Just Curious

Lunch

I have also had the honor and pleasure of having lunch with a remarkable elderly gentleman and a fellow Quaker this past Wednesday.

He's name is Dr. Hugh O'Neill, and he's what Friends would call a "birthright Quaker." Dr. O'Neill is a most gentle and knowledgeable man. After serving in the field artillery during the Second World War and a sound undergraduate education at Princeton, Dr. O'Neill worked for a few years at the publishing house in Philly. He later attended and graduated from Penn Medical School in 1954 and started his fruitful career as a psychiatrist at Norristown State Hospital, one of the largest mental asylum in the United States. It is very interesting hearing him describing the usual treatments patients used to receive during the early 50s.

He currently lives in retirement with his wife in the Society Hill area, a lovely 18th century neighborhood, and his son and daughter are in Boston, Massachusetts. It should also be mentioned that his father was also a loyal Pennsylvanian, being salutatorian of the College of the University of Pennsylvania in 1901. (Back in the old days Penn was such a small school that students were actually ranked as in high school.)

posted by James Chang @ 6:50 PM