1925 Biography - Lionel F. Lorio

Lionel F. Lorio, M. D., has realized the expediency and objective value of concentration in the work of his exacting profession, and his substantial practice in the City of Baton Rouge he is thus specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of the diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat, with office headquarters at 500 Roumain Building. His professional fortification was advanced by the experience which he gained while serving as a member of the Medical Corps of the United States Army with the American Expeditionary Forces in France in the World war.

Doctor Lorio was born at Lakeland, Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana, February 7, 1890, and is a representative of one of the oh and honored French families of this commonwealth, to which the original founders of the Lorio family came from the ancient French colony of Acadia (Nova Scotia), Canada, in the exodus described so graciously in Longfellow's "Evangeline." Joseph Lorio, grandfather of the Doctor, was born in St. James Parish, Louisiana, and passed the greater part of his life in Pointe Coupee Parish, where he was manager of a large sugar plantation and where his death occurred. The Moss family, of which Doctor Lorio is a scion on the maternal side, has long been established in Louisiana, the first French representatives of the name having here settled in Calcasieu Parish, they being the first family to move to this parish on land obtained direct from Spain by grant. Oliver Moss is the oldest living citizen of Lake Charles at the time of this review. He fought with Generals Lee and Jackson as a member of the Tenth Louisiana Regiment of the Army of North Virginia.

Alberic Anthony Lorio, father of the Doctor, was born in St. James Parish, this state, in 1863, and was reared in Pointe Coupee Parish, where he still maintains his home at Lakeland. He attended college at Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, and his active career has been one of close and specially successful association with plantation industry, of which he is one of the leading exponents in Pointe Coupee Parish, where he owns 5,000 acres of valuable land and carries on extensive planting enterprises, besides owning and operating a sugar refinery for the handling of his large sugar products. He is a stalwart in the camp of the democratic party, but has had no desire for political preferment, and he and his wife are communicants of the Catholic Church. Mrs. Lorio, whose maiden name was Clara Anne Moss, was born at Lake Charles, Louisiana. Wilfrid A., eldest of the children, is a successful sugar planter in his native parish and there resides at Lakeland; Dr. Lionel F., of this sketch, was the next in order of birth; Clarence A., who was in World war service as a first lieutenant in the Medical Corps of the United States Navy during a period of about one year, is now a successful physician and surgeon at Baton Rouge; Lillian Mary is the wife of John E. Sampson, who is associated in the operation of the extensive Lorio Plantation in Pointe Coupee Parish; Cecile is an interne in the Boston City Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, and was graduated in the medical department of Tulane University, from which she received the degree of Doctor of Medicine; Alvin B. is (1924) a student in the dental department of Tulane University; Samuel P. is attending Jefferson College in St. James Parish; Elaine and Eloise remain at the parental home; and four children died in early childhood.

Under the preceptorship of private tutors in the family home Dr. Lionel F. Lorio acquired his preliminary education, and in preparation for his chosen profession he entered the medical department of Tulane University, after having previously been graduated from Jefferson College, in 1908, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, the supplemental degree of Master of Arts having been conferred upon him by this college in 1912. At Tulane he completed a four years' course in the medical department and was graduated as a member of the class of 1912. There also he became affiliated with the Chi Zeta Chi medical fraternity. After receiving his degree of Doctor of Medicine he was for three years engaged in general practice at Lottie, Pointe Coupee Parish, and he then returned to the home town of Lakeland, that parish, where he continued his professional activities until he volunteered for service in the World war, in June, 1918. As a member of Engineer Corps. No. 537, in which he was commissioned first lieutenant, he forthwith entered overseas service. He was battalion commander during the entire period of his service in France, where he took part in two major offenses, those of St. Mihiel and the Argonne, besides which he served as interpreter in the French courts at Verdune. At a camp in the State of Mississippi the Doctor received his honorable discharge in July, 1919, and for one year thereafter he continued his general practice at Lakeland. He then devoted two months to post-graduate work in the City of Chicago, where he specialized in study and treatment of the diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat. Upon his return to Louisiana he became clinical assistant at the Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital in the City of New Orleans, and after there remaining one year in this service he established his residence and professional headquarters, in 1921, at Baton Rouge, where he has since been engaged in successful practice as a specialist in the treatment of diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat. He is a democrat of unrestricted loyalty, is a member of the local Chamber of Commerce and the Baton Rouge Golf and Country Club, is affiliated with Baton Rouge Council No. 969, Knights of Columbus, and the Rotary Club of Baton Rouge. He and his wife are communicants of the Catholic Church. The Doctor has membership in the East Baton Rouge Parish Medical Society, Sixth District Medical Society, the Louisiana State Medical Society, the Southern Medical Association, and the American Medical Association, serving as consulting surgeon of the United States Veteran Bureau and also for the Mississippi River Commission. The Doctor is vice president of the Ingleside Sugar Company at Lakeland, and also of the corporation there operating a sugar refinery under the title of Lorio Sugars, Inc. There also he owns a nice rural home, and at Baton Rouge he owns his attractive residence place on Camelia Avenue.

On the 4th of December, 1919, was solemnized the marriage of Doctor Lorio and Miss Marie L Greene, who was born at Lottie, Pointe Coupe Parish, and whose educational discipline included a course in the seminary for young women at Ruston, this state. Doctor and Mrs. Lorio have a fine little daughter, LeVerne Frances.

Contributed 2021 Nov 04 by Mike Miller, from A History of Louisiana, by Henry E. Chambers, published in 1925, volume 2, pages 91-92.