obit – Dr. Homer Eugene deSadeleer, long-time Seal Beach physician

Most histories of the Los Alamitos area frequently mention a strong heritage of Belgian immigrant farmers.  While their numbers and impact to the area are usually overstated, some certainly had an impact.  One of those was long-time Seal Beach doctor, Homer Eugene deSadeleer, whose obituary is reprinted below.  According to Frans De Man, Denderhoutem in “Vlaamse Immigranten in California” by F.V.Goeman, 1997, pg.40, DeSadeleers parents

“Joseph De Sadeleer, from Denderhoutem, was married to Pauline Baeyens from the same village, sister of Rene Baeyens. Husband and wife left for California after the birth of their son Omer, leaving their son in the care of her sister. They returned home in 1922 and bought a house in the Okegemsestraat (den Doorn) in Ninove. This must not have been to their liking because in 1926 the whole family left for California again and this time for good. Both have since died in California. They were good friends to August and Céline Caigneau.”

originally published in the Seal Beach Journal-Sun, November 24, 1988, by Frank A. Fischer;  reproduced in “Vlaamse Immigranten in California” (Flemish Immigrants to California)  by F.V.Goeman, 1997, pg.119-121

De Sadeleer, longtime S.B. physician, dies

Seal Beach is still trying to come to terms with the loss of one of its most esteemed citizens, Dr. Homer Eugene DeSadeleer, who died Friday, Nov. 11, of heart failure after a long illness. He was 75.

The man who one local resident called “a Norman Rockwell painting come to life”, was not only reputed to have delivered between 4,000 to 6,000 babies during his 50-year medical career, but had also been deeply involved in a host of community activities and charities.

“Seal Beach was his”, said Harry Condo of Condo’s Rock & Shell shop on 125 Main. He described DeSadeleer as “very quiet,” but added, “if you did need him, he was there.” Fondness, sorrow, and admiration were expressed by several long-time Seal Beach residents who knew DeSadeleer well and were in unison in their praise of the general practitioner from Belgium.

“The guy was a giant,” remarked George Heisick, president of the Seal Beach Host Lions Club which would have celebrated DeSadeleer’s 50th anniversary as its last surviving charted member in February. “Seal Beach has had a helluva loss because he’s gone.”

“He was the last of the old country doctors,” said Dr. Albert J. Nelson, one of DeSadeleer’s associates for seven years until DeSadeleer retired from the practice at 119 Main Street in 1962.

In addition to being a highly respected professional and active member of the community, DeSadeleer, who would have been the grand marshall at this year’s Christmas parade, was also known to frequently help patients who couldn’t pay their bill. Many times he was spotted loading his car with food to take on house calls to the poor.

Born Dec. 1, 1912 in Ninove, a town in central Belgium, approximately 15 miles west of Brussels, DeSadeleer came to Seal Beach when he was 13.

While he attended Zoeter Elementary and Huntington Beach High School, his father grew sugar beets for a living on the Hellman Ranch property.

Speaking seven languages, DeSadeleer was originally drawn to studying linguistics but switched to medicine at Loyola Marymount University.  Subsequent schooling at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Los Angeles and the University of California, Irvine, led to an M.D. as a general practitioner with a specialty in obstetrics.

Among his patients, his level of concern for their welfare was well known. DeSadeleer was Ila J. Wilson’s doctor since 1939, and she said, “He was a guy that cared about people…he didn’t do it for the money. He did it for love.”

Not only didn’t he charge people who couldn’t pay, Heisick pointed out, “If you could’t go to him, he’d come to you. He was that kind of doctor.”

DeSadeleer would always go to patients with heart conditions to save them the stress of a trip, said Wilson. When her husband had his heart attacks, “He was right there.”

After completing an internship at Los Angeles County Hospital, DeSadeleer worked for Pacific Hospital in Long Beach and Los Alamitos Hospital.

In addition, he operated the small practice on Main Street which he opened in 1938, in what formerly had been an old gambling hall.

