The family of Van Gene Kaden M.D. F.A.C.S. mourns the loss of their beloved brother,father and grandfather who passed away peacefully December 4 after a short illness. They rejoice in the memory of his life of service to his family and community and his faith in the Lord. Van was born January 9, 1922 to Ruth and Carl Kaden in Gainesville ,Texas. He was the grandson of Cooke County Judge B.F. Mitchell and his wife Avis and Hermann and Julia Kaden, who, in the late 1800's, founded one of the first Florist and Landscape businesses in Texas: Kaden the Florist. The florist is the oldest original family owned Florist still in operation in Texas today. Van spent many hours there during his childhood and youth with his father, uncles, and cousins which instilled in him a love for landscaping, trees, plants, and botany which was manifested in his hands-on work developing the Medical Office complex across from the hospital on Joe Ramsey Blvd, home and the family farm he began,where he enjoyed many years of his later life.
After graduation from Gainesville High School in 1939, he attended Texas A&M University and began pre-medical studies at the University of Tennessee before being drafted into the Army Air Corp in 1942. He served our country until after the end of World War II as a Navigator training pilot and then was promoted to Captain, being chosen from a field of many to pilot B-29's.
He married his lifelong sweetheart, Doris Graham Kaden on April 22, 1945 and they enjoyed 35 years of married life. He graduated from North Texas after the war and went on to medical studies at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, graduating in 1951. He completed an internship and a General Surgery Residency in Houston, Texas where he was chosen out of a large field of applicants to be the Chief Resident of Eminent heart surgeons Dr. Charles Debakey and Dr. Denton Cooley. One of the little known facts about Dr. Kaden is that ,at the close of his residency,his character and skills were so highly regarded by Drs.Debakey and Cooley,that they asked him to join their prestigious practice which he declined,preferring to raise his family in the environment of a small Texas town.
Van and Doris were active members of First Presbyterian Church, both in Gainesville, Texas where he first began his medical practice and in Greenville, where he moved to join the Medical and Surgical Clinic on win 1960. He was an active and supportive member of FPC and served for many years on the Board of Elders. He was asked by community members to serve as a City Council member, He did, serving from 1970-1976, and Mayor Pro-Tem in 1973. Together with Doris, and later alone, after her untimely death, he enjoyed many years of community, church, and social activities in Greenville, being committed to give his time to the community in which he lived.
He served on the Medical Staff of the now Hunt Regional Hospital, where he began his practice of General Surgery in 1960 at the original location: Greenville Surgical Center on O' Neal Street. He then continued as the founding and first surgeon of the present hospital, originally named Citizen's General Hospital, that was built in 1969. He practiced General Surgery from 1960 until 2002 and was the longest serving Chief of Staff, Chief of Surgery, and practicing physician in the history of the Greenville Hospital. He was awarded the Distinguished Physician Award in 1989 for his many years of Medical and Surgical service. He also served many years leading the Hunt-Rains-Rockwall Medical Society. During his many years of service, he inspired many young people to enter the field of medicine, including his daughter, Dr. Karen Kaden Andre, who began practice alongside her father, before his retirement in 2002.
He was a devoted father and enjoyed working on his farm, where he planted and grafted pecan trees and raised Arabian horses with his children for many years until his passing. He was preceded in death by his beloved wife of 35 years, Doris, and is survived by his three children: Sons- David G. Kaden and wife Tracy of Canutillo, Texas; Paul M. Kaden and wife Lauren, of Dripping Springs, Texas; and his daughter, Dr. Karen Kaden Andre MD FACS of Greenville, Texas.
He is also survived by 11 grandchildren Jaklin Kaden Upatham of Dallas ,Texas, Ashley B. .Kaden and Keith L. Kaden of Austin,Texas and their mother Jan M. Goodwin of Greenville, Texas; Charly Grace and Gage Kaden of Dripping Springs, Texas; and Van Kaden Andre, Lincoln Kaden Andre, J. Graham Kaden Andre, Juliana K. Kaden Andre, JennaGrace K. Kaden Andre, and Johanna K. Kaden Andre, of Greenville, Texas.
He is also survived by his sister, Marjorie K. Woodruff and husband Don, of Gainesville, Texas and many treasured cousins, nieces and nephews.
Visitation will be held at Coker- Mathews Funeral Home on Thursday evening, December 8, from 5-7 pm.
A Memorial Service will be held at the United Presbyterian Church of Greenville, Texas , 5905 Stonewall Street at 2 pm on Friday, December 9, with Rev. Jim Goodwin and Mr. Robert Hutchins officiating. Pallbearers will be grandsons J.Graham Kaden Andre, Lincoln Kaden Andre, Van Kaden Andre, Keith Lassiter Kaden, and sons Paul M. Kaden and David G.Kaden. Honorary Pallbearers will be Travis Budlong, William Cantrell MD, Robert Duell MD, Timothy Ellington MD, Peter Gray MD, Joel Hendricks MD, Charles Howard MD, Steve Jaynes, Kenneth Kaden, Robert Kinney CRNA, Thomas Kraven MD, James Nicholson MD, James Petrikas DO, John Reynolds, James Sandin MD, Perry Smith MD, Lee Warren, and Don Woodruff.
Interment is to follow at Memoryland Memorial Park.
Dr. Kaden requested that memorials be made to the “Kaden Memorial Fund” of the United Presbyterian Church of Greenville or to the “Legacy Restoration Project for Graham Andre” in care of the faith-based non -profit 501(c)3 organization : L.I.F.E. Foundation, 2608 Harrell Rd., Howe, Texas 75459
