Edward A. Holyoke Papers

Edward Augustus Holyoke, MD, PhD (1908-2001), was born in Madrid, Nebraska on March 10, 1908. Deciding to be a physician as a teenager, Dr. Holyoke took prep school classes and attended Chadron State Teachers College before transferring to the University of Nebraska, earning his Bachelor of Science degree from Lincoln in 1928. He continued his education at the University of Nebraska College of Medicine, earning his MA in 1932 and an MD in 1934. As a medical student, an instructor vacancy opened in the College of Medicine. Anatomy professor John Latta, PhD, and Dean Charles William McCorkle Poynter, MD, persuaded Dr. Holyoke to take up this position and a career in anatomy rather than pursue clinical practice. Other external factors of the times, like the Great Depression, solidified his decision to teach.

Dr. Holyoke pursued a graduate degree while serving as an instructor and in 1938, he became the first student in the Department of Anatomy to earn a PhD. At this time, he was appointed Assistant Professor of Anatomy, later taking over teaching the Gross Anatomy course upon Dr. Manuel Grodinsky’s retirement. Dr. Holyoke continued to rise through the departmental ranks, eventually serving as chair of the Department of Anatomy from 1960-1973. During his tenure as chair, he doubled the number of departmental faculty and oversaw the departmental move from Poynter Hall to the newly built Basic Science Building, now Wittson Hall. After retiring as department chair, he continued to teach Gross Anatomy until 1983, a 53-year involvement in the course. That same year he was named professor emeritus and retired in 1995.

Dr. Holyoke wrote extensively, publishing many articles on anatomy, and contributing to several textbooks. He had a special interest in history, writing a volume for the Centennial Trilogy of the University of Nebraska College of Medicine and a separate The Department of Anatomy: University of Nebraska Medical Center centennial history. Dr. Holyoke also wrote satirical poems under the pseudonym E. Gustave Polehock.

A dedicated educator and alumnus, Dr. Holyoke received a Distinguished Teaching Award from the University of Nebraska Medical Center and two Golden Apple Awards from the student body. He served as an officer and board member of the University of Nebraska College of Medicine Alumni Association from the 1940s until the late 1980s, primarily as secretary and treasurer. He was also secretary and treasurer of the C. W. M. Poynter Foundation.

Heavily involved in professional organizations, Dr. Holyoke was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Association of Anatomists, the Anatomical Association of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Midwest Anatomists Association, where he served as president in 1969. He served terms as president of the Nebraska chapters of both Alpha Omega Alpha and Sigma Xi.

In 1940, Dr. Holyoke married Lois Carse. They had two children, Edward A. “Ted” Holyoke Jr., and Thomas T. Holyoke. Lois Holyoke died in 1976, and Dr. Holyoke was remarried to Francis Lewis of Omaha in 1981.

Dr. Holyoke died on August 20, 2001, in Omaha.