Ventura surgeon who was fixture at Community Memorial dies at 97
A longtime general surgeon who practiced nearly 50 years at Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura has died.
James Woodburn II, 97, devoted his life to his medical career and caring for patients with his professional and polite style, said Jim Hornstein, a Ventura family physician who worked with Woodburn for many years.
Hornstein described Woodburn as a fixture around the hospital's operating room.
"You show up and Dr. Jim Woodburn is in the operating room or getting ready to go in the operating room or leaving the operating room,” Hornstein said.
Woodburn died on Feb. 28 after battling lung and bone cancer for three months, said his son Greg “Woody” Woodburn, who is a columnist for The Star. In a column about his father's death, the younger Woodburn said his dad was still assisting in the operating room until age 94.
In 1972, James Woodburn joined the medical staff at Community Memorial Hospital and Ventura County Medical Center, his son said. He practiced surgery for two-plus decades at VCMC and for nearly half a century at CMH, where he served as chief of staff for one year.
The doctor was inspirational to Hornstein in part because he stayed in Ventura so long that his patients knew he wasn’t going anywhere. Doctors like Woodburn see their careers as a calling, Hornstein said.
“It’s an opportunity to help other people, sometimes in a real low place in their life, and to make it better,” he said.
Two of Woodburn's sons, Douglas and James Woodburn III, are also doctors. Douglas, 66, is also a general surgeon at Ventura's Community Memorial Hospital. He shared an office with his father starting in the 1980s for about 15 years.
“I don’t think I appreciated at the time how special it was to be in practice doing surgery with your father,” he said. “It seemed fairly natural but in retrospect, what an incredible time and blessing it was.”
Douglas Woodburn said his father, a Navy veteran, never applied pressure on him or his brother to become a doctor.
“If anything, he emphasized: ‘It’s long hours and a lot of hard work,’” he said.
His father was a man of few words who had a dry sense of humor, Douglas said, and was kind to everyone including the nursing staff. He saw his dad’s demeanor when he spent some time shadowing him as a medical student.
James Woodburn II leaves behind his three sons and daughter Kymberly Woodburn King. He has nine grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren. His wife of 38 years, Audrey Rahn Woodburn, died in 1992.
A celebration of life will be held at a future date.
Wes Woods II covers West County for the Ventura County Star. Reach him at wesley.woodsii@vcstar.com, 805-437-0262 or @JournoWes.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Longtime Ventura surgeon who operated into his 90s dies
