Dr. Clare A. Trueblood was born on December 15, 1906 into the small Quaker community of Motor in southeast Warren County Iowa.  His parents were Effie and Samuel Trueblood.  When he was three, his family moved to a farm one mile east of Indianola, where he lived until he graduated from Indianola High School in 1924.  His first year of college, 1925-1926, was spent at William Penn College in Oskaloosa, Iowa .  He completed his college education at Guilford College in Greensboro, N.C., where he lived with his brother Elton Trueblood who was a dean and professor there.

Following his graduation from Guilford in 1929, he entered Temple University Medical School in Philadelphia and graduated from there in 1933.  He did his internship and residency in internal medicine at Methodist Hospital in Des Moines, Iowa.

In 1936, he married Ethel Bedford and moved to Indianola, Iowa, where he began a family medical practice which was to continue for 45 years.  He was one of a generation of family doctors who was available 24/7, made house calls, kept evening and week end office hours, and in the early days of his practice, did home deliveries.  He is perhaps best remembered for his compassionate bedside manner.

His practice was interrupted for 3 years during the Second World War when he served as a physician in the Aleutian Islands and Europe.  His field hospital unit was in a combat zone for 19 months of that 3 year period,

In addition to raising their 3 children, Clare and Ethel were active in the Indianola community, with Clare serving on the Indianola School Board for 12 years and on the Town Planning and County Health Boards, as well as taking his turn as coroner and Simpson College physician. In 1975, he and Ethel received the Simpson College Community Achievement Award.

Following his retirement in 1981, he was able to spend more time pursuing his interests in gardening, wood working, and Warren County and medical history.  He and Ethel also enjoyed spending a few months each winter at their condominium in Sun City, Arizona.  In 1991, Clare and Ethel sold their home on North C Street where they had lived since they had built it in 1939, and moved to The Village, a community they were involved in from its inception.

Dr. Trueblood was predeceased by his beloved wife of 58 years, Ethel Bedford Trueblood, who died on September 4, 1994.  He is survived and lovingly remembered by his three children and their spouses; Anne Kreisel and her husband, Peter Kreisel, of Burlington, Vermont; Dr. H. Ward Trueblood and his wife Nancy of Menlo Park, California, and Janet Kem and her husband Dr. David Kem of Edmond, Oklahoma.  Dr. Trueblood has 9 grandchildren: Alex Blum and his wife Kim, Charlotte, N.C.,and Lorenzo Blum, Colchester, VT; Hope Trueblood Goldie and her husband Stuart of Napa, CA, and Nathan Trueblood and his wife Johanna of Davis, CA; Laura Kem Liles and her husband Gary of Edmond, OK, Carla Kem Collier and her husband Clyde of Edmond, OK, David Kem and his wife Gwendy of Cave Creek, AZ, Sam Kem and his wife Heather of Bella Vista, AR, and Marie Kem Holden and her husband Darril of Brighton, MI.   Dr. Trueblood has 28 great grandchildren.

Donations may be made in Dr. Trueblood's name to William Penn University, Oskaloosa, Iowa or to the Good Shepherd Fund at the Village in Indianola.  Dr. Trueblood's children wish to extend a special thank you to the staff at the Village for their kind care of their father in his last years.