Biographical Sketch of Dr. Lee Edwin Biles
December 11, 1872 – October 15, 1940
Lee Edwin Biles, born December 11, 1872, was the first son, second child born to Burton and Mollie Biles, living in Rose Bud, White County, Arkansas. Lee lived in Rose Bud until shortly after his marriage to Emma Owens on November 11, 1897.
Lee enrolled in the Kentucky School of Medicine in 1903, graduating in 1905. He then set up practice in Gregory, Woodruff county but soon moved to Augusta, spending the remainder of his life there. “Dr. Biles was prominent in medical and business affairs, not only in Augusta, but over the entire state. He was a 32nd degree Mason and a Shriner. He was also a very active member of the Arkansas Medical Society. At an early age he joined the Baptist church of which he was a member all his life.”1
Dr. Biles died October 15, 1940. His obituary begins “Dr. L. E. Biles, 67, Augusta, died at a local hospital at 11 o’clock this (Tuesday) morning following a stroke of paralysis suffered at the home of his brother in Rose Bud Sunday.”1 The following poem was posted following his passing.
In Memory of Doctor Biles
“The man that we knew lived in his house, by the side of the highway of life.
Where men went by with their sorrows and joys and the world went on with its strife.
But he turned not away from their smiles or their tears
But extended a helping hand,
And he lived in his house on the highway of life
And was a friend of man.
He answered their calls by day and by night, the strong, the young and the old.
His sympathy spread like a mantle about
His heart was the purest of gold.
And he turned not aside from their joys or their tears, but extended a healing hand.
This physician we knew, this friend that we loved, was a wonderful friend to man.”2
1 ”Dr. L. E. Biles Called By Death” obituary, source unknown
2 “In Memory of Doctor Biles” poem, source unknown
John T. Mitchell, BBA
April 17, 2021