Dr. Frederick Cecil Hubbard

Year Inducted: 2016

Frederick Cecil Hubbard was born on December 13, 1893, in the Moravian Falls community of Wilkes County. The son of Joel Thomas Hubbard and Annie Yeakle Calloway, he grew up in Wilkesboro where his maternal grandfather, Dr. James Calloway, a great-nephew of Daniel Boone, practiced medicine for 40 years.

Fred Hubbard attended Moravian Falls Academy and graduated from Wilkesboro High School. Following his graduation, he went to the University of North Carolina for pre-med and the first two years of his medical study. In 1918, he completed two years of medical work and graduated from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. His post-graduate work in surgery was done at the University of Pennsylvania. Hubbard was an intern at Bryn Mawr from 1918-1920 and was later on the staff of Carpenter-Davis Hospital in Statesville, N.C.

While still a medical student, Hubbard married Annie Bingham Somers in 1917. They had three children, two sons and a daughter.

In 1922, Hubbard made the decision to open a hospital in North Wilkesboro. As there were no hospitals in Wilkes, Ashe, Alleghany, Watauga, Caldwell or Surry counties, Hubbard decided a hospital would provide a great service to Wilkes and the surrounding counties. On April 2, 1923, the Wilkes Hospital was opened on the corner of Eighth and E streets in North Wilkesboro. Wilkes Hospital was one of the pioneer hospitals in North Carolina.

Dr. Hubbard joined the Army in 1942, serving as Major in the surgical department and was appointed administrative officer for a 750-bed station hospital. After World War I, the North Carolina Medical Society organized the first rural health council in 1946. Hubbard was appointed chairman of the council.

Hubbard was one of the leaders in the Y.M.C.A. movement in Wilkes County and is a past president of the Y.M.C.A. He was a charter member of the Kiwanis Club in North Wilkesboro and was very active in local and state medical societies. The Board of Directors and owners of the Wilkes Hospital, led by Dr. Hubbard, conducted the proposed erection of Wilkes General Hospital. The site for the new hospital was bought by Hubbard and donated for the purpose of building a new hospital. On May 1, 1952, Wilkes General Hospital was opened to patients.