VIVIAN E. ZIMMERMAN, M. D.

Among the young physicians of the county few have gained more prominence in the same length of time than Dr. Vivian E. Zimmerman, the subject of this sketch. Not far distant from the city of Denver, among the foothills of Weld county, Colorado, he first opened his eyes to the light of day, in the year 1877. He is a son of A.J. Zimmerman, of Grant township (see sketch), and with his parents came to Kansas in 1878. He received his rudimentary education in the district schools and by pursuing his studies at home, for, as a boy, he was a student, and early in life had dreams and aspirations tending toward a professional career. When a lad about six years of age he sustained a serious loss in the death of his mother, a woman of gentle and noble character. After her demise he was taken into the home of his paternal grandparents. His boyhood days were not all sunshine, but he worked his way through the common branches, and his determination to gain a profession rendered the undertaking possible. Not at the instigation of family or friends did he choose the career of an M.D., but from youth adopted medicine as his choice and never wavered from his purpose. Prior to studying medicine, however, he entered upon a course of pharmacy at home, more as a means of gaining the desired end, than from a taste for that calling. At the age of seventeen years he secured a position as drug clerk and continued in that capacity between three and four years. In the meantime he read medicine with Dr. C.I. Tidd, of Geneva, Iowa, and later with Dr. G.L. Goss, of Sheffield, Iowa, gaining a credit of one year in the medical college of St. Joseph, Missouri. After two years in that institution, his first experience in professional work was at Longford, Kansas, in the autumn of 1900, under a preceptor. Desiring more complete medical knowledge he subsequently entered the Nashville Medical College, graduated from there in the spring of 1901 and returned to Longford. In December of the same, year he located in Concordia, where he has since been established. January 16, 1902, he received the appointment of county physician and held that office one year in connection with his private practice, which is steadily increasing. Cramping restrictions incident to financial situations were experienced in Dr. Zimmerman's struggle to gain a profession and he has encountered many obstacles along his career, requiring much energy and courage to tide over these years of anxiety. However, success came as it invariably must to the energetic and faithful. It may safely be predicted that the future years hold for Dr. Zimmerman professional honors. He is a close student, devoted to his profession, and, like hundreds of western young men, is self-educated and self-made, a demonstration which carries with it a recommend.