Obituary of Felix Spector, D.O.

[jeff_macadams (imported)]

Obituary

In Memoriam

Felix Spector

1917 – 2007

Jesus asked to write this obituary for Felix Spector a few days ago. For those who did not know Dr. Spector he was one of the most important physicians to the eunuch community in it's history. Although in his declining years his abilities had faded he was there at the beginning in the 1950s at the “trans balls” in New York City. Felix was still with us toward the end of his life as well. Until he could no longer use a computer or a telephone Felix continued to advise and try to assist the eunuch and trans communities. When he retired from practice he found a successor to take his place, Murray Kimmel, M.D., of Philadelphia, an old friend and colleague of Felix. He did this so that our “community” would not be left without a physician to do this procedure for us in a clean, legal and safe manner.

He was one of the most giving and caring people I have ever had the pleasure to know. He was born into relative poverty in 1917, the son of two Russian Jewish immigrants. His parents had fled this tumultuous period in Russian history to start a new life in America. He was raised in tenement housing in the Philadelphia area. After a number of years his parents were able to afford a better home in Haddon Heights, New Jersey, where Felix spent most of his school age years. His memories of this time were of making friends in school, the birth of his beloved younger sister and his father working very hard to keep the family's standard of living. In fact, his father was a peddler who sold items from the trunk of his car along the New Jersey turnpike. In this manner he provided for his family and was able to save enough money to send his son to medical school. Felix graduated from High School and attended Temple University in Philadelphia. There he completed a pre-medical program and graduated in 1938 from Temple. He then attended the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, graduating as a D.O. in 1942.

During the second world war Felix was unable to serve in the military due to the fact that they did not recognize the D. O. degree as a valid medical doctorate. He was given an “assignment” by the US Government to replace an M.D. who had been drafted. He was sent a small town in Texas where he served until the end of the war. Afterward he moved to California and lived and practiced there for many years. He also married around this time, his wife's name was Frieda. They had two children, a son and a daughter. Felix life and medical practice were not without complications, although he tried very hard to do right and well by his patients. After many years practice in Los Angeles he returned to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and practiced there until the late 1960's. Felix started the treatment of the transgendered in the late 50s and early 60s and continued throughout his career to treat that community. His wife divorced him in this period and he started about a series of adventures doing missionary work overseas for the Brethren Church in Philadelphia. He served in Nigeria in Africa as well as Anguilla and Puerto Rico in the Caribbean. During the late 1970's Felix returned to America and set up practice in Marlinton, West Virginia. There he adopted a young boy named Harper. Felix was always a good “father figure” and family was an important thing to him. His children now being grown he decided that adoption of Harper was both the best course for the boy and for him. Single parent adoptions in this period were extremely complex and it meant enough to Felix to help Harper that he endured the long wait. He returned to Philadelphia in the early 80's taking his new teenage son with him. Felix revived his practice in Philly in the 1980's and stayed there except for a short stint on the US Army installation of Johnston Island in the mid 1990's. Late in the 1990's Felix began to have problems with his son, Harper, and decided that the best course of action was to remove him to the West Virginia countryside where he would not be exposed to the level of drug abuse which he had encountered in the metropolitan area around Philly.

This is the time that I met Dr. Spector. I had been castrated by him in 1999 and returned a year later to live with him. We became partners and I was soon in charge of his office. A couple of years went by and Felix began to have problems with his health. Although business was better than ever, Felix was 84 years old and decided it was time to finally retire. At this point his options were somewhat limited. He could retire to Maine but sitting and doing nothing all day did not appeal to this very active man. He inquired as to what we would do now and I said we should return to Ohio where I had a line on a job. We talked a good deal more about our mutual futures and an idea formed in my mind about an old Adams family house that had fallen to ruin in Ohio. We decided to pool our resources and purchase the home. We would convert it to a bed and breakfast and restaurant, it would also be Felix retirement home in the country. He could give as much or as little energy and time to the project as he saw fit. Unfortunately fate was not kind to us as we signed the paperwork to purchase the estate and almost immediately the 911 tragedy gripped the nation and the world. Investors we had pulled out of the project and we were set adrift there. Felix stayed with me and endured the hardships of the years that followed and never once blinked or wavered in the face of adversity. He taught me much about perseverance and courage. He taught me how to set aside my personal ambition and do what was right for the greater good.

In the last couple years of his life he made a point to me to carry on with what we had both started. Even after his tragic fall and broken hip in December 2006 and the need for him to enter a nursing home, he never gave up on the dream of giving the old house to the future. He never gave up on me either, loving me until the day he died on December 5, 2007.

Goodbye, Felix. I love you and I always will.

Jeffrey Adams

12 January 2008