Dr. Reinhard E. Wobus confines his attention to surgery and obstetrics and is recognized as a surgeon of ability. He was born in Fort Madison, Iowa, July 20, 1879, a son of Gottlieb D. and Anna M. (Nollau) Wobus. His father is a native of Switzerland and came to America in 1869. He became a divine of the Evangelical church and devoted his life to the active work of the ministry until 1920, since which time he has lived retired, making his home with his son, Dr. Wobus, in St. Louis. The mother of Dr. Wobus was born in this city and was a daughter of the Rev. Louis E. and Meta (Wilkins) Nollau, who were early residents of St. Louis. The family has been closely connected with the development of the Evangelical Synod of North America, which was founded and still has its headquarters in St. Louis. One of its founders was Louis E. Nollau, grandfather of Dr. Wobus, who came to this city with his family from Cape Town in the ’30s. He was a man of energy, well known as a philanthropist. He founded the Protestant Orphans Home on St. Charles Rock Road, as well as the former Good Samaritan Hospital on Jefferson avenue, now used as an Altenheim by the church. Gottlieb D. Wobus studied at Marthasville in the old Eden Seminary, the stone buildings of which are now used as an asylum for feeble-minded. Reinhard Wobus, uncle of Dr. Wobus and late of St. Charles, was at one time professor at Eden College and later secretary-treasurer of the synod. Before the establishment of the Eden Publishing House he had entire charge of the church publications. He was widely known and a very popular man. Two of the maternal uncles, John and Louis Nollau, have served various charges in St. Louis. While the father of Dr. Wobus is still living, his mother passed away in St. Louis in 1916, leaving a family of five children, four sons and a daughter, namely: Reinhard E.; Adolph G., who is assistant cashier o1 the Pullman office of St. Louis; Hugo J., an electrical engineer of this city; and Walter W., formerly instructor at the State University; and Miss Margaret.
Dr. Wobus was educated in the public schools of Quincy, Illinois, and in the Washington University, from which he was graduated with the M. D. degree in 1905. Following the completion of his course he entered upon active practice in St. Louis and here has continuously remained in the work of his profession, supplementing his training by visiting various clinics from time to time. He is a contributor to medical journals, both local and national. He is connected with the teaching staff of the Washington University Medical School, having served in various capacities since 1905, and was associate gynecologist of the Skin and Cancer Hospital from 1910 until 1913. He also served as visiting surgeon of the City Hospital from 1916 until 1921 and as assistant surgeon of the Jewish Hospital Dispensary in 1917-18.
On the 23d of May, 1905, in Quincy, Illinois, Dr. Wobus was married to Miss Dora L. Schaffer, a native of Quincy and a daughter of the late Henry Schaffer, a prominent business man and veteran of the Civil war. They are now parents of two children, Reinhard S. and Grace Dorothy, the family residence being maintained at No. 4492 Kings Highway, Northeast. Dr. Wobus has always found his recreation in travel and hunting. He is an independent republican and he belongs to Mount Moriah Lodge, No. 40, A. F. & A. M., and to Bellefontaine Chapter, No. 25, R. A. M.
As first lieutenant of the Medical Reserve Corps, having completed the courses offered by the Service Schools at Fort Leavenworth as well as at a training camp in Sparta, Wisconsin, Dr. Wobus was the first member of the corps in this state called to active duty during the threatened war with Mexico. He served as camp surgeon at the state mobilization camp at Nevada from June to November, 1916. On returning home he was attached as surgeon to the Western Division, United States Engineer Corps. He served until July, 1918, when as captain of the Medical Corps he was stationed at Camp Greenleaf, Georgia, until September, then joined Base Hospital, No. 71, at Camp Beauregard, Louisiana, as operating surgeon and went to France with that outfit. He served with the United States Military Mission in Berlin from March until July, 1919.
Dr. Wobus has always been interested in civic improvement, as manifest in his activity in the Civic League, the City Club, the North St. Louis Citizens’ Association, which has now passed out of existence, and the Zoological Society, of which he became a charter member. He worked his way through college and his advancement is the direct result of his developed powers and broad scientific knowledge. He belongs to the Surgeons’ Club of St. Louis, to the St. Louis Medical Society, the Missouri State Medical Association and the American Medical Association and is a member of the American Association of Military Surgeons, a charter fellow of the American College of Surgeons and a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has always been a man of studious nature, constantly broadening his knowledge along many lines and particularly in that field of labor which he has chosen as his life work.