My Father, Federico Efrain Marrero

This is a plaque commemorating the batiment (pavilion) where Clovis Vincent--and his associates and students (including my father) developed the field of neurosurgery in France. The building is situated in what was originally considered The Pitie Hospital (now part of the Pitie-Salpetriere complex).

On this New Year's Eve, I have much to think about. I'm about to embark on a journey that I hope my parents will join me on, every step of the way. I've told parts of this story in other pieces, such as "Panni's and Pepi's Paris." This time around, I roughly followed my father's own resume; annotated by both him and my mother, Ana Raab Marrero.

For there is no way I can tell my father's story without including my mother. Since the mid-1930's, they became an integral part of each other's lives. And on December 31, 1940--70 years ago today--they became man and wife.

It was not an easy union; with, perhaps, a much easier beginning than its end. They accomplished a great deal; both together, and apart. The part I'm most concerned with today, is that they produced...me. May they both be with me now!

Remembering the good times--in Paris and in the early years in Cuba; when I was born (I hope!)--I wish Efrain and Ana a Happy 70th Anniversary!

MY FATHER, FEDERICO EFRAIN MARRERO
BY GEORGINA MARRERO
My father, Federico Efrain Marrero, was marked by joy and grace. A very natural man: friendly; a bit shy. He was intense; immensely focused on his work, whether it was dealing with a patient in his office; or poring over neuropathology slides in a lab. Considering he came from humble circumstances, he was a natural class act.
A farmer’s son—“and proud of it”—he began to work in the tobacco fields when he was five—he must have become quite an expert at rolling those cigars! In his off-hours, I daresay he was already hard at work on his schoolwork, very serious and intense and competitive. He wanted to be number one.
There is a picture of him when he was ten: standing straight and tall; almost blondish in appearance; just a few fellows down from another boy who was also to become a doctor (Juan del Regato). What strikes me most about the picture is how serious he looked!
Fast-forward to when he must have been about seventeen or eighteen: he looked like a Greek god! His wavy hair; his clear complexion: still serious, though, with softness about his lips and eyes that belied his sensitivity.
He finished his bachillerato (the Cuban equivalent of our high school; plus one or two years); and then began his studies—on a fellowship—at the University of Havana. He was doing his premedical; on his way to becoming a doctor. 1931-1933 were precarious political years in Cuba, though: when President Machado closed down the University, a number of young men prepared to go abroad to finish their education. My father was among the group. The fellowship was provided by the Cuban Company of Contractors.
So Efrain arrived in Paris in 1931. By 1935 he had completed all the coursework and clinical training to enable him to be appointed Extern (Resident) of the hospitals and hospices in Paris after a competitive examination.
By this point in time, he knew what fascinated him the most were neurology; neuropathology; and neurosurgery; and he engaged in these studies since 1935.
He served his first appointment in General Surgery under the Service of Dr. Picot between May 5 and October 31, 1936 at the Hopital Saint-Louis.
This ancient—326 years old at the time—hospital with its arches and courtyards—right smack in the middle of the decidedly eclectic 10th arrondissement of Paris—must have impressed the young man immensely! It is reached via the Goncourt Metro station. You walk down the street; and the street perpendicular to it is the Avenue Claude-Vellefaux. You continue to walk down until you reach the cobblestoned pathway lined with trees and, eventually, buildings. The old hospital is to the left: one archway leading to one courtyard, one after the other; all flanked by the hospital wards (batiments).
I personally wonder what he must have felt, when he first beheld the Hopital Saint-Louis. I got to see it the Monday right before I left during my last trip; and was most impressed. The French have meticulously restored it; without losing its original feel (the “new” building is across the cobblestoned path). Of course, there’s a banner draped across the new building proudly proclaiming its (now) 400 years of history!
