DR. CLEVELAND CLOSES OFFICE
AFTER 57 YEARS

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From:  "The Hamilton Herald-News" January 25, 1975

Dr. Charles C. Cleveland has officially quite the practice of medicine after suffering a marked loss of vision.  He went to the office for the last time Friday, Jan. 12.

Over the following weekend he suffered the loss of vision and on Monday, instead of going to the office, he visited an eye specialist in Temple who told him it would be best for him to give up his practice.  He then announced that his practice was at an end after 57 years.

Dr. Cleveland's career was highlighted in 1970 when the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce proclaimed him "man of the year."  A plaque was given him at the annual banquet by his best friend, Mayor T. D. Craddock.  The banquet crowd erupted in a standing ovation when his selection was announced.

Born in Hamilton Aug. 6, 1894, "Cud" Cleveland's entire life has been intimately interwoven with the fabric of life in the Hamilton community.  He was the offspring of two prominent local families, the J. J. Clevelands and the George F. Perrys.  He grew up in Hamilton and graduated from high school here.  He starred on baseball teams of the local area while a boy.

He attended Meridian Junior College and the Southwestern Medical School in Dallas before earning his medical degree from Baylor University Medical School in Dallas in 1916.

Dr. Cleveland interned at St. Paul's Hospital in Dallas for a year, and married a registered nurse of the hospital in 1917.  She was the former Vesta Pearl Cade, and was to become the mother of Dr. Cleveland's only child, Vesta Irene, who is better known in Hamilton as "Tink."  

Tink has remained her father's constant companion since the death of her mother a few years ago.

After the year as an intern, Dr. Cleveland served as a lieutenant in the U. S. Army Medical Corps for 18 months, landing in France the day the Armiostistice ending World War I was signed, November 11, 1918.

Dr. Cleveland opened his first private medical practice in 1919 in Stephenville, then practiced about a year at Lipan and at Pottsville before returning to his hometown of Hamilton in 1922.

He has been the constant in medical practice in Hamilton since that time, having practiced independently and as a partner with several other doctors.  His former partners include the late Dr. D. B. Beach, the late Dr. C. E. Chandler, Dr. R. A. Kooken, now retired, and Dr. F. B. Selman.

Since the summer of 1971, Dr. Cleveland has been a member of the staff of the Curry and Crouch Clinic in Hamilton serving the community with Dr. M. E. Curry and Dr. N. C. Crouch.  The office which he has now closed was located in their clinic.

In the 51 years of medical practice in Hamilton, Dr. Cleveland has developed a reputation as one of the best diagnosticians in Texas.  His years of service as a general practitioner also earned him recognition as one of the last of a vanishing breed, the old-fashioned "county doctor" who always had time to make a house call, no matter, what time of day, what kind of weather or whether the patient could pay.

He once said, "I would rather be known as a good "country doctor" than earn all the awards in the world.  The only point to my life is to relieve suffering.  If I can do that, life will be rewarding enough to me."

Although Dr. Cleveland's entire career has been shaped around this credo, there was probably no time in his life when he was more appreciated than in the dark days of World War II when he was the only physician in Hamilton County.  For four years he accepted all calls, administered to all who were ill, delivered all the babies, and refused to see no one.  Many times he worked around he clock to get all the work done.  During these years he delivered more than 600 babies.

The same devotion to service shaped the rest of his career in this area.

Somehow he found time to perform all his medical duties and to become a community leader at the same time.  He is a member of the First United Methodist Church, the Texas Medical Association, the American Medical Association, the Rock House Masonic Lodge, the Hamilton Lions Club, the American Legion Cunningham Post, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and other local service organizations.

A source of great pride with... ... ... {remainder of article is mising]

Obituary

 Mrs. Dr. Cleveland's 
Date and Nut Cake 
(Vesta Pearl (Cade) Cleveland
ca. 1922


8 ounces pitted dates, cut into small pieces
2 teaspoons soda
2 cups hot water
Soak dates and soda in hot water, while mixing other ingredients
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups solid Crisco
3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
2 teaspoons Cocoa
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups coarsely chopped pecans
4 beaten egg

Cream together Crisco and sugar
Sift dry ingredients, add dry ingredients, pecans, beaten eggs and vanilla to creamed Crisco and sugar mixture.
Bake 45 to 60 minutes-325 degree oven or until a piece from a broomweed broom inserted into cake is clean.

(Bake in an extra-large bundt cake pan.)