Kuhler  Funeral Home

Dr. Paul Hohm

  Paul  Hohm was born May 21, 1914, on a farm near Yale, South Dakota, to Ludwig and  Susannah (Tschetter) Hohm.  He grew up on the family farm and received his  education in Yale, where he was a three-year letterman in football and track,  and was named an outstanding halfback in South Dakota.  In addition to his high  school sports, he also played tennis as long as he was able.  He and his brother  Ted often played in the shade of poplar trees on the family farm during midday  breaks from chores.  Later in life, when he saw the need for an indoor tennis  facility in Huron, he designed and financed Hohm Courts adjacent to the Nordby  Center for Recreation. 

   Paul graduated from Huron College in 1939, and graduated from the University  of Chicago Medical School.  He married Carol Tisdel on December 28, 1939.   During World War II, Paul served in the US Navy as a surgeon aboard the hospital  ship USS Haven.  He served his residency at Ramsey County Hospital in St. Paul,  Minnesota, and was offered the opportunity to work alongside a renowned surgeon  in St. Paul.  However, he and his wife, Carol, made the decision to return to  Huron in 1946, where he, his brother and three uncles opened the Tschetter &  Hohm Clinic.  A new clinic was built three years later. 

   Paul was the epitome of a country doctor.  As medical technology  advanced, he reminded younger colleagues that while modern machines unlocked  mysteries, doctors must always put people above all else.  For six  decades, he  dedicated his life to medicine and the care of his  patients.  He spent 13-hour  days caring for the sick, performing surgeries, seeing patients in his clinic  and treating athletic injuries.  In addition for many years, he drove to  Wessington Springs several nights a week and on Saturdays to perform surgery,  sometimes making three separate trips within a 24-hour period. 

  He  delivered 3,500 babies.  They were all precious to him, but perhaps the most  famous of all of them is actress Cheryl Ladd.  Well into his eighties, he  continued to see five to ten patients a day, six days a week.  Even at 90, he  was still performing minor surgeries, proud of his steady hands.  He wanted to  work until he was no longer able, and many of his patients told him they didn't  want him to retire, either.

   Paul believed it was important to serve in his community.  As someone who knew  what it was like to be poor, he wanted others to have the same chances as he  did.  He saw a need, and found a way to get it filled, donating to many causes.   For example, he often sponsored four or five struggling Huron College students  at a time so they could get a good education, and provided most of the medical  care for student-athletes at Huron College at no cost for 34 years.  He  contributed to improvements at Memorial Park Baseball Field, the wood floor in  the Huron Arena and to numerous economic development projects.  He and Carol,  along with Paul and Donna Christen and the late Jeannette Lusk,  established the Christen Hohm Lusk Greater Huron Area Foundation to provide  annual grants to worthy projects.  He said he thought giving to others was what  really made life worthwhile. 

   Paul was the recipient of the Distinguished Service Award by his medical peers,  the Huron College Distinguished Alumni Award, the Distinguished Civil Service  Award by the Huron Chamber & Visitors Bureau, the Service to Mankind Award by  the Huron Sertoma Club, and was inducted into the South Dakota Hall of Fame and  the Huron College Athletic Hall of Fame.  He was presented with the honorary   doctor of humane letters degree from Huron College and the Centennial Award from  Wessington Springs for outstanding service in the field of emergency care and  general surgery in rural South Dakota.  Paul also received the Friends of Mental  Health Award from Community Counseling Services for his longtime support of  mental health care in the area. 

   Paul served as president of the South Dakota State Medical Association, and  president of the medical staff at Huron Regional Medical Center.  He was a  charter member of the South Dakota Foundation of Medical Care and was the  preceptor for the first certified nurse practitioner in the state.  Dr. Paul has  served as the chairman of the board of directors of the Violet Tschetter  Memorial Home, manager of the home, and its medical director for the past  several decades.  He was a fellow in the International Academy of Proctology and  served on the board of trustees and chaired the executive committee of the South  Dakota Comprehensive Health Planning and Regional Medical Program.  In  addition, he was one of the original incorporators of the South Dakota Blue  Shield and became its president in South Dakota and later on the national  level. 

  He  was also one of the original incorporators of First Federal Savings and Loan  Association in Huron and at one time owned and operated West Park Truck Stop and  Fair City Lanes.  Along with his business partner, Paul Christen, they built the  Christen Hohm Building, which was later donated to the city for municipal and private offices.  The two partners also renovated the Tams Hotel into the  Hickory House Motor Inn.  His family commissioned a San Francisco muralist to  paint "The Land Rush" on the side of the Fair City Lanes building, the site of  the former U.S. Land Office.  It depicts the rush for land in 1882, and includes  Paul and Carol Hohm in line to stake their own claim. 

   Proud of being considered an old-fashioned practitioner, "Dr. Paul" will be  missed by the  thousands of patients he treated and counseled, and the thousands  more who called him a good friend. 

  He  was preceded in death by his parents; two brothers, Dr. Ted and Ewald; and three  sisters, Matilda Tschetter, Viola Hohm and Ella Bradfield.

   Grateful for having shared his life are his beloved wife, Carol, of Huron; his  daughter, Marilyn Hoyt, of Huron; his two sons, Dr. Richard (Peggy), of Fort  Collins, Colorado, and Dr. Robert (Holly) Hohm, of Huron; seven grandchildren;  eight great-grandchildren; his sister, Olga (William) Pfautz, of Huron; and his  brother, Jim (Ida) Hohm, of Yale.

 Memorial  Service

 Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - 11:00 AM

 First United Methodist Church

 Huron, South Dakota

 Rev. Kevin Channell and Rev. William Pfautz - Officiants

 From the First Presbyterian Church

 Mark Neuharth - Organist

 Lud Hohm - Soloist

 Julie Hohm - Accompanist

 Active Casket Bearers

 All his grandchildren

 Stephen Hoyt    Stacey Dwelle

 Heidi Mudry   Greg Hohm

 Kristi Sommer   Daniel Hohm   Matthew Hohm

  Honorary  Casket Bearers

 All his patients, Dr. Roscoe Dean, and

 the doctors in the District V Medical Society

  Interment

 Riverside Cemetery - Huron, South Dakota

 Military Rites by Huron Veterans Council