Herbert Giffin

Herbert M. Giffin, MD, of Washington, DC died near his home as a result of complications of heart disease on December 23, 1999, the day after celebrating his 90th birthday. Funeral services were held in Washington on December 29th. He will be interred in Aurora Cemetery on Friday, January 7 near his wife, Cleda Martin Giffin, who died in 1988. Cleda was the daughter of Charles and Fern Martin of Aurora, longtime residents of Aurora, both now deceased.

Dr. Giffin grew up in Atlantic City, NJ, and attended Princeton University and Johns Hopkins Medical School. He received his surgical training at the University of Pennsylvania and at the Mayo Clinic, where he met his wife, Cleda, a nurse. They were married on August 29, 1942. Dr. Giffin served in the Navy for five years, including two years in the South Pacific during World War II as chief medical officer aboard the warship Columbia, followed by two years at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, where he was physician to the Navy sports teams. He then served as surgeon at the Philadelphia Naval Hospital until moving to Washington in 1947 where he was a founding member of the Yater Clinic.

In addition to his surgical practice, he was Clinical Associate Professor of Surgery at both the Georgetown University and George Washington University schools of medicine, and consulted at the Bethesda Naval Hospital, the VA Hospital, and the Walter Reed Medical Center. He was a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, served as Vice President of the Washington Academy of Surgeons, and was active in the American Medical Association, serving on the Legislative Committee. In addition, he was Elder of the Presbyterian Church and was very active in the Governor William Bradford Compact and the Mayflower Society.

He is survived by three children, Claire G. Shumaker of Annandale, VA, Charles B. Giffin, MD of Tucson, AZ and Robert B. Giffin, PhD, of Washington, DC. His daughter Arlene E. Bartlemas, died in November 1999 from cancer. He has eleven grandchildren.

There will be a 1:00 P.M. service Friday at Higby Mortuary, followed by the burial. The family has asked that donations be made in his memory to the American Cancer Society.