Hubler history W. R. Hubler, Jr., M. D

Vignettes of Winthrope R. Hubler

Stories abound about W.R. HUBLER (1916-1993).¹⁸⁷² He was a very complex man who was profoundly influenced by his past and valiantly fought to subjugate his dark side and illuminate his good features. I like to think of his life like a beautiful South Sea archipelago. Surrounding the island is a protective barrier reef, which is analogous to his dark side, his past. In good times, the reef is an invisible shield encircling the beach. However, whenever the tide is low or when the weather is inclement, the reef becomes visible and often fragments anything, good or bad, that tries to cross. Thus, many of his quirks were simply manifestations of his past that got out of his control; and the vignettes below are not meant to ridicule him or trivialize his grandeur.

W.R. HUBLER (1916-1993) liked cars and usually had several “spares.” He liked to work on them and usually recruited his sons for a "five minute job" that invariably stretched into half a day. He talked the local automobile parts dealer into giving him a volume discount on his never-ending fleet of cars. The HUBLER family of Corpus Christi, Texas usually drove to Eunice, Louisiana to spend the holidays with the Seals, and often W. R. Hubler (1916-1993) would stop in Houston, Texas on the way there to shop for a new or used car and then purchase the vehicle on the way back. Thus, the HUBLERs almost always had a new car each year. Auto safety was always of paramount importance, which meant big and heavy, and so Lincolns and Cadillacs were his choice.

When he was born on Sunday, July 31, 1916, a loaf of bread cost $.07; a gallon of milk, $.37; a new car, $360; a new home, $3,395 and the average annual income was $1,359. Woodrow Wilson was President, and Thomas Marshall was Vice President.¹⁸⁷³

Known as a tightwad, W.R. HUBLER (1916-1993) was a shrewd businessman whose deals turned on cents. His miserly ways probably resulted from his tumultuous upbringing as an only child reared by a domineering mother and supple father who separated when he was a child. Also, the Great Depression undoubtedly affected a teenager who lived in tough times. His first wife, Marie Seale (1918-1988), was open and generous, and the contrast bolstered his reputation for parsimony. Tips for waitresses depended on his pocket coinage, not service; and he often hid pennies under the plates, so his avarice would not be noticed. At train stations, he would jump from his car and run ahead to fend off porters, while his family doggedly struggled with the luggage. It saved tip money. At work, he ordered his staff to limit their washroom and bathroom use to one paper towel and one sheet of toilet paper each. He even bought toilet paper dispensers that would only produce one sheet at a time! To save room at his office, he intalled lilliputian lavatories that he purchased from trailers or airliners. Men would have to decide wether to sit or stand at the toilet before entering the room. His sons learned to ask their mother for financial help, and she would intercede with him for them. But, sometimes he would be very generous and magnanimous.

When in Japan, he became friends with junior officers and often used his superior rank to get his friend in the Officers’ Club that barred junior grade officers. One of his friends, Dr. Tom Dooley, was active in a distant country, Viet Nam, and wrote several books about his experiences (Hear No Evil and Deliver Us From Evil). The Viet Nam War was 15 years later, but even then, there was trouble.

W.R. HUBLER (1916-1993) collected antique American and Japanese guns until almost his whole collection was stolen from his home in 1971. When he was stationed in Japan, he scoured the shops searching for antique bargains. He continued the practice at home, but became discouraged when the burglars took his efforts. (Years later, a salesman at Oshman's Sporting Goods who had sold him contemporary hunting rifles was arrested for the robbery, but the guns were gone.) Years later, he collected American commemorative and antique guns, and they were part of his estate received by David HUBLER (B 1947), and the few remaining oriental firearms were part of the settlement received by W.R. HUBLER, Jr. (b 1945).

W.R. HUBLER (1916-1993) enjoyed hunting and fishing with his father and sons. Another family sporting tradition was tennis. W.R. HUBLER (1916-1993) played tennis for his college team and encouraged his sons to chase the same ball. Always cognizant of sports injuries, he refused to allow his sons to participate in contact sports. That was no problem with his elder son, W.R. Hubler, Jr. (b 1947), who was a worthless wimp in school sports, but the admonishment was a hindrance for David Hubler (b 1947) whose gargantuan graces and athletic abilities made for fantastic football fodder, but no way. Tennis courts were ideally situated across from the HULER family home on Devon Drive, and the ping sounds of ball and racquet often reverberated in the yard as he taught his tricks. (Both sons became proficient players of tennis, won honors on school teams and hosted tournament tours at home.) Warped racquet presses (that was before metal and plastic frames), scalped wooden racquets, worn-out tennis shoes and “dead” balls filled the HUBLER den and yelled success. Backyard softball, swimming, golf and bowling were also permissible family-shared sports.