Over the years, DeSadeleer would become an institution around the sprawling rural countryside that gradually turned into the maze of freeways that it is today. With his dog, Gidget, he’d regularly check on his patients, no matter where they lived. When he closed his clinic in Seal Beach, he continued to make house calls as well as treat patients at his home at 519 Ocean.

“He was like a Norman Rockwell painting come to life,” said Phyllis Jay, Seal Beach resident since 1920. “He was the ideal family doctor. The kind that used to be. The kind we needed.”

His daughter, Pauline Harbour, summed it up succinctly. “He thought about everyone before himself.”

Russel E. Carley, who has lived in Seal Beach for 68 years, recalled that, at first, he had a difficult time understanding DeSadeleer, who spoke with a heavy Belgian accent and pronounces “blood” like “blued”. That didn’t stand in the doctor’s way, and he built up a loyal and supportive network friends, clients and family.

“There is no one in Seal Beach who has ever said anything bad about Dr. DeSadeleer. He was a beautiful human being,” said Heisick.

The doctor’s later years were spent caring for his wife, Edith Roslyn, of Sault Saint Marie, Michigan, who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease until her death on Aug. 21. According to Heisick, DeSadeleer’s “greatest fear was to die before Edith did,” because he didn’t know who’d take care of his wife’s condition and often took her along to help on house calls, since she had previously been his nursing assistant for a year until she became pregnant. “His reason for living was to take care of his wife,” said Mildred Sprouse, and Nelson remembered DeSadeleer telling him that he’d never commit his wife to a hospital since “it was his marriage vow that he’d take care of her.”

DeSadeleer also owned the liquor store at 112 Main Street, although he never visited the establishment, stated Mabel Shaw, the manager.  During her 40 years of friendship with the doctor, Shaw noticed that the store seemed to be “an investment left to me.” She said: “He was more interested in whether I was working too hard.”

No one is really sure how many babies DeSadeleer delivered. On the low side, Harbour and Wilson estimate it was 4,000. Carley Shaw and Heisick guess it was more like 5,000, but Kurt Van Derwest, chairman, Lions Red Cross Arm, said during a June speech, honoring DeSadeleer that he was sure it was about 6,000. “He loved to deliver babies,” said Nelson, content to let the matter rest there.

Forever etched in the minds of the people DeSadeleer came into contact with is the sincerety of an unassuming man who felt a need to help others.  He gave to a multitude of charities, “practically all of them,” Wilson believed, and on June 22 perhaps arrived at the pinnacle of his humanitarian service when he was awarded a Melvin Jones Fellowship by the Seal Beach Lions. This honor, named after the founder of the Lions, made him a member of a highly select fraternity of about 10,000 men who are the directors of a fund dedicated to disaster relief, according to Heisick.

One of the most dramatic examples of what this organization does is the monetory contribution it made to help those hit by the Mexico City earthquake of September 1985. Many in Seal Beach retain memories of DeSadeleer tending to the garden he loved so much, or frequenting one of his favorite restaurants, the Glide’er Inn.

He had a cabin near Lake Arrowhead, recalled Nelson, where he liked to relax, although many times he was called away from there to deliver babies.

“Seal Beach was his home,” Shaw said, but DeSadeleer returned to his native Belgium several times to see the many relatives he had there. On one occasion, “he got out of Holland by the skin of his teeth,” during the invasion of his homeland by the Germans in World War II, Harbour said.

To the Lions, he was their “tail twister,” the sergeant-at-arms who levied fines against violators of club rules. They made him a life member.

Perhaps the biggest compliment, which those who admired him could pay occurred during his funeral procession on Tuesday, Nov. 15, after the mass at St. Anne’s. Nash said that there were so many mourners who wanted to accompany the body to All Soul’s Cemetery in Long Beach that extra police had to be summoned as escort.

This definitely gave meaning to the words of Frank Curtis, Seal Beach resident since 1912 and the general contractor who designed DeSadeleer’s medical office on Main Street, who said: “Everybody was a friend of Dr. DeSadeleer.”

DeSadeleer leaves behind a son, Norman J. DeSadeleer, two daughters, Pauline Harbour and Mary Strangeland, and seven grandchildren.