And then there’s its Musee des Moulages. A Museum of wax casts of all sorts of maladies. The concierge at my hotel informed me that there’s this eccentric curator you have to personally contact—and with whom you have to “interview”—to make sure you want to see the museum for the “right” reasons. From the peek I got at what the museum holds on its web page, I think I could have handled it.
I imagine my father went to the museum on numerous occasions.
This was my favorite of all his hospitals (barring the Pitie-Salpetriere…or, rather, the batiment at which he practiced neurosurgery with Dr. Clovis Vincent several years later). Yes, it was my favorite of his hospitals—what a first impression!
Next—November 1 through December 25, 1936, he spent time at the Laennec Hospital, on the rue de Sevres, in the 7th arrondissement, in the service of Dr. Rist, whose specialty was Chest Diseases. He was a large—but kindly-looking fellow—from the picture I have of his service at the time. If I’m not mistaken, he was famous for being able to place his ear next to a patient’s chest and being able to diagnose his condition. Now that’s truly called being a clinician!
I believe this was the time period during which he met my mother, Ana Raab, for she was also in Dr. Rist’s service at the Laennec at the time. And in the picture—definitely taken in the late fall—you can find both my mother and my father! At first I couldn’t believe it was my papi: but his smile is unmistakable!
My mother continued to do a full year with Dr. Rist; but my father—between December 26, 1936; and April 30, 1937--learned General Medicine under the service of Dr. Troisier. He was still at the Laennec, which is a monster of a complex; was abandoned in 2000; and is now being “converted” into condos! This has all happened since I was there last November. At the time, it appeared like an abandoned ghost, a lost (but dearly valuable) soul. It felt very sad, trying to visualize memories that had been so much more palpable at the Saint-Louis!
And then the first of his three dearest wishes was granted: he became a resident in neurology at the Salpetriere Hospital (or, l’Hospice de la Salpetriere, as it was also known), under Georges Guillain, one of the preeminent neurologists of his time. He served under Guillain between May 1, 1937 and May 8, 1938.
Remember that he’d already been dabbling in the neurosciences since 1935…
Cute story time: at some point—maybe, between 1931 and 1935, he’d been in an ob-gyn rotation. I have a picture from the time period of my father sporting a beard. Well (and this perhaps proves that he met my mother before their time at the Laennec), the equally bearded professor asked a question, directing it at my father. My father could answer…nil. He had no interest in the matter, remember. The doctor then turned to my mother, who instantly answered the question. As a woman, she was fully expected to become either an ob/gyn or a pediatrician. (I believe she was leaning toward the latter.)
And here’s another one: one day my mother stumbled into Vincent’s operating room, stumbling all over the wires! Clovis Vincent—professor of and one of the founders of neurosurgery in France (and my father’s professor)—turned his great head and said, sternly: “What are you doing here, Mademoiselle?” “I’m searching for Monsieur Marrero,” she responded. “Go to the sub-basement. You’ll find him there,” said Vincent before returning to his surgery. Sure enough: Efrain was in the basement…operating on a bedsore!
In her first rotation (at the Hopital Broca), however, she was one of only five (!) female residents in General Surgery. There were plenty more female students in Chest Diseases; and, of course, at the Necker/Hopital des Enfants Malades. For—as I stated before—most female medical students at the time were expected to become either ob/gyns or pediatricians.
In this country you have to pass MCAT’s (and then pray!) to get into medical school. In the Paris of the 1930’s, the ultimate class size was determined by attrition. The competitive examinations my parents endured in 1935 were probably the deciding factor.
Back to Guillen and neurology: the natural progression of things was for my father to further his studies with Clovis Vincent—originally a neurologist, himself, who’d trained with the great Babinsky—in neurosurgery. His externship with Vincent lasted between May 9, 1938; and May 14, 1939. Instead of at the Salpetriere, this time, he worked at a batiment (pavilion) on the grounds of the Pitie Hospital. The truth is, the whole complex is all interconnected.
