STORIES
“What Have I Been Doing for the Last 40 Years”
Short Stories to Share
Please submit your story as you see fit - ideally in 200-400 words
bigwilliewake@gmail.com
Russ Bobo
I came to Big Willie in June 1979 with a newborn and 2 other kiddos less than 6 years old. Joe Dannemiller was retiring from the AF and Dick Perschau along with Greg Kronberg took over. I had done 1 epidural and 1 pediatric heart with Jim Arens my senior medical year at Galveston. I was so green. We can all trace our branches on the great tree of anaesthesia leaders. Those were heady times with young Berry Planners for staff who loved to play at the cutting edge (safely). That was the year the Shah of Iran took over the top floor for his final medical treatments. Security was high. I have a vague but fond memory of a Mother’s Day party that involved a redwood hot tub. The following day, I walked into the anaesthesia office to see IV bags on poles above the cubicles. When I was assigned to MacDill in 1982, I really didn’t know how superior my training was until I saw the results of other recent graduates of other programs while moonlighting (frowned upon and so not talked about). The visits to Big Willie from Gale Thompson instilled a love of regional in me. I did a sick patient for a gallbladder with Intercostal nerve blocks and a celiac plexus block, that went very well, patient was comfortable, no inhalation agents required, with preserved lung function. We had Urology at Macdill with lots of COPDers, so naturally I did a Swan Ganz to monitor fluid status for a patient with a kit I had carefully preserved from residency. Anyway, got called down to tiptoe alley for that one. I was told to refer the sick ones out after that, so sorry to Laura Werner who followed me.
After two years at Macdill, I transferred to Keesler to head up the department there. We did hearts and had an outstanding corps of MDs and CRNAs. I started some QA there that Tom Barbera greatly improved upon after my 2 year stint, which finished up my USAF obligation. I went into private practice at Montgomery County Hospital in Conroe Texas being run by Bob Warriner, stayed there 4 years. His passion was Hyperbaric Medicine and we opened a mutiplace chamber there. Do you guys remember diving the radiation necrosis patients at Brooks? I missed Bob and I was saddened to hear of his passing.
In 1990 I went to private practice in Fort Collins CO in what is now the UC Health System until my retirement in 2016. Eric Perchau, son of Dick Pershau, whom I met as a baby at WHMC, was one of my partners there. There I met and married the love of my life, Donna. We’ve been together nearly 30 years now, and have 6 kids, 12 grands, and 1 great between us. The anaesthesia and leadership skills that I got from my training and experience at Big Willie led me to a grand arc of a successful career that finished strong. There are so many forks in the road of life, and I am so grateful for the people who made up the Big Willie experience. What a ride. BTW, I can still fit into my fatigue cap.
Melody Garrett
What has Melody been up to!! Where do I begin?
After completing the Anesthesiology residency in 1985, I left WHMC heading for Andrew AAFB, MD with my second son in utero. After the 4 year ‘payback’ commitment, I went to practice at INOVA Mt. Vernon Hospital in Alexandria, VA where I quickly became Chairperson of the Dept for 12 years. I had ample opportunity to execute my beastly leadership skills as learned from Dr. Kirby, the original beast. I earned my ASA Board Certification in Pain Management (grandfathered by residency training experience and a wealth of clinical practice).
I then snatched an opportunity for a Contract position back at AAFB where Ann Vrtis was Chairperson. After 2 years, I discovered that I was very well rested and I actually preferred being part of a practice group. So, two groups later (each for 10+ years), I am now in semi-retirement mode. I do cover vacations for 2 MDA’s averaging work about 30 days/ year. I will probably retire completely by the end of this year.
Anyway, the fun parts: I served my marriage term for 24 years, have 2 sons, 4 phenomenal grandchildren (one is a mini-me, OMG). I am an avid scuba diver and work on missions to find and document sunken shipwrecks (especially slave shipwrecks). I was in a docuseries about such with Samuel L. Jackson called Enslaved. I dabble with amateur comedy-look out Ken Jeong; here I come! In my free time, I travel and scuba as much as possible around the world, coach youth soccer at the local Boys & Girls Club where I grew up, and continue to try to live my best life. I also have truly been blessed and appreciated my training with y’all!
I am excited and look forward to seeing everyone soon.
Brian West
After Wilford Hall, I served my obligation time at Andrews AFB in Maryland. I had done some weekend moonlighting, so when I left the service at the end of 1988 I was able to join a small group in Reston, Virginia about 20 miles west of D.C. The group grew to ten physicians and twenty CRNAs. It was extremely busy and I served twice as chairman.