Travel always appealed to W.R. HUBLER (1916-1993), especially cruises; and he went to all the States and many foreign countries. He especially enjoyed plying the Caribbean, Aegean and Alaskan Seas on large cruise ships. He enjoyed all the amenities of luxury cruising, but most of all, he savored the food. He never met a meal that he did not like, even though he was persnickety about some foods. So, he delighted in all-you-can-eat repasts, bottomless buffets and cavernous cafeterias, and devoured his way through the multi-course, eight meals a day served on cruise ships. Even though he ate thousands of pounds of food during his lifetime, W.R. HUBLER (1916-1993) always remained slim.

W.R. HUBLER (1916-1993) liked community/social clubs and joined the Rotary Club in Youngstown when he lived there and continued his membership at the Downtown and then the Six Points Rotary Clubs in Corpus Christi. At one time, he also joined the Exchange and Kiwanis Clubs in Corpus Christi. Sometimes, he would attend meetings in distant cities while he was on family vacations. He did not like the food at a Corpus Christi Chinese restaurant (Chung Mai which has now closed) when the Rotarians met there, and instead frequently partook in the fried chicken and camaraderie at the Taft Rotary Club.

Always slim (in 1953 he weighed 152 pounds at age 37),¹⁸⁷⁴ and in 1968, W.R. HUBLER (1916-1993) weighed 150 pounds at age 49 and had a 5 foot 11 1/4 inch height and had gray eyes.¹⁸⁷⁵ In his 60s, he was obsessed with staying young, and he succeeded. W.R. HUBLER (1916-1993) always lied about his age and registered his birth year as 1918 whenever possible. He would have characterized it as a benign prevarication or as a mistake, but it was intentional. W.R. HUBLER (1916-1993) dyed his graying hair black, had a face lift and cosmetic rhinoplasty, refused to wear the “old-age” glasses that his presbyopic eyes needed, worried obsessively about his weight, exercise and musculature, dated stewardesses many years younger than himself, attended wild parties, married someone who was decades his junior, hated to introduce me as his son since that would expose his age, and more. W.R. HUBLER (1916-1993) was very proud of the fact that no one would have guessed his age and that everyone believed that he was many years younger than he really was.

W.R. HUBLER (1916-1993) developed bowel trouble as an adult. [His mother had also suffered bowel pain and sought medical attention on many occasions at Northwestern Medical Center in Chicago when W.R. HUBLER (1916-1993) was attending medical school there.] He first noted soft, frequent stools in October 1953. It was a problem that plagued him for years. He thought it might have been caused by non-tropical sprue and was evaluated by several physicians (and was treated empirically with sulfas and tetracyclines), and applied to the U. S. Navy for disability for the condition in 1958. The Navy determined that the diarrhea was a food allergy (by dietary elimination), and his claim was denied. Subsequently, W.R. HUBLER (1916-1993) ate baby food, drank special distilled water with mineral additives, used daily cleansing enemas and more during most of his life. His family endured (and shared in some of his routines, such as, drinking his special water that was mixed by a pharmacist, but refused to partake in the pre-chewed baby food). W.R. HUBLER (1916-1993) blamed the neurological condition of his son at one time on malabsorbtion syndrome or on diabetes. Interestingly, both of his sons in adulthoood develop diarrhea when ingesting monosodium glutamate, garlic and some food preservatives.

When W.R. HUBLER (1916-1993) was a young man, he wore clear plastic-rimed eyeglasses. He did not like to wear them and stridently voided being photographed with spectacles on; however, a few pictures exist which show them. Since W.R. HUBLER (1916-1993) did not usually wear them, it is patent that his vision was almost normal. I suspect that they were mostly used to correct a minor distant vision defect. In older age, W.R. HUBLER (1916-1993) needed glasses for close vision, so called “short-arm” or “old-age” spectacles, and he really hated those. At work as a dermatologist, he constantly wore magnification loops (4-6 x magnification), which many skin physicians wear. So, his need for glasses was negated by the use of the loops. Clearly, his need for vision correction was minimal.

