Venable, Charles Scott, 1877-1961

San Antonio physician and founder of the Lee Surgical Hospital in 1909. Dr. Venable, along with Walter G. Stuck and Asa Beach, was the author of a series of papers in the 1940's on the internal fixation of fractures using the alloy Vitallium, previously used only in dental appliances. This research attracted world-wide attention. Dr. Venable was also instrumental in the establishment of the San Antonio Free Clinic, and was a charter member of the Texas Surgical Society and served as its president in 1924. He was president of the Bexar County Medical Society in 1930 and of the Texas Medical Association in 1943.

Charles Scott Venable was born in Charlottesville, Virginia, on June 13, 1877. His father was a Lieutenant Colonel during the Civil War, and later professor of mathematics at the University of Virginia. His mother, Mary Southall, was descended from Virginia politicians. He attended the University of Virginia and received his medical degree in 1900. He continued his studies at medical clinics in Dublin, Ireland; Graz, Austria; Paris, France; and London, England. After his return from Europe, he interned at the Hudson Street Hospital in New York City and the Union Protestant Infirmary in Baltimore.

He accepted an appointment as Instructor in the Medical Department at the University of Virginia. Unhappy with the lack of advancement opportunities, he moved to San Antonio in 1908 and opened a private practice. Dr. Venable specialized in surgery and gynecology. In 1908, he founded the Lee Surgical Hospital, which operated for nearly twenty years. In 1911, he was instrumental in the establishment of the San Antonio Free Clinic. For many years he was a consultant at Brook Army Hospital, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, and the Robert B. Green Hospital, San Antonio, Texas. He was an attending surgeon at the Nix Hospital and the Crippled Children’s Division at the Santa Rosa Hospital, and was honorary an professor at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. He was a charter member of the Texas Surgical Society when it was organized March 6, 1915. He remained a member for forty-six years and was the last survivor of the charter group of surgeons. In 1915, he was elected a fellow of the American College of Surgeons. He was president of the Texas Surgical Society in 1924, the Bexar County Medical Society in 1930, and the Texas Medical Association in 1943. He was a member of the Committee on Trauma from 1937 until his death, and the Board of Governors from 1947 to 1950. He was certified by the American Board of Surgery when it was in organized in 1937. During World War I, Dr. Venable was co-organizer, with M. W. Ireland of the Army Medical Corps, of the San Antonio Red Cross Chapter. He became an Army Medical Officer and served overseas as Chief of Orthopedics at the Eighth Evacuation Hospital. In World War II, he received a Congressional Award of Merit for Service.

When he was not practicing medicine, he was teaching it, writing about it, or conducting experiments. He authored some forty plus papers on medical subjects. His passion for research and his collaboration with Dr. Walter Stuck and Asa Beach led him to the discovery of the use of Vitallium in bone surgery. Additionally, Dr. Venable designed the first aritifical elbow made of vitallium for a local band director and replaced the first femoral head for a fractured hip with a vitalium ball and spike. Charles Venable married Madge J. Bonney in Charlottesville, Virginia, on September 5, 1900. They had four daughters; Bonney, Polly, Page, and Natalie. Madge died in 1925. On December 9, 1932, he married Eleanor A. Herff. Venable passed away of congestive heart failure in San Antonio on September 20, 1961.