After fifteen years, I was offered an opportunity to join a large group in southwest Florida (Lee County which includes Fort Myers and Cape Coral). We stayed there fifteen years, learned golf and enjoyed the lifestyle. In 2022 we built a house in Reynolds Lake Oconee, an amazing golf community about eighty miles east of Atlanta. I retired at the end of 2022
with my sights on golfing and boating.
It took about thirty days for me to realize that I wasn't psychologically prepared for retirement, so I started doing some locums work in Georgia, Missouri and South Carolina. I work about 30 weeks per year with no nights, no call, no hearts and no L & D. Nothing but daytime work doing the routine cases. It gives me enough time off for my wife Wendy and me to cruise the world and go on some nice vacations, but I am doing enough to feel productive. It's a nice balance.
I ended up with four children and two step-children. My daughter Lauren is an attorney, Joe and Michael are MBAs in the world of banking and finance, and Alex has a degree in computer science and is involved in internet security. Wendy has a daughter (Katt) who is a professional musician and has toured much of the world with a British indie band, appeared on Saturday Night Live with Justin Bieber, and has earned two Grammy nominations. She currently lives in London. Her other daughter, Elizabeth, has a degree in computer graphic design and does freelance work.
I will probably bring myself to actually retire in another year or two.
Dan Greenberg
After completing my residency, I moved on to UAB for a Cardiac Anesthesiology fellowship (8 months), then back to Wilford Hall for Critical Care Medicine fellowship training (5 months). At WHMC I got to share an office with Garry Gammage, who was also a Critical Care Fellow. The fellowship was a great addition to the excellent training I received at Wilford Hall as a resident.
Then I was transferred to the USAF hospital in Wiesbaden, Germany. It was to be a three-year assignment, but enjoying it so much, I stayed for five years. At first, I was the director of the ICU. One year later, I became the chief of the anesthesiology department as well. I was very fortunate to have a great department staff. After one year, Jay Ellis and Don Osborne came to Wiesbaden. Later, Marshall Wong and Tom Barbara joined us. Jay arrived just after finishing his Pain fellowship. He led us to become DOD’s pain referral center for the greater European area. Living in central Europe provided many great adventures.
Leaving Germany, I went back once again to Wilford Hall as the vice chairman of the anesthesiology department. Jay returned with me. He eventually became my boss. Bob Kirby and Kirk Bodary came to work with us during Desert Storm. The anesthesiology department had grown considerably. Two years later, I left the Air Force for private practice in Ogden, Utah. My wife at the time and I both found great jobs in Ogden. I have practiced in Ogden for 32 years with a solid group of partners. I became boarded in Pain Medicine through the ABA about three decades ago. I spent time as a volunteer anesthesiologist in Central America, Vietnam and Nepal. A few years ago, I went part-time with my hospital group. I am soon to be retired, but I still enjoy clinical medicine, at least the patient care aspects.
Many years ago I got divorced. My ex-wife and I lived only one mile apart, so we were able to share the children pretty evenly over the years. All the children now are wonderful, healthy adults. Ryan and Michael are computer technology experts. Erin is a Gyn oncologist. I have six grandchildren, all girls under nine years old. Several years ago I got remarried to a wonderful woman. When I am not working or at home, I try to amuse myself with biking, skiing and white water kayaking. I believe I have been very fortunate in my life.
Andy Stasic
Following residency at WHMC in 1983, I opted to perform a fellowship in Pediatric Anesthesia at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago, IL. Upon completion of the fellowship, I returned to WHMC. During the next four years, I taught Pediatric Anesthesia to our residents. We had a great time there and made many great friends.
Following my payback, I took a position at Richland Memorial Hospital in Columbia, SC; a beautiful city and place to live. After four years, Mary and I decided to move closer to home (Chicago, IL & Winona, MN). Riley Hospital for Children had an open staff position. I applied and was offered a position and, and moved to Indianapolis.
For the next twenty-eight years, I served as a Pediatric Anesthesiologist at Riley Hospital. During my time at Riley, as was required, I began writing book chapters and case reports. I focused on research and writing with the help of Steve Dierdorf. Our research investigated non-invasive cardiac output monitors in our sickest patients. After we obtained the non-invasive monitor. After multiple attempts. Thus, we began our study. It wasn’t as easy as I expected. Our first paper took four years to gather data, analyze and publish. After a few years, Riley had a change of leadership. The new Section Director brought a well-running research program with him. He brought the section the real-world approach to research. Our second paper was completed in one year as we had a cadre of professionals helping us sign-up patients and collect the data. After a long career at Riley, I retired in June of 2020.
