snowmobile across the lake in a snowstorm to reach the hospital on time. Arthur did his best to help his patients anyway he could, including house calls, and seeing patients in his own home on weekends. His door was always open to those in need. Arthur was an avid fan of cars. He enjoyed teaching his children to drive, and was known in town for his red Porsche 911, often inviting his patients and friends to take it for a spin. Being on the water was one of his great pleasures: swimming, sailing, boating, skiing, and teaching his children to ski were among his favorite activities. After his retirement, Arthur and Karen loved spending their days working in the garden together. He traveled across the U.S. for vacation and to visit family, but his favorite place was back in Storm Lake with his wife. Arthur passed away on September 30, 2014 at the age of 77, after a long battle with cancer, during which he never lost his sense of humor and gratitude. He will be missed by Karen, his wife of 49 years; his daughter Katherine and her three children Jayde, Oceana, and Aloha; his daughter Mary, son-in-law Ken, and their two children Zephyr and Indigo; his son Jonathan, daughter-in-law Brenda, and their two children Arthur and David; his son David, daughter-in-law Noelle, and their two children Bria and Rielle; and his daughter Julie, son-in-law Daniel, and their son Asa.

Dr. Arthur Ames

November 7, 1936 - September 30, 2014