Clovis Vincent was a great French hero (in—it turned out—both World Wars). He’d led men in the trenches during WWI, for which he’d been decorated. He returned to his medical studies after the Great War; and he and Thierry de Martel founded the field of neurosurgery in France. He came to the United States to learn techniques from the great American neurosurgeon, Harvey Cushing. He tried to save Maurice Ravel in 1937. By then, he’d been granted his professorship in Neurological Surgery; and had his own service. It was during this time that my father must have originally gotten to know him.
During WWII, he craftily turned the service into the “Neurosurgical War Service.” The Germans allowed him to remain in control of it. Many an American and British soldier came to be treated at the Pitie during the War (including many a Jewish soldier). Vincent managed to treat them; and help them get out of France.
He even wanted my father to leave for his own safety: with a middle name like “Efrain,” he might have been suspect. However, my father remained for a second year of residency—as an intern, this time—between 1939 and 1940.
All the while—probably from 1936 on—he became a student of neuropathology: first, under Professor I. Costero of Valladolid, Spain (who’d taken refuge in France during the Spanish Civil War); and then, as a student and assistant to Professor Don Pio del Rio Hortega, who was—to quote my father, here: “internationally known for his investigations in histology and neuropathology.”
Working with Hortega was the greatest treasure and pleasure of his life. Usually obtaining good grades, his best were always in pathology.
It must have been a great pleasure for Costero and Hortega to work with fellow compatriotas; who spoke the same language! Not only as a student; but also as an assistant: Hortega became my father’s mentor. He wrote his thesis under him; he dedicated it to him.
When War broke out, the Chief of the Neuropathology Laboratory, Dr. Berdet, was mobilized. My father—still around, in spite of Vincent’s admonishments—undertook all the work of the laboratory for one year. By this point he had become a second-year intern (by substitution) within Vincent’s Neurosurgical War Service. Ramirez-Corria, who’d been in this position originally, had returned to Cuba (in 1937, I believe).
Vincent’s insistence—tinged with sadness—finally brought my father’s studies in Paris to an end. Efrain presented his thesis in mid-year; and, on July 13, 1940, he was granted the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Almost two years later—on February 20, 1942—he would obtain his Cuban equivalent.
My mother had left Paris by June 13, right before the Occupation. She’d finished her thesis on June 6. She’d moved south to Vichy France, which is where my father caught up with her on (I think) a number of occasions—culminating in helping her get out of a detention camp, I think—some time during late fall of 1940. In the midst of all the turmoil—and what everyone knew the fate of Jews in Hitler’s Europe already was and would continue to be—it was time for my father to return home to Cuba.
In mid-November, 1940, Clovis Vincent wrote Efrain Marrero a letter of recommendation. As best as my translation will allow, here is the last paragraph in Vincent’s letter for my father:
“Only the actual events in Europe have interrupted Doctor Marrero’s stay in my Service. I regret his forced departure because, by his activity, his intelligence, his knowledge and his conscience, he has been for me an excessively precious collaborator. Cuba possesses in him a man of great valor. He will give the greatest service to his Country if one well wishes to confer upon him the post of which he is worthy.”
--Clovis Vincent, Professor of Neurosurgery at the Faculty of Medicine of Paris, Paris, November 12, 1940
I know of Orleans; the hotel at which they were turned away (and which was later bombed that night). I know they connected with Losa, the Cuban consul, in Lyon; and got married at the Mayor’s Office there on December 31, 1940. Then they found their way to Spain (via Portugal?); spent time in Madrid; and eventually landed in Bilbao.
The Marques de Comillas was a merchant marine ship ready to take them to Cuba. At least one other Cuban doctor with a foreign-born wife was to be on that ship (Ceres Campbell’s great-uncle). The problem was that my mother had a check from the Credit Lyonnais with which to pay the passage. No one would accept her check. Toward the end of her life she told me that she ran through the streets of Bilbao, crying, not knowing what to do. A man appeared: a French Jewish man named Lazard. He gave her the money. So my mother was able to join my father on the ship (and—according to her—did nothing but vomit all the way across the ocean!).
And the rest is history. 2163 words