W.R. HUBLER (1916-1993) was a strong believer in preventative medicine. Much to the dislike of his eldest son, W.R. HUBLER, Jr. (b 1945) [who usually hid under his bed and had to be dragged out screaming for a shot, while his younger brother, L. David HUBLER (b 1947) smiled and offered his arm], he vaccinated his family against all infections possible. On one occasion, W.R. HUBLER (1916-1993) decided to vaccinate his family against yellow fever (which had not occurred in Corpus Christi or the United States in modern memory), but he could only purchase the yellow fever vaccine in batches of twenty-five to fifty. So, he gave a block party and vaccinated all the neighbors too. His was the only block in town that was safe from yellow fever!

When an epidemic of ringworm of the scalp began in Corpus Christi, especially infecting children, W.R. HUBLER (1916-1993) suspected that the causative fungus was spread in movie theaters as kids leaned backwards on the seats or in barbershops from scissors that were not sterile. So, W.R. HUBLER (1916-1993) would not let is sons (age 7 and 5) go to movies, and he cut their hair with dog shears at home rather than risk a barbershop. W.R. HUBLER (1916-1993) was an excellent dermatologist, but he was an awful barber. His sons suffered through many a moth-eaten, humiliating burr haircut.

W.R. HUBLER (1916-1993) was a frustrated farmer. The family and friends of his first wife, Marie Seale (1918-1988), were farmers, and he (with his wife) purchased farmland adjacent to the Seales in Louisiana, and he viewed the farming operations there several times a year, but the Seales operated the farming operations. W.R. HUBLER (1916-1993) enjoyed his role as a “gentleman farmer.” However, when he divorced his wife in 1972, as part of the divorce settlement, the farmland in Louisiana went to his ex-wife, so he lost his role as a farmer. The loss met with mixed emotions because as much as W.R. HUBLER (1916-1993) loved farming, but with the same level of passion, he hated paying taxes on the profits to Uncle Sam. Then in the late 1970s, he purchased a farm in Costa Rica. It was the best of both worlds. He could again be a gentleman farmer, and he planned to deposit the profits from the farming operation in an offshore account, and then use that money whenever he traveled abroad (which he loved to do). That way, he would never have to report the income for U. S. taxes. His plan made him happy, but the outcome turned into disappointment. His farming operation became a victim of the graft that permeated bureaucracy in Central America, and he suffered at the hands of larcenous lawyers. After year of profligacy, W.R. HUBLER (1916-1993) finally found a potential honest, knowledgeable farm manager who was from Costa Rica and who was completing his university training at Louisiana State University. He contracted with the young man who was also to be the head of the department of agriculture for the government of Costa Rica. However, the gleeful anticipation of W.R. HUBLER (1916-1993) crashed when his manager was killed in an automobile accident in Costa Rica as he drove home from the airport after arriving from the U. S. A. before he even began! Disappointed and distraught, W.R. HUBLER (1916-1993) traded his Costa Rican farm for a farm in Clifton, Texas; but because of looming Alzheimer’s disease, he never got a chance to enjoy his alter ego as a farmer. He had also purchased two pieces of undeveloped land in eastern Costa Rice overlooking the water that he did not swap. Perhaps, his second wife, Helen Mullen, still owns them.

W.R. HUBLER (1916-1993) was not a religious zealot. Edith Weber, his mother, was a devoted and domineering Lutheran, while L.L. HUBLER, his father, was a Christian whose denomination depended on his location and his friends. When he lived in Corpus Christi, W.R. HUBLER (1916-1993) went to church regularly and enjoyed the social camaraderie, as much as, the religious nature of the faith. He was elected president of the Business Men’s Bible Group at the First Methodist Church in 1951. He enjoyed reading and reciting Bible stories (and Hoppalong Cassidy tales) to his children at bedtime and usually prayed with them on their knees at the side of their beds. His wife, Marie Seale (1918-1988), was staunchly Catholic, and as part of the right to have their marriage sanctioned by the Catholic Church and to have his sons christened in the Church, W.R. HUBLER (1916-1993) agreed to raise all of his children Catholic. His sons were christened in the Catholic Church, but they began attending the Methodist Church about the age of five. W.R. HUBLER (1916-1993) stopped attending church in the 1960s when he found that much of his annual monetary donation to the church was sent to the national church and that that portion was subsequently spent on liberal causes, such as the Angela Davis defense fund. I think that the loss of control of his money, his loss of trust, his avariciousness, his hatred for lawyers and his mild racism all converged to outrage him, and he never looked back. His advice to his sons was to use Christianity as a moral guide, but not as a crutch. At his funeral service, Dr. Mark Doty, the minister at First United Methodist Church in Corpus Christi praised him, but did not really know him.

