On Saturday, April 6, 1946, Madera lost one of its most beloved and most colorful homegrown physicians, Dr. Dow Ransom. This early physician and surgeon was mourned by hundreds of Maderans whom he had tended for more than 40 years.
Death came to Dr. Ransom at his beautiful home at 301 North C Street. Although he had not been in perfect health, his passing came very suddenly to all who knew him. He simply went to bed and didn’t wake up.
One of the things that made Dr. Ransom so special was the fact that he was a hometown boy who wasn’92t afraid to work. Although he was born in Ionia, Kansas, in 1880 “a member of a family of modest means,” he came to Madera in 1893, the year the county separated from Fresno County. He was a member of the 4th graduating class of Madera High School and was no stranger to work. Both before and after school and on holidays and Saturdays, Dr. Ransom was employed in Fred Barcroft’s hardware store and plumbing shop, which was located in the Fred Barcroft Building, a three story brick structure that still stands on the south side of Yosemite Avenue.