Alfred Cruz Ibaviosa

Contributed by Catherine Ibaviosa:

Alfred Cruz Ibaviosa was born November 5, 1927 to Manuel and Maria Ibaviosa in the Philippines. He had 4 brothers and 1 sister. He graduated from St. Thomas University Medical School in the Philippines in 1954. After internship there, he came to the United States and served an internship at Lutheran Hospital in St. Louis from 1955-1956 and then as resident physician from 1956-1961.  He served his residency in OB-GYN from 7/61 to 6/63 at St. Louis City Hospital and was chief resident there from 7/63 to 6/64. He became an American Citizen in 1963.  He then worked at Lutheran Hospital until 3/65 when he moved to Crystal City Mo. to begin his OB-GYN practice.  He resided in Festus, Mo.  He was on the staff of Jefferson Memorial Hospital and Lutheran Hospital. At this time Jefferson Memorial Hospital had no emergency room doctors so he had to be on call for the ER every 3-4 nights.  Many times he came home from delivering a baby and a half hour later got called back to  work in the ER suturing an accident victim, caring for a sick child, etc.  He was kept very busy . He was chief of staff of OB-GYN at Jefferson Memorial Hospital from 1965-1973 where he delivered thousands of babies, including several sets of triplets and twins and performed many GYN surgeries. After passing written and oral exams he became a Fellow of the American College of OB-GYN  in 1971. Immediately after delivering a baby on July 26, 1973,  he suffered a heart attack.  He was transferred to Lutheran Hospital where he passed away July 28, 1973 at the age of 45.  He was survived by his wife Catherine (Thielker) whom he married 12/22/60 and his children were Deborah 11, John 10, Jim 9,  Linda 6 and Mary 4.  The visitation and  funeral were from Vinyard Funeral Home and burial in Rose Lawn Gardens, Crystal City, MO. He was a member of the American Medical Society,  American College of OB-GYN, St. Louis GYN Society and .Jefferson County Medical Society.