P. F. Theis, M. D. Among the younger members of the Kansas medical profession there are many who have, through inherent ability, conscientious devotion to their calling and an earnest love for their work, gained within a short space of time positions held formerly only by men many years their seniors. Of late years the profession had made such rapid strides that the newly graduated physician in many cases is possessed of knowledge that the practitioners of several decades ago only gained after years of practice. Representing the younger generation in Crawford County is Dr. P. F. Theis, of Arma, who by inclination, natural talent and comprehensive training had won a substantial place for himself and is making rapid strides in one of the most difficult of the learned callings.
Doctor Theis was born at Weir, Crawford County, Kansas, June 9, 1885, and is a son of Peter and Ella (Dowd) Theis. Peter Theis was born in Germany, and was three years of age when his parents came to the United States and took up their residence in Wisconsin. A few years later they went to the unsettled prairies of Cowley County, Kansas where buffalo still roamed in great bands, unafraid of the white men who were so soon to wipe them out in such great numbers, and where, at night, it was necessary to build large fires to frighten the wolves from the livestock. In this frontier county Peter Theis was reared, growing to sturdy manhood, learning to be self-reliant, and securing his education in the primitive schools that the community afforded. In young manhood he left Cowley County and moved to Weir, Crawford County, where he was married and settled down to life on a farm. In connection with his agricultural operations he employed himself as a smelterman, and through industry and good management succeeded in the accumulation of a modest property. His death occurred at Weir, August 2, 1901. In politics he was a democrat, and while he never looked for public office, leaving that for those whose inclinations lay in that direction, he took an interest in his community’s welfare and endeavored to secure the election of good men and the passage of helpful laws. He was reared in the faith of the Roman Catholic Church and remained true to that creed throughout his life. Mr. Theis married Miss Ella Dowd, who was born in 1855, in Illinois, and she still survives him and lives at Weir. They were the parents of two children: Dr. P. F., of this notice; and Mayme, who married John Hamilton, of Pittsburg, Kansas, and died in 1909.
The early education of P. F. Theis was secured in the public schools of Weir, where he was graduated from the high school in 1903, and then enrolled as a student at Ensworth Central College, of St. Joseph, Missouri, where he graduated in 1907, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He began the practice of his calling at Weir, where he remained for two years, went next to Yale, where he remained four years, and in 1913 came to Arma, where he had since built up an excellent practice in medicine and surgery. His offices are on Washington Street, and his home, which he owned, on Perry Street. Doctor Theis had gained recognition as a skilled practitioner and a careful, steady-handed surgeon, and as one who is thoroughly familiar not only with the old methods, but with the new that are constantly being discovered and tested. His professional service had over been discharged with a conscientious sense of professional obligation, always remembering that he belongs to a body set apart, one that more than any other is helpful to humanity. He holds membership in the Crawford County Medical Society, the Kansas State Medical Society, the Southeastern Medical Society and the American Medical Association, and is a student of the best medical literature of the day. Fraternally, he affiliates with the Modern Woodmen of America, the Woodmen of the World, the Knights and Ladies of Security, the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Improved Order of Red Men. As a man of understanding and civic pride, he takes an interest in all worthy public movements, but is no politician. In his political relations he supports the democratic party, but, as had been stated, his only political activity is exercised in casting his vote.
Doctor Theis was married in October, 1907, at St. Joseph, Missouri, to Miss Maude Cooke, daughter of Mrs. Alice Cooke, who lives at Burlington Junction, Missouri. Mrs. Theis, like her husband, is well known in social circles of Arma, where she had many friends. To Doctor and Mrs. Theis there had come one son: Frank, who was born at Yale, Kansas, June 26, 1911.