DR. CYRIL V. BLACK, M.D., 94, was born Nov. 10,
1905, at Neola, KS, the son of Clarence & Alta L.
VanLenh Black. He died May 11, 2000, at his home
in Pratt, KS. A pioneer in every sense of the word,
he moved, at the age of 3, with his family to Oklahoma
in a covered wagon. His mother was killed by lightning
when he was 16. His father died about five years
later.
Cyril graduated from Ranger High School in 1923 at
Ranger, TX. He somehow managed to put his sister
through teachers’ college & support himself through
medical school working in Texas oilfields and as a
night manager at a hospital. He graduated from
Texas A&M College in 1928 and the University of
Texas Medical School, Galveston, in 1931. In July
of 1931, he married Margaret Koppers in Humboldt,
KS. She died in 1997.
He began his medical practice in Wichita and at the
age of 25 was hired to help start Sedgwick County
Hospital on West Douglas. In 1935, he moved to
Pratt, where he practiced medicine for more than
50 years, retiring in 1986.
Survivors include three sons, John V. "Jack" of
Pratt, James F. "Jim" of Marshalltown, IA, and
William L. "Bill", Colorado Springs, CO, a daughter,
Margaret Ellen Howell, Sacramento, CA. And grand-
children and great-grandchildren. He was preceded
in death by a sister, Cecile Tolle (RHS-1924).
During WWII, Black was only one of four doctors left
in Pratt, caring for approximately 8,000 servicemen
stationed at the Pratt Air Base and their dependents,
in addition to the local Pratt population. By the time
he retired, he had delivered more than 4,700 babies,
once delivering a baby for a member of the infamous
Bonnie & Clyde gang at Keller’s Cabin Camp. His many
contributions to his community & area in Boy Scouting,
birth control, Jaycees, and membership on numerous
medical and civic boards as well as political groups
and service clubs & medical groups is very noteworthy.
He received citations from both Presidents Roosevelt
and Truman for civil service during WWII. He was a
fellow in both the International College of Surgeons
and the American College of Surgeons and went on a
lecture tour around the world with the International
College of Surgeons, lecturing on birth control. One
lecture in Thailand was televised. He was a physician
and surgeon, specializing in OB/GYN. His son, John
Black of Pratt, Kansas, said that he often talked of
his days in Ranger, TX, in the oil boom days. He had
a copy of "Roaring Ranger" that he frequently referred
to and annotated with personal experiences.