Harold Cedric Field

Field—Harold Cedric Field, 97, on August 7, 2015. Harold was born on December 23, 1917, in Minneapolis, Minn., to Myrtle Devoice and Andrew Field. Both parents were Scandinavian, his mother Norwegian and his father Swedish. A year after Harold’s birth the family moved to a small railroad town in North Dakota where his father was station master. When his father died five years later, his mother moved the family back to the city for a year and then returned to village life, where she did housework for wages. She married a man who owned several small houses to rent. During school holidays in Harold’s small school, where two grades were often taught in the same classroom, he repaired and painted his stepfather’s houses.

At the outbreak of World War II, he registered at the draft board, stating that he could not kill anybody. The draft board at first rejected his registration, but then classified him as 1AO (non-combatant service only) and sent him to St. Louis for training, where he met his first Quaker, a fellow trainee who took Harold to meeting with him. After training they built a hospital next to the Sahara Desert and one in Italy. In Italy he learned to love opera and speak Italian, interests which remained with him. After discharge, he earned a bachelor’s from University of North Dakota and then a medical degree from Northwestern University, supported by a combination of G.I. Bill funds and wages from janitorial work. While in medical school he met seminary student Bill Kautz through their work with the Fellowship of Reconciliation, and they began a long friendship.

He married a nurse from a Wisconsin agricultural family of German extraction. They had three sons and a daughter, living in a series of small towns in Oregon, Iowa, and Pennsylvania, where he practiced medicine and worked to gain the skill of an orthopedic surgeon before completing his credentials in Philadelphia and supervising trainees. His wife died at home under family and hospice care. He continued his friendship and correspondence with Bill Kautz until Bill’s death, and several years later, Harold and Amanda Kautz married and moved to Honolulu, having ten good years together before he became ill. Harold is survived by his wife, Amanda Kautz; three children; and four grandchildren.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Maximum of 400 words or 2000 characters.

Comments on Friendsjournal.org may be used in the Forum of the print magazine and may be edited for length and clarity.