Automobile safety became his passion. In the early 1950's, he welded plane safety belts in the front and back of all the family's' cars and would not allow his sons to ride in cars without seat belts. Since no one else had belts at that time, his children had to use family cars or public transportation, e.g., trains or buses (neither was readiy available in Corpus Christi). He purchased heavy cars and installed the belts for each son when they began to drive. All the HUBLERs drove tanks with all the safety features. His sons were prohibited from riding bicycles, and riding motorcycles would lead to lifetime grounding.

In 1961, W.R. HUBLER (1916-1993) noted an "epidemic" of diffuse hair loss in several women in Corpus Christi; and after investigating the cases, he found that all of the women had been poisoned with thallium in an insecticide. The tests for thallium depended on demonstrating thallium in 24-hour urine specimens. The local medical laboratories could not assay the urine specimens, so he arranged the tests at a local industrial lab, PPG. While working as a “gofor” one summer at the office, W.R. HUBLER, Jr. (b 1945) recalls breaking a jar full of urine when it slipped from his grasp, struck a metal safety belt in his father’s new car and shattered, spilling the smelly brew over the front seat. For months, the car reeked of the odor of old urine every time it got hot; and he reminded his son of his incompetence on each occasion! More investigation revealed that the source of the heavy metal was Echol's roach poison, which the housewives had used in their homes. He presented the results of his research at the Texas Medical Association annual meeting in May 1962.¹⁸⁷⁶ Following his lead, the Texas Legislature passed a law outlawing thallium and other heavy metals from pesticides in Texas.

His name is a mystery. His birth certificate lists him as "R. Winthrope HUBLER,” his high school diploma calls him "Winthrope Robert HUBLER,” his postgraduate schools enrolled him as "Winthrope HUBLER,” his military papers carry his name as "Winthrope R. (initial only) HUBLER, his son was named “R. Winthrope HUBLER, Jr.” on his birth certificate (and called “Winthrope R. HUBLER, Jr.”), and was simply “W. HUBLER” on the social security death index (459-76-7195). Later he preferred the moniker of "Bill.” Nicknames flourished. He called his first wife, Marie Seale (1918-1988), "Fuffy.” In all his letters to his mother, Edith WEBER (18-1951), during medical school, he always addressed her as "Ducky" (I think that was a nickname given to her by her husband, L.L. HUBLER). He always closed, "Winthrope." His letters from her always began, "Dear Winthrope" and were signed, "Mother." His letters at that time from L.L. HUBLER began, "Dear Son" and ended, "L.L. HUBLER." In high school, he was called, "Winthrope;" so he did not go by "Bill" until later. He always said that "Winthrope" was the name of a friend of his father, but it was too long to write on school papers, so he used "Bill"; but he must have started using that in college. In later years, his father, L.L. HUBLER, his stepmother, Mabel Taylor, and his first cousin, Helen Shaw, all called him "Winthrope.” He did not hesitate to pass the horrid cognomen to his eldest son, Winthrope R. HUBLER, Jr. (b 1945).

W.R. HUBLER (1916-1993) did not like children. Often, his sons did not have a loving father until after they were teenagers. His granddaughter, Holly HUBLER (b 1978), and grandsons, Richard HUBLER (b 1973) and Brian HUBLER (b 1978), never knew the warmth of their HUBLER grandfather. W.R. HUBLER (1916-1993) was possibly pedophobic, but he was not agoraphobic and related well to adults, enjoyed parties and people, and the more the merrier. Actually, W.R. HUBLER (1916-1993) fought with himself about his inherent Yankee standoff demeanor rather than the ubiquitous South Texas hands-on fellowship.

