Famed Ear Surgeon Hears Praise

Three weeks before he was to be honored by Orange County’s Providence Speech and Hearing Center, Dr. Howard House, a renowned ear surgeon and founder of the House Ear Institute in Los Angeles, was in Leningrad, recuperating from a heart attack.

House’s trip to the Soviet Union was arranged by Armand Hammer, one of his many famous patients. House had planned to visit hospitals and observe Soviet “ear work” first hand.

“Our group left on Aug. 15,” said House, sitting in the lobby of the Anaheim Marriott Friday night while guests at Providence’s annual gala benefit perused silent auction tables in a nearby ballroom. At his side, former patient and longtime friend Nanette Fabray looked on protectively. “We went to Moscow first, and I began to feel chest pains. When we got to Leningrad, I checked into a hospital.

“So I did end up seeing hospitals--but from a slightly different perspective than I’d planned.”

Friday’s benefit dinner attracted 890 guests and raised an estimated $175,000, including $30,000 from the silent auction. Proceeds will be used for general expenses for the nonprofit, non-sectarian center, which provides diagnostic testing and therapy for speech- and hearing-impaired adults and children in Orange, Riverside and Los Angeles counties.

Nearly lost in the crowded cocktail reception was Dr. Margaret Anne Inman, founder and executive director of Providence. A former nun in the Sisters of Providence of St. Mary of the Woods order in Indiana, Inman came to Orange County in 1965 to work as a speech pathologist at Childrens Hospital of Orange County. A year later she founded her speech and hearing center in a small suite of offices at the hospital. The center now has offices in Orange and El Toro and an annual budget of $1.2 million.

Elated to see so many friends and supporters Friday, Inman attributed the center’s success to changing perceptions of the hearing-impaired and to advances in technology.

“Years ago, many children with language and speech problems, because they couldn’t respond to verbal tests, were written off as mentally retarded,” Inman said. “Now people realize that speech and hearing impairment has nothing to do with intellectual capacity and that something can be done. These children can be helped, they can live their lives fully and happily, and in many cases surgical procedures can be used that actually restore hearing.”

Doctor’s Star Patients

After a dinner of smoked trout appetizer, spinach salad, petite filet mignon and tiger shrimp, guests watched videotaped testimonials from some of House’s star patients:

Actress and singer Florence Henderson said she went to see House after realizing that “sometimes I couldn’t hear the downbeat of a song . . . or I missed the violins coming in.”

Actor Lloyd Bridges recalled the time, before his ear surgery, when “my wife was shouting at me a bit more than usual.”

And President Reagan, whom House began treating when he was governor of California (“he had a little hearing loss from working on those Westerns, from all the shooting”), sent congratulations to “one of the country’s leading otologists.”

Accepting the Providence Help, Hope and Love award, House said, “I want you to know I’m happy to be here tonight. But really, I’m happy to be anywhere tonight.”

After a brief speech by event chairman Thomas Britton, guests were entertained by comedian Daniel Rosen and singer Marilyn McCoo.