Plinny Scott "PS" Whiteleather - 1996
MHS 1924 Graduate
Dr. Plinny Scott (or P.S. as he was known) Whiteleather, Class of 1924, was nominated by his daughter Carol Thomas and fourteen other friends and relatives. He was born and raised in the Minerva area and spent his entire life in the Minerva community. After completion of undergraduate studies at Wittenberg College, he obtained his medical degree from Ohio State University, and returned to Main Street to practice medicine. The old red brick Victorian house where he and his family lived also served as his office. He was a dedicated doctor in Minerva for over forty years.
Dr. Whiteleather always held education in the highest esteem and encouraged many to receive a good education. He married Helen Freed, and they had two children. His son Richard became a doctor and his daughter, Carol, holds a music degree from Wooster College. He was open to learning everyday of his life.
There are many acts of kindness and deeds that Dr. Whiteleather completed that would serve to merit his induction into the Minerva High School Alumni Hall of Fame. He knew the importance of education and, being from humble means, he and his parents and ten siblings worked very hard at truck farming to help pay his expenses through college. That hard work enabled him to relate to many patients who would come to him practically penniless, and their fee was often reduced, waived or put on the long-term payment plan. He delivered many babies (with Twila Carmen as his assistant nurse) and took an interest in each as they grew up. One winter night during a blizzard, he rode a neighbor’s farm tractor back a snowbound lane to deliver a baby because his auto could not get through. He even had to bring wood and coal into the home to keep the new mother and baby warm by keeping the fire going.
During the terrible scare of polio in the late 40s and 50s, he, along with Drs. Weir and Hines, was instrumental in bringing the polio vaccine to the Minerva Elementary Schools.
He had an interest in farming and livestock. He was known for helping area farmers in more ways than one. Short-term notes of money were loaned to start some farm operations, and he always had words of encouragement and advice and wisdom for area farmers.
Dr. Whiteleather was active in the community by serving in his church, The First Christian Church, and in area service clubs. But mainly he was active with his patients. He was an old fashioned doctor that gave beyond 100% to know the family, care about them, and follow up on their care and well-being. There are many people in the Minerva area that hold Dr. Whiteleather in high esteem and as truly a remarkable friend and individual who was their helper in times of sickness and despair.