Charles Michael Lusk: A Pioneer in Osteopathy and Civic Leadership (1891–1940)

Charles Michael Lusk, osteopath, independent oil operator, and civic leader, was born on February 4, 1891, in Houston, Texas, to Charles Miles Lusk, Sr., and Ella (Fitzgerald) Lusk. His ancestors included his great-grandfather George Vance Lusk and his grandfather Robert Orville Lusk, who arrived in Texas in the 1830s and were early residents of San Augustine, Shelby and Leon counties. Lusk attended and graduated from Professor Welch’s private school in Houston. As a youth, he was widely known in state and local athletics for his aquatic feats. He also excelled in rugby, football, hockey, water polo, and track. During the Houston Launch Club’s Regatta of 1909, he captained the winning Crockers Water Rats in the state of Texas’s water polo championship and took home the (extant) silver loving cup. He never lost interest in athletics. As an adult, he encouraged and provided challenges for Houston’s youth. In 1913 he offered a silver loving cup to athletes competing in grammar-school track and field competition in a handicapped 100-yard race.

After graduating with honors from Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, Lusk attended Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago, Illinois. While home on vacation, he witnessed the transformation of two Houston women in wheelchairs who were able to walk again after being treated by an osteopath. One was his mother. Their success caused him to transfer to the American School of Osteopathy in Kirkland, Missouri. He received one of the two scholastic prizes in anatomy and graduated in June 1913. He briefly taught anatomy in Kirkland. Upon returning to Houston in October 1913, Lusk opened an osteopathy practice in the Carter Building on Main Street. In 1915 he moved his office nearby to the Kress Building, and in 1927 he moved his office to the new Niels Esperson Building on Travis Street.

On February 16, 1917, Charles Michael Lusk married Mae Estella Selden in Houston. His brother Leon, a justice of the peace, performed the ceremony. They had a son, Charles Michael “Buzz” Lusk, Jr., in 1923.

In June 1917 during World War I Lusk registered for the U. S. military. In September 1918 he joined other osteopaths in petitioning the U. S. government to allow osteopaths to serve as medical doctors during World War I. Osteopathic physicians asked that they be permitted to serve the country in the medical department. The bill was pending in Congress when Lusk and three other Houston osteopaths published a plea in the September 12, 1918, edition of the Houston Post to encourage Houstonians to immediately write to members of the military affairs committee, their senators, and representatives.

 The book Houston’s Part in the World War, published on November 11, 1919, described how the various clubs and organizations contributed to the World War efforts. Throughout his career Lusk was very active in civic affairs. During World War I he was particularly engaged in the Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks and served as the Elks esteemed leading knight during the first part of the war and became exalted ruler before the war closed; he retained that office into the 1920s and grew the organization’s membership. He took an active part in all the war activities and gave freely of his time in all drives for funds, Liberty Loans, War Savings Stamps, and War Community Service. Lusk was a member of the Fraternal Order of the Lions Club. In fall 1917 he joined the Houston Chamber of Commerce. He also served as a volunteer medic with the Houston Fire Department and received fire alarms from Fire Station No.7 at 2403 Milam Street. A siren was attached to his car.

The Houston Fire Department commended Lusk for his fast action when he prevented a gasoline explosion after parking his car in front of his residence on Lamar Avenue. According to a report in the December 27, 1918, edition of the Houston Post, when Lusk filled his gasoline tank, the tank slightly overflowed, and likely the leaking fuel touched electric wires, forming a short circuit and causing a fire. Lusk quickly removed his car seat (typically gas tanks were located under the car seat in automobiles of that era) and discovered the flames. He grabbed his overcoat, reached down to the gas tank and unscrewed the cap, thus opening a vent and preventing the tank from exploding. He suffered minor burns; his coat and the upper part of the car were destroyed.

Lusk was noted among Houston society for driving the 1903 Cadillac his father, Charles Miles Lusk, had purchased. The vehicle was heralded as the first Cadillac in Houston. The Houston Post reported in February 1920 that he planned a driving trip north to the Cadillac factory in Detroit.

In 1929 the Lusks constructed and moved into their custom-built English Tudor house in the new Riverside Terrace subdivision in Houston. During the summers, the Lusks and their extended family moved to the Clear Lake bay home called Lakewood, which his father built in 1907. In addition to his interest in athletics, motoring, and boating, Charles Lusk was an avid duck hunter. He often hunted the fowl and provided the meat to hungry families, especially during the Great Depression. As a doctor during those years, he often received homemade cakes and pies as payment from some of his patients.

In 1934 Lusk entered into a lease agreement with the Board for Lease of Texas Prison Lands to establish a right-to-drill-for-oil lease on 200 acres of the Ramsey State Prison Farm in Brazoria County.  The least was called Lockridge, and oil was discovered, making him an independent oil operator as well as a physician. Descendants of prior owners, dating back to 1855, filed a lawsuit against the state of Texas and Lusk in an attempt to reclaim the land. Consequently, Lusk spent much time living in Brazoria County and fighting to keep his new producing oil wells. He considered establishing an oil drilling company but never saw this to fruition.

At only forty-nine years old, Charles Michael Lusk died of heart failure at his home on October 15, 1940. His wife Mae was left to fight the lawsuit against his leased land. His wife and son, as well as a sister, Mrs. Thomas (Eloise) Lovett, and brother, Leon Aloysius Lusk, all of Houston, survived him. Lusk was buried in Forest Park Lawndale Cemetery.