Kate Pelham was born July 26, 1886 in Wellington, Kansas. After the death of her mother, and her father's remarriage, the family moved to Buffalo, New York. She taught school there from 1910 to 1913, and then entered medical school at the University of Buffalo. Following her graduation in 1917, Dr. Pelham practiced medicine in Detroit, Michigan, where she met and married Bill Newcomb. Newcomb's poor health caused their move to a cabin near Crandon, Wisconsin in 1920. Eleven years later, because the surrounding wilderness area was without a doctor, Kate Newcomb was persuaded to take up the practice of medicine again. Accounts of the dangers she risked and the personal discomforts she experienced are many. But even this dedicated service was inadequate in an area that had no hospital.
Dr. Kate (as the area residents affectionately spoke of her) was acutely aware of the need for a hospital in the Arbor Vitae-Woodruff area. In 1948, she spoke of this to Arthur Rubloff, a wealthy Chicago businessman who owned a summer home in the area, and persuaded him to initiate formation of the Lakeland Memorial Hospital Association to raise funds to build a hospital. Enough money was contributed by area businesses and individuals to lay the cornerstone and begin construction of the building on September 7, 1952. But the funds were soon depleted. An Arbor-Vitae-Woodruff High School class organized a widely publicized and highly successful “million dollar penny drive” in November 1952 so the work could go forward. And Dr. Kate's appeal for funds on the popular This Is Your Life television show on March 17, 1954 resulted in thousands of dollars in contributions. The Lakeland Memorial Hospital was completed and dedicated on July 21, 1954. Dr. Kate Newcomb practiced there until her death on May 30, 1956.
Newcomb's life was chronicled in the book Angel on Snowshoes by Adele Comandini, published in 1956. A final tribute to her was made in 1959 when a plaque was dedicated to “Dr. Kate P. Newcomb, Supporters of Lakeland Memorial Hospital, and The War Dead.”
