Amos Stoll was born into an Old Order Amish family in Michigan, and at age 6 his family moved to a farm in the Ozarks of northern Arkansas. Life with his 7 brothers and 3 sisters was never dull--working on their farm, plowing the fields with a team of horses, cutting hay, and each fall harvesting cane to produce sorghum molasses. From an early age, he took an interest in birds, and of his many outdoor hobbies, birdwatching became preeminent, and reached its pinnacle when taking birding trips with his brother Alvin to the tropics. Stoll later took up camping, canoeing and hiking, and he and his brother, Garner, hiked the entire Appalachian Trail in sections, and finished with climbing Mt. Katahdin in 2017.
According to Amish tradition, Stoll’s formal education ended with grade school. He continued his education by studying on his own, and met college entry requirements by passing the GED. Stoll excelled in college in spite of working full time as a surgical technician at St. Anthony Hospital in Oklahoma City where he was inspired to apply to medical school.
At the end of his year as Chief Resident in Neurosurgery at the University of Oregon Health Sciences Center, Dr Stoll was able to save a woman’s life by performing a difficult craniotomy to remove a benign brain tumor while his Chairman felt comfortable to observe him from the sidelines.
Stoll practiced neurosurgery for over 40 years at Broward Health Medical Center in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida that included operating on trauma patients, those with spine and brain disorders, performing crucial operations that prevented paralysis, inability to speak, and literally saving lives. He served for four years as Chief of the Medial Staff at his hospital.