CLARENCE ELMER FRONK

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He received his M.D. from St. Louis University Medical School in 1906, and, after a year's internship at St. Louis City Hospital, he spent a year in general practice at Marysville, Missouri.

In 1908 Dr. Fronk entered the U.S. Army as a lieutenant in the Medical Corps, and the following year was spent at the Army Medical School. After a short tour of duty in Texas, he was sent to Mindanao in the Philippines. On his return to the Mainland in 1912, he was stationed at Camp Lee, Petersburg, Virginia. From 1915 to 1917 he served at various duty posts, among which were Brownsville, Texas, Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, Camp Dodge, Iowa, Washington, D.C., and Boston, Massachusetts. During World War I he was division surgeon for the 20th Division, South Carolina, and was the youngest man to hold such rank. He then served as chief surgeon at Fox Hills General Army Hospital at Staten Island, and in 1920 was transferred to Hawaii as Chief of Surgery at Tripler General Hospital. In 1923 he resigned his commission and entered private practice in Honolulu.

On September 23, 1912, in Arlington, Virginia, Dr. Fronk married Laura Mulhall Sayer, daughter of Captain and Mrs. Stephen John Mulhall, whom he had met in the Philippines. Their two daughters were Eleanor (Mrs. Frederick Bosman) and Martha (Mrs. Elton Grenfell).

From 1924 to 1948 Dr. Fronk was in the U.S. Army Medical Reserve Corps. During World War II he returned to active duty and received the Legion of Merit award for his services as liaison officer between the Army and the Office of Civilian Defense in Honolulu.

Together with Dr. William M. Wynn he founded the Fronk-Wynn Clinic in 1938. After Dr. Wynn's resignation and retirement in 1949, the name was changed to Fronk Clinic, where he practiced until his own retirement in 1956. During 33 years of active practice Dr. Fronk also served as prison physician for 10 years, was chairman of the Hawaii Board of Industrial Schools from 1936 to 1940, and from 1941 to 1965 was medical director and a director of the Hawaiian Life Insurance Company. He was a counselor of the Aloha Council, Boy Scouts of America from 1944 until his death.

Aside from medicine, Dr. Fronk had two great loves---big game hunting and training horses. As a young officer in the Philippines, the doctor became interested in hunting, and in the following years his hunting trips took him to Indochina, Africa, Mexico, India, and the Rocky Mountains. As proof of his prowess with a gun, he collected more than 40 notable trophies, among which was a rare African Cape buffalo. One of the most memorable of these trips came in 1953 when the doctor was a guest of the Maharajah of Indore on a tiger hunt and bagged a 525-pound tiger. In 1945 he became chairman of the board of directors of the newly-formed Adventurers' Club in Honolulu.

Also dating back to his years in the Philippines when he played on the Army polo team, was a love of horses. On his retirement from active practice and at the age of 73 he began to train polo ponies and later raised Arabians, Appaloosas and saddle breeds. Although he sustained some kicks and had several falls, his enthusiasm never wavered. In March 1960, Dr. Fronk became the first person from Hawaii to be elected to the board of directors of the National Horse Show Association, and, in addition, was appointed vice-president to serve the newly organized Zone 11 which included Hawaii. The following July he was one of those instrumental in putting on the first horse show given by the Hawaii State Horse Show Association. In January 1965, the doctor became the second person ever to be awarded an honorary membership in the California State Horsemen's Association, and in 1966 he became the fourth honorary life member of the American Horse Shows Association.

During his retirement years Dr. Fronk was appointed to the Board of Parks and Recreation in 1960, became its chairman in 1964, and was reappointed to the Board in 1966. He headed Citizenship Hawaii, USA, an organization which supplied films on American history to schools and on whose behalf he received the George Washington Honor Medal in 1962. He was one of the directors of Hawaiian International Finance, and from 1956 he served as medical director of the Philippine Life Insurance Company in Hawaii.

Dr. Fronk died February 17, 1968, in Tripler Hospital at the age of 84.

He was a member of the Honolulu County Medical Society, the Hawaii Medical Association, serving as president in 1955-1956, the American Medical Association, the National Association of Medical Directors of Life Insurance Companies, a fellow of the American and of the International College of Surgeons, and a member of the founder's group of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma. He was also a member of the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Reserve Officers Association (past president), Retired Officers' Association, the Board of Managers of the Armed Services Y.M.C.A., Board of Directors of Imua, Explorers' Club of New York, Shikar-Safari Club of American, Hawaii Fish and Game Association (past president), Hawaii chapter of the National Rifle Association (several terms as president), Waikiki Polo Association, Arabian Horse Association of America, and a life member of the Knights of Pythias. Active in Masonic affairs since 1907, Dr. Fronk was a member of Blue Lodge No. 371, Le Progres de L'Oceanic, and held office in the Rose Croix and the Lodge of Perfection. In 1945 he became a 33rd degree Mason.

Knowing how the doctor felt about horses and those who shared his interest, it was probably no surprise to his friends to learn that in his will he provided $1,000 for a "horse party for his human friends of the horse world".

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