W.R. HUBLER (1916-1993) was tone deaf and hated dancing. Years of hunting had shattered his hearing. He did not accept aging well---he dyed his hair dark to hide any gray, spurned glasses, would never consider a hearing aide and had plastic-surgical rhinoplasty and face lifts in 1980 when he was 6+4. But, he needed little help with aging. He looked and acted many years younger than his stated age. He regularly water skied in his 60's and rarely fell. He married (his 2nd marriage) someone who was many years his junior. His age was a classified secret. He lied so often about the date of his birth, that only his parents knew for sure.

W.R. HUBLER (1916-1993) wrote a series of Christmas newsletters, some which have survived. Many letters show an extraordinary sense of humor, political insightfulness, racial incorrectness and unabashed realism. A few redactions follow.

In 1953, W.R. HUBLER (1916-1993) was in Japan awaiting the arrival of his wife and sons. Earthquakes were common--usually the tremblers felt like trucks passing close by, and the beaches were crowded with Japanese.

In 1956, W.R. HUBLER (1916-1993) told of hunting ducks with his dad who was visiting from Alabama. The hunt began each day at 4:00 A.M., lasted for two hours and was followed by regular office hours that began at 10:00 A.M. Soon, he was "worn out.” Deer season followed, but they did not "noticeably affect the deer population.” His annual trip to the American Academy of Dermatology meeting in Chicago was cold, had poor cuisine and was expensive. Coats in Marshall-Fields cost more than his planned cruise to the Caribbean. Cars were more economical when they were left in the showroom. He was collecting Western antique guns, but he felt collecting $10 would be a better investment, and "easier to store.” His "brats" divided their time among tennis, archery, square dancing, gymnastics and arithmetic "once in a while.” His affection for his father and sons was obvious.¹⁸⁷⁷

In 1957, cars were still too expensive; Billy was hunting and making A's; Dave was in grammar school, the "socialistic" institution using the "mass grading" system of "satisfactory and unsatisfactory"; vacations included Christmas at Eunice with the in-laws and summer at San Francisco and Disneyland; and converting the garage to a playroom.¹⁸⁷⁸

The year of 1960 was good. That was when W.R. HUBLER (1916-1993) bought a lakeside lot and built a weekend home at Mathis, Texas. He sold the family's old wooden Lyman boat and bought a fiberglass white, Magnolia boat. Christmas was spent at the new house and a festive time with neighbors was enjoyed by all. New Year's was spent in Eunice. Deer hunting was successful. He “paid” for hunting by reluctantly going ballroom dancing with his wife, Marie, one night a week.¹⁸⁷⁹

The newsletter in 1962 was centered on two topics--hurricane Carla and hunting for deer in Wyoming. The hurricane did much damage along Ocean Drive, but none at home on Devon. There was some moderate destruction of the Lake house. Marie Seale HUBLER spent 24 hours helping at an emergency shelter at W.B. Ray High School, mostly caring for alcoholic street people and older people with pets. He expressed little sympathy for the pets. The hunting trip was an eye-opening experience combining frustration over the hunting-guide personnel and exhilaration over game.¹⁸⁸⁰

1 Internet (http://www.hattiesclothesline.com/html/designs.htm).

2 Brian Sykes reported his findings in the American Journal of Human Genetics as reported byEastman’sNewsletter on April 9, 2000.

3 HUBLER Heirloom Edition published by Halbert’s Family Heritage in June 1996. Note: the information included in this volume is scanty and intermixed with general genealogical information to appear that the data is individualized.

4 HUBLER Heirloom Edition published by Halbert’s Family Heritage in June 1996. Note: the information included in this volume is scanty and intermixed with general genealogical information to appear that the data is individualized.

5 E-mail from Christine ([e-mail]) on Nov. 25, 1999.

6 Lemonick, Michael and Dorfman, Andrea. “Up From The Apes” in Time, Aug. 23, 1999.

7 Lemonick, Michael and Dorfman, Andrea. “Up From The Apes” in Time, Aug. 23, 1999.

8Map of Switzerland (Suiza), obtained from the Swiss embassy in New York.

9Fahrni, Dieter. An Outline History of Switzerland: From the Origins to the Present Day. In personal library; booklet sent by Swiss embassy in New York in 1990.

10Letter from Ernst HUBLER, Biel, Switzerland, dated Dec. 20, 1991.