Knoxville, Iowa – Knoxville’s rich history of medicine began in 1925 when Dr. Roy Vinton (R.V.) Mater opened the Mater Hospital in a two-story house on Montgomery Street. The house consisted of six to 12 beds with OB and surgery located up a narrow stairway on the second floor. He was later joined by his son, Dr. Dwight Albert (D.A.) Mater in 1936. Today, Knoxville Hospital & Clinics has evolved from those early beginnings into the facility it is.
Born in 1886, Dr. R.V. Mater graduated from Eddyville High School and completed his medical studies in Iowa City.
Dr. D.A. Mater spent his early childhood in various communities following his father’s medical career before arriving in Knoxville with his family in 1925. Upon his graduation from Knoxville High School in 1928, he completed his medical degree at the University of Iowa in 1935.
After practicing more than 10 years of medicine in Knoxville, in 1939, Dr. R.V. Mater announced that with a donation from Mrs. Lafe S. Collins, Collins Memorial Hospital would be built by Mrs. Collins and her son, Jay L. Collins on the corner of Montgomery and Third Streets. The former Collins Memorial Hospital is the current Knoxville City Hall and Police Station.
The hospital, estimated to cost $40,000, contained 42 rooms with 30 beds and opened on March 10, 1940. When Drs. R.V. and D.A. Mater set out upon the task of equipping the hospital, they were determined that it should be provided with the best modern equipment and furnishings. In their pursuit, they were greatly aided by many friends, individuals, and societies through their gifts. Equipment to furnish the hospital was selected at a cost of $20,000.
For more than 30 years, Dr. R.V. Mater established a name for himself for his remarkable ability as a doctor and surgeon.
After his father’s death in 1954, Dr. D.A. Mater continued his medical practice in Knoxville. For more than 40 years, he was committed to medicine—a service he maintained continuously from 1936-1978—excluding a brief stint serving his country from 1941-1944.
When the lease between the City of Knoxville and Collins Memorial Hospital expired in 1963, the hospital was purchased by the five physicians of the Mater Clinic Group (Drs. D.A. Mater, C.R. Burroughs, D.H. Hake, Robert McClung, and Earl McKeever).
In the late 1970s, Dr. D.A. Mater along with four other Mater Clinic doctors (Drs. Robert McClung, Earl McKeever, John Griffin, and Paul Todd) donated Collins Memorial Hospital to the newly formed nonprofit foundation, Knoxville Community Hospital, Inc., to build a new, larger hospital. The new hospital—and current Knoxville Hospital & Clinics facility—opened in 1981.
Dr. D.A. Mater retired from the Mater Clinic and Collins Memorial Hospital on November 1, 1978. Upon his retirement he reminisced in a local newspaper article about the early days of practicing medicine with his father and how they used to do almost everything in the home—including surgery for the removal of tonsils. He recalls his father once taking 22 tonsils out in one morning. He also remembered what it took to convince patients to come and be seen in the clinic after being seen in the home for so long.
Dr. D.A. Mater passed away in 1980 leaving behind his wife Margaret, three sons: Dwight Jr., and Howard Mater, and Tom Park, three daughters: Mary Lynn Albert, Sally Mater, and Nancy Park; and six grandchildren: Dwight, Mark, Dee, Meryl Lynn, Lisa, and Jessica.
Now 100 years after Dr. R.V. Mater first began practicing medicine in Knoxville, his grandson Dwight Mater, Jr. and his wife Brenda, along with their son Dwight III, and his wife Pat, great-granddaughter Jessica Duran, and her mom Jane (Aleff) Sirek, recently sat down to reminisce about Drs. R.V. and D.A. Mater.
Despite having a grandfather, father, and other family members in the medical field, Dwight Jr. expressed he never had an interest in medicine.
“I thought our family had enough doctors,” laughed Dwight Jr. “In addition to my grandfather and father, I had three uncles who were doctors. My aunt also enrolled in medical school—which was uncommon for women back then—but developed an illness and unfortunately wasn’t able to continue through the program.”
Instead, Dwight Jr. chose a career in sales and marketing for Maytag that took his family all over the United States before retirement landed him and Brenda back in their hometown of Knoxville in the late 1980s.
When asked what he remembered the most about his father practicing medicine, Dwight Jr. recalled how much he loved medicine.
“It was not unusual for my father to make 10-15 house calls in the evening after seeing a full day’s worth of patients in the clinic during the day. I remember going with him to get a spotlight put on his car, so he could see the house numbers better in the evening.”
As the reminiscing continued, Dwight III shared about watching his grandfather perform a skin graph on a patient’s finger. His grandfather turned to him and asked, “how are you doing, bud?” The family recalled how Dr. D.A. Mater called everyone bud because he couldn’t remember names.
While Dr. D.A. Mater’s granddaughter Jessica was only four years old when her grandfather passed away, she and her mom Jane (Aleff) Sirek remember how she loved playing doctor with him.
“I remember going to his house—with my little pretend doctor kit—and taking his temperature and listening to his heart. That’s a special memory.”
In addition to his long-standing career as a doctor, the family remembers community involvement meant a great deal to Dr. D.A. Mater and his wife Margaret. In addition to being active in civic affairs, he also served on the Knoxville Community School Board and many other committees and boards in the Knoxville community. He was also very instrumental in establishing the Pine Knolls Golf Course—where he was an avid golfer.
Designed from the ground up, Drs. R.V. and D.A. Mater saw the need for medicine in Knoxville and equipping a hospital with the best modern equipment and furnishings to help meet the needs of the growing community. One hundred years later, to celebrate and recognize their accomplishments, a panel on the Mater family has been added to the history wall located in the main hallway at Knoxville Hospital & Clinics.
“It is an honor to see our family’s history on the wall in the hospital. The legacy that my grandfather and father built is something I am proud of, and I know they would be proud of the hospital and how it has evolved into the facility it is today,” said Dwight Jr.
Knoxville Hospital & Clinics is a non-profit community hospital serving Marion County and the surrounding area. Named a Top 100 Critical Access Hospital, KHC’s highly skilled medical staff and specialists provide personal, compassionate, and innovative quality health care to patients. For more information regarding this release and other happenings at Knoxville Hospital & Clinics, call the Public Relations Department at (641) 842-1418.
Photo caption: One hundred years after Dr. Roy Vinton (R.V.) Mater opened the Mater Hospital in a two-story house on Montgomery Street in Knoxville, descendants of Drs. R.V. and Dwight Albert (D.A.) Mater are pictured in front of the history panel featuring the Mater family located at Knoxville Hospital & Clinics. Left to right: Dwight Mater, III; Pat Mater; Jessica Duran; Dwight Mater, Jr.; Brenda Mater; and Jane Sirek.
