...........................................................Queen Liliuokalani.......
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His B.A. was granted Cum Laude from Kentucky State University in 1893. He then attended Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons where he was stroke on the Columbia boat crew and from which he received his M.D. in 1896. Dr. Hobdy interned at Paterson (New Jersey) General Hospital for two years.
On October 18, 1897, Dr. Hobdy married Harriet Hocker Warner at LaFollette, Tennessee. They had a daughter, Elizabeth (Mrs. Robert W. Hobart), and a son William Warner.
In August, 1898, Dr. Hobdy was appointed to the U.S. Public Health and Marine Hospital Service. After serving as assistant quarantine officer at Old Point Comfort, Virginia, and in Delaware and Philadelphia, he was stationed at the U.S. Marine Hospital at Stapleton, Station Island, New York. One of fifteen physicians chosen by the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service and the President of the United States to make a study on immigration abroad, Dr. Hobdy was sent to Southampton, England, from December, 1899, to July, 1900. During this period he traveled extensively in Europe.
Returning to the United States, Dr. Hobdy was quarantine officer at Savannah, Georgia, from 1900 to 1902. His next appointment brought him to Honolulu where he arrived on August 29, 1902, to serve at the Quarantine Station. He succeeded Dr. L. E. Cofer. The "Advertiser" for September 3, 1902, describes the doctor as having blue eyes, wavy brown hair, being six feet two inches tall and weighing over 180 pounds.
Two stories about the doctor prove that, while acting in his official capacity, he stood in no awe of rank. In 1904 Dr. Hobdy, while inspecting the S.S. "American Maru" in Honolulu harbor, requested that the Captain, Warwick, by name, appear for inspection. After being sent for twice and being three-quarters of an hour late, Captain Warwick arrived protesting that he had no intention of hurrying for any --- American. Further insults followed until, according to the newspaper account ("Advertiser" April 19, 1904), Dr. Hobdy floored the Captain with a blow. An English passenger on the ship strongly defended the doctor's behavior. Following the blow, Warwick disclaimed any intentional insult and Dr. Hobdy then shook his hand and the matter was closed. In 1907 when the doctor was inspecting the S.S. "China" in San Francisco he got two Spanish dukes out of bed and insisted they appear for health inspection along with the other passengers ("Advertiser" July 5, 1907).
In February, 1906, Dr. Hobdy was transferred to San Francisco to become quarantine officer in charge of that port. After the earthquake and fire he was put in charge of the waterfront and all shipping leaving the port. It was he who diagnosed bubonic plague from dead rats, but none of the vessels which were disinfected under his direction, carried the plague to any other ports. He was the youngest officer ever in charge of quarantine work in San Francisco, and his administration was one of the most successful.
From San Francisco he returned to Honolulu in May, 1909, but left the U.S. Public Health Service in November of that year. Entering private practice, he became associated with Dr. Irwin J. Shepherd, whose wife was a sister of Dr. Hobdy's wife. For ten years Dr. Hobdy was active in the professional, civic, and social life of Honolulu. He was private physician to Queen Liliuokalani, the last reigning queen, from 1914 until her death in 1917. He was on the staff of the Queen's Hospital, was president of the Hawaii Territorial Medical Society in 1912, was on the Board of the Hawaii Anti-Tuberculosis League (1915), served on the Board of Health and the Board of Medical Examiners, and was on the executive committee of the Hawaii Chapter of the Red Cross. He was also on the Boy Scout Council, a director of the Y.M.C.A., a member of the Southern Society of Hawaii, and was physician to the Honolulu Lodge of the Moose. He held membership in the Chamber of Commerce, the University Club, the Oahu Country Club, the Commercial Club, High Chiefs of Hawaii, was an active Mason and Shriner, and was prominent in the work of Central Union Church. Politically he was a Democrat.
In 1920 Dr. Hobdy joined with several other civic leaders in working out a plan to settle the strike between the sugar workers and the plantation owners. Headed by Dr. Albert Palmer, minister of Central Union Church, the other signers of the plan were Dr. Iga Mori, Dr. W.C. Hobdy, Mr. M. Kawahara, Mr. Arthur L. Dean, president of the College of Hawaii, and Mr. G. Nakayama, manager of the Sumitomo Bank. Acceptable to the Japanese Labor Foundation, the plan was rejected by the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association, who refused to even listen to Dr. Palmer.
In July, 1920, Dr. Hobdy left Hawaii to settle in San Francisco where he specialized in surgery, obstetrics and gynecology. For a number of years he served on the faculty of Stanford University, teaching obstetrics and gynecology, and was on the staff of Stanford Lane and Franklin hospitals.
Dr. Hobdy died in San Francisco on December 26, 1938, at the age of 68.