Obituary

Walter Bjorn Eidbo, a long-time Des Moines physician and resident, passed away peacefully at his home in Atlanta, Georgia, on November 18, 2025. He was 96 years old.

Walter was born on July 12, 1929, in Bowdon, North Dakota, to Reverend Elling Ellingsen Eidbo and Sigrid Hansen Eidbo, the sixth of ten children. Rev. and Mrs. Eidbo emigrated from Norway and established their home and Lutheran parsonage in Bowdon, a small farming town in Central North Dakota. Walter showed an interest and skill in science and medicine at an early age. He attended Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, then earned master’s degrees from the University of North Dakota and University of Minnesota, before attending the University of Chicago School of Medicine, where he earned a degree in general surgery in 1956. He joined the US Army after medical school and completed his surgical residency at William Beaumont Army Hospital in El Paso, Texas, and was then stationed at the US Army 5th General Hospital in Stuttgart, Germany, where he was the chief of surgery, and later hospital commander, before retiring with the rank of major. Walter moved to Des Moines, Iowa, to be near his older sister, and began his professional career as a surgeon at the VA Hospital. It was at the VA that he met his future wife, Mary Margaret Jones, a young registered nurse from Oskaloosa, Iowa. Walter and Mary married in Des Moines on July 25, 1965, and soon welcomed two sons, John and Paul.

Walter proudly served the Greater Des Moines community as a surgeon and general practitioner for over 40 years. He was the first board-certified surgeon in the State of Iowa and served as chief of surgery and chief of medical staff at Lutheran Hospital, Methodist Hospital and Mercy Hospital in the 1960s and 70s. He started the Eidbo Clinic on SW 9th Street in the early 1970s to serve a burgeoning South Des Moines population, where he built his home and raised his family. Walter and Mary worked side by side at the Eidbo Clinic caring for neighbors and friends for over 40 years. Over the course of his career, Walter was active in almost every aspect of life in Des Moines - it was his love and his life’s work. He had a hunger for living and experiencing the world, and he was tireless in every personal and professional pursuit. To Walter, every day was a good day, and every day was a gift from above.

Walter was blessed with a large and loving family, wonderful friends, a proud Norwegian heritage, and a strong Lutheran faith. Walter’s wife Mary succumbed to cancer in 2015, and two years later he moved to Atlanta to be near his son Paul and his family. Walter is survived by his son John Eric Eidbo and grandson Cole, of Des Moines; son Paul Howard Eidbo and wife Kathleen (Fischer) Eidbo, and grandsons William, Thomas and John, of Atlanta; sister Ethel Eide of Seattle; and a large extended family that he cherished, spread across the country that he loved.

A visitation for family and friends will be on Friday December 12th at 6:30-7:30pm at Iles Dunn’s Funeral Home at 2121 Grand Avenue, Des Moines, Iowa 50312. The funeral service will be held on Saturday December 13th at 10am at Capitol Hill Lutheran Church at 511 Des Moines Street, Des Moines, Iowa 50309.


Online condolences are welcome at www.ilescares.com

Arrangements by Iles Dunn's Chapel

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