Dr. James Kimball biography: 13 things about Osceola, Iowa physician

Who was Dr. James Kimball?

Dr. James David Kimball was an American physician from Osceola, Clarke County, Iowa, United States. He is the only son of Warren Minor Kimball and Maxine McPherson Kimball, who got married in Osceola on March 23, 1933.

Raised in Murray, Clarke County, James scored a scholarship to Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, Rockingham County, New Hampshire, USA. His parents started operating the International Harvester farm equipment dealership in Murray in 1946 and moved the business to Osceola in 1957.

James was 2 years older than his wife Mary Ellen Kimball. She was active in arts and cultural affairs across Iowa and he served a civic leader.

Both James and Mary were licensed pilots. As a senior aviation medical examiner, he certified more than 200 pilots every year.

When James and Mary first met, she was a nursing student and he was in medical school. They played prominent roles in the economic development of Osceola.

After graduating Grinnell College in Grinnell, Poweshiek County, Iowa, James joined the U.S. Army, which paid for his medical school education at the University of Iowa College of Medicine in Iowa City, Iowa. After serving in the military and practicing medicine across the U.S., he moved to Osceola in 1968 with her and their two sons Jeffrey Deur Kimball and Joseph “Joe” Kimball.

James served in the military during the Vietnam War before working in family medicine for almost six decades. Here are 13 more things about him:

1. From 1958 to 1960, he attended Grinnell College where he majored in chemistry and zoology.
2. In 1960, his father died at age 47.
3. In July 1963, Mary gave birth to their son Jeffrey.
4. In 1964, he graduated from the University of Iowa College of Medicine.
5. In June 1968, Mary gave birth to their son Joe.
6. In July 1978, his grandmother Mae Mullen McPherson died in Osceola at age 98.
7. On June 23, 1993, his uncle Elywn Mullen “Mac” McPherson, a U.S. Army veteran who served during World War II, died in Des Moines, Iowa at age 76.
8. On January 14, 2000, her mother died at the Clarke County Hospital in Osceola at age 85.
9. In 2009, he received the Osceola Community Service Award.
10. In 2017, he became a member of the Osceola Water Works board.
11. On May 23, 2023, he was honored as one of the 8 Over 80 alumni of the University of Iowa
12. In January 2024, he turned 85.
13. On December 17, 2024, he and Mary were found wounded inside their residence in Osceola. He died in a hospital in Des Moines later that day while she died at around 8:10 p.m. on December 20, 2024.