Dr. Thomas Webber
1916 - 1973
Grateful patients described Thomas Webber as a doctor with healing hands. A colleague, Dr. Michael Sutula, called him “a compassionate, understanding humanitarian who stood up for what he believed to be right at all times.” Sutula added, “His love for his fellow beings was very evident. His nature was created to share what he had, not only with his family, but with everyone with whom he came in touch.”
Thomas Webber was born December 4, 1916, on Saginaw’s southwest side. At sixteen, he earned the rank of Eagle Scout and he served as president of both his junior and senior classes at SS. Peter and Paul High School, graduating with honors in 1934. Strongly influenced by osteopathic physicians in Saginaw, he attended the Kirksville College of Osteopathy and Surgery in Kirksville, Missouri. After graduating in 1938, he interned at the Northway Clinic and Hospital in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan.
In 1939, he married Saginaw east sider Thelma Reid at St. Mary Cathedral and they made their first home in Beaverton where Dr. Webber practiced general medicine from 1940 to 1946. They became the parents of seven children: Thomas, Timothy, Theresa, Terrence, Tamara, Tracy and Tobias. In 1946, the family moved to Saginaw.
In 1941, at a rural crossroad, Dr. Webber was broadsided by another car and thrown into a farm field. He was in a coma for ten days and as a result of his injuries, he was in constant pain for the rest of his life. The pain inspired him to spend the rest of his life searching for ways to alleviate and cure his patients’ suffering.
Before acupuncture became a household word, he went to San Francisco to study the procedure with Oriental physicians who were experts in the art. In 1949, Dr. Webber began postgraduate classes in Applied Osteopathy and in 1956, he became board certified in the specialty of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation by the American Osteopathic Association. He was the first D.O. in Michigan to receive that designation. At the time, it was a largely unknown specialty, defined by the editor of the American Osteopathic Association as “the diagnosis and treatment of disease by various non medical and non drug means, employing light, heat, cold, water, electricity, massage, exercise and occupational therapy. Of course, rehabilitation includes all the methods by which a person recovering from disease or injury is taught to live and, if possible, to work.”
In addition to treating a large practice in Saginaw and working as a member of the medical staff of the Saginaw Osteopathic Hospital, Dr. Webber was very active in the American Osteopathic College of Rehabilitative Medicine. His leadership and dedication resulted in his election as president of the AOCRM for two consecutive terms in 1960-61. He became a member of the American Osteopathic Board of Rehabilitative Medicine from 1962-1973. He also became a fellow of the AOCRM and served as chairman of its evaluation committee.
At a time when osteopathic doctors were not thought of as “real” doctors, M.D.s sought his consultation and his lectures. He spoke at seminars at such prestigious hospitals as Harper-Grace Medical Center in Detroit and before medical groups all over the United States, Canada and even Australia. Once, unable to attend a medical meeting in Toronto, he was requested to address the group by telephone, which he did. His contributions included publication of articles in medical magazines and research and development of soft tissue injection techniques.
Dan Fitzgerald, chairman of Saginaw’s Wickes Corporation, said that his company had saved millions of dollars because Dr. Webber was able to identify work restrictions for their employees.
Highlights of his career were also found in his relationships with other well-known physicians such as Dr. Janet Travell, M.D., of Boston, the personal physician of John F. Kennedy who treated the President’s back pain and prescribed the famous Kennedy rocking chair. Dr. Travell consulted closely with Dr. Webber for appropriate treatments and they exchanged treatment techniques for many years.
Another relationship was with Dr. Russell Wright, D.O., team physician for the Detroit Tigers baseball team. Dr. Webber had worked closely with Dr. Wright when Wright was working on his certification by the AOCRM. As a result, Dr. Webber was in the Tigers’ team training room, providing treatment to the players of the 1968 World Series.
Webber was first listed in Who’s Who in the Midwest, in 1967.
Dr. Thomas Webber died May 10, 1973, at the age of 56. After his death, the Thomas D. Webber Memorial Lecture was endowed by his colleagues, to be given annually at the national convention of the AOCRM.