Pediatrician Harry Towsley Found Guilty Of Serving Man

Dr Harry Albert Towsley was found guilty of outstanding service to his feilow man last night. One of the University's and Michigan's most celebrated pediatricians, Towsley was put on trial at a testimonial banquet held last mght at the Michigan League in honor of lus reteement, and he faced a jury oí 400 friends, peers, state and university officials. Witness after witness testified that he was guilty of the most flagrant display durini his lifetime of loyalty, generosity and leadership to his profession and to his university. , Dr Richard D. Judge, clinical professor of the U-M department of postgraduate medicine which Towsley directed and from which he now retires, presided at the mock trial. Spectators heard evidence so overwhelming that tria experts in matters of testimonial banquete predicted it would take months to sift fact from image and present to Dr Towsley the documented arguments of last night's proceedings. The evidence: resolutions from bom houses of the Michigan Legislature, a gathering of hundreds of friends and associates; an epic poem; toasts; and a scrapbook of testimoniáis and telegrams. And, 40 years of dedication to the improvement of medical education in the State of Michigan, edified in the Towsley Center for Continuing Medical ■Rrlucation. Seldom has the University witnessea such a spectacle of admiration and affection, and probably never in the his - tory of the art of accolades has so huge a jury arrived so spontaneously at agreement about a person's contnbutions to his community, nis profession, 1Üpretrial took place at the Campus Inn where retiring Harry Towsley and his wife Margaret, were read their nghts before what seemed an endless reception line of well-wishers. Change of venue was granted, and a massive dinner was held at the League. At preliminary hearings held by DeanDirector Dr. John A. Gronvall of the medical center the rights of the Towsleys were guaranteed and protected. I Speeches were to be brief, and the retiring pediatrician could object at any time to overindulgence on the part of I witnesses. I The first witness to appear was RobI ben W Fleming, who introduced himself as president of the University of I Michigan-"at the present time. PresiI dfiTit Fleming said, in part: "I accuse Harry Towsley oí conspirmg to infíltrate virtually every office of every physician in the State of Michigan with such boundless enthusiasm and energy that I predict the University may never again be restored to its historie reputation for impartiality and equity. "Your honor," Fleming said to Judge, "we simply cannot endure as a great university under such pressures for excellence, for loyalty, for generosity. For all this Harry Towsley must now bear the burden of open and public gratitude." Dean Gronvall accused Towsley ot I concealing evidence, first of his I sional grade iri pathology when a I cal student in 1931, and, second for his I brief associatief as an undergraduate with Michigan State University _ "You know," said Gronvall, a deán is like a shepherd who gentiy tries to lead ïfs flock, and a department chaman is the crook on which he leans. In this role Dr Towsley has been singularly sucSssfuTfor we have all leaned on him hesaoVme'called Towsley the conscience of the medical center. Others accused hun of conspiring to mastermmd a scheme foradvancing the knowledge of Michigan's physicians. All agreed that iSi Towsley's subversive mystique was responsible for a significant measure of the greatness of Michigan medícine. _l-i Never was the evidence so overwneiming against a Michigan citizen; never an indictment so unanimously mbraced Both diminutive pepple P]5' Harry and Margaret appeared helpless against such a forensic foray. Yet last nfght they had to be the biggest . Mtle people in the whole State of Michigan, Se ially when Sen. Gilbert E. Bursely rose and read Senate Resolution Number 81: . , "He has given his personal ana unancial help to students and trainees He always had time to sit down and listen, and when doctors had problems, they called on Dr. Towsley." In what had to be a historie concurrence of both houses of the Legislature, Bep. Raymond J. Smit then read House ResolutionNumberl27: . "Dr Towsley's life has been ruu iu overflowing with professional responsibüites, an abiding love for his patiënte as human beings, and his distinguished and illustrious service to public health in Michigan remain an impenshable monument of his own creation. Himself a past-master of similar proceedings, as well as chairman o uncountable conferences and med cal meetings, Harry Towsley sat through the incriminations a bit flushed, with a restrained smile, but with an evident compulsión to rush to the stand on his , own behalf. When he did, veteran banqueteers nodded in unisón. He said exactly what thev predicted he would : "I am not guilty! You were foolish to come! and you should aU be home getting your sleep," he said. i But the accused soon showed evidence of st ai? especially when Dr. Charles Sanislow of Midland appeared as the Inal wVess. He announced the estab1 shment of the Harry A. Towsley Visitig pTofessorship, and while it was not fxüected to substitute for its namesake, it was clear from this act that the Towsley mystique would continue to work its maeic on Michigan medicine. "Nemo profita," wrote some nai Boyle of ancient times. Simply trans ated that means, "No man is a prophet in Ms ï backyard. Once ágata a man of rat Homeric heart proved the classicists back home they were wrong. Harrv Towsley made it big in his own ïack yard and Ann Arbor is bigger for tttoo' are the chüdren he cared for the youn doctors he cared about and the Seal school which bears the hallfuígralSdhimselfafinalob.- 1 er dicta. "What can I say, except that ?L Tase of Harry Albert Towsley wxü I never be closed' a tM