I began a photography hobby in 1995, specifically, in nature photography. I took several classes and traveled all over the United States photographing national parks during my vacations. For example, I travelled to Antarctica twice, Alaska’s Katmai Peninsula to photograph grizzly bears, and Iceland twice for volcanoes and geysers. This past January, Mary and I travelled to Africa to photograph the wildlife. I have since begun a Portrait Photography/Headshot business as a pivot. I expect to keep shooting until I can’t anymore.
Our children have done well. AJ (the eldest) preferred research and received his Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of Georgia. He was married in 2012. With his wife, Abbey, they have two wonderful boys, Charlie (6) and Jack (2.5). Nick, our youngest son, chose medicine and studied at Creighton University. He performed his residency in Pediatrics at Mercy Children’s Hospital in Kansas City, MO. He met and married the woman of his dreams (Ashley) in Kansas City in 2021.
Jim Growney
My post Air Force career started in Jan 1984. I traveled across town in San Antonio to join the Dannemiller anesthesia/pain hybrid group. It was a loosely affiliated anesthesia scheduling office with 4-5 people and a growing, embryonic specialty practice of pain patients with appointments in an office setting. The OR work over the entire career span was predominantly ortho spine, pedi, ENT and Bariatric surgery cases.
As I started in private practice my older 3 kids were in middle and high school. The oldest became an RN, 2nd did business/finance (SMU), and 3rd studied film at UCSB. Those kids have 6 grandchildren (all boys) and like Dave Brown says, this group seems to have trouble creating girls for some strange reason. As an aside, the oldest grandson Alex, (age 34) and a Navy nuclear engineer, with his wife Sarah are expecting the first great-grandchild. You guessed it.. another boy!
After reading the stories about many of the post-WHMC career exploits spanning the globe and doing such tremendous good, I feel humbled. Other than a medical mission trip to Honduras, and a few biking and hiking trips to Europe, fishing in the Caribbean and Hawaii, it seems like I have led a comparatively less adventurous life. It’s been good though, maybe not quite as boring or routine as I initially thought. Sports-wise after taking up running in the mid 80’s and ramping up thru the 90’s, did 8-9 marathons including NYC 3 times. Never was fast enough to qualify for Boston.. like Dan, but somehow was satisfied with what I did accomplish.
Phase 2 of my life took an interesting turn in the mid 90’s and by 1999 I married a very special OR nurse, and we had a somewhat later-in-life child in 2003 (me at age 52 and Carol at 44). That child (age 20) is now in college at Richmond and studying abroad in Portugal this semester where my older son has moved with his family to live.
After my retirement 3 years ago at age 70, we spend almost half time in Colorado at our mountain house at 8850 feet of altitude, breathing mostly clean air, in a small town south and west of Colorado Springs. Hiking, biking and working on various projects from carports, rock walls, and fences, to greenhouses, and various home improvements keep me on the go.
I look forward to catching up with all the other “Big Willie” alumni, toasting a great career start we all enjoyed in the Air Force, and sharing “war” stories.
Jay Ellis
After finishing my residency, I did a pain fellowship combined ICU fellowship at Wilford Hall and the University of Texas Health Science Center-San Antonio. Realizing that an overseas tour was my future, I volunteered for Wiesbaden. One of the smartest decisions of my life. I joined Dan Greenberg, Don Osborne from the class of 86, and HPSP graduate Mac Butcher. We had a great department, and I thought it couldn’t improve until Marshall Wong and Tom Barbera showed up for our last year. I believe that was the best anesthesia department I will ever work in.
After Germany, I toyed with going somewhere else before returning to Wilford Hall. Still, the Air Force decided otherwise. Dan Greenberg and I arrived there right as Desert Storm started, and when the reservists showed up, one of them was Bob Kirby, who became the Department Chairman for the second time while Dan and I handled the day-to-day operations. Eventually, everyone senior to me separated/retired, and I became the department chair by default. I was probably in over my head, but I managed to learn politics and bureaucracy, and to this day, it is the best job I have ever had.
The Air Force went through some organizational changes, which seem to be its primary pastime. I moved into some command roles, but I was still able to keep my clinical schedule three days a week. I was blessed with good mentors, got selected to 0-6 below the zone, and was selected for the Air War College in residence, with a follow-up assignment as vice commander at Travis. I thought I was going to be a general. At the same time, my marriage of 20 years ended, and one of the divorce stipulations was that my children’s residence could not be outside Bexar County. Faced with leaving them behind, I declined Air War College and finished working as the anaesthesiology consultant/daily clinician at Wilford Hall.
My decision worked out well. When I was getting ready to retire, I contacted Jim Growney and Tim Orihel, who convinced me to join them at River City Pain Management, the anesthesia/pain practice founded by Joe Dannemiller. It was just another time when my Wilford Hall connections improved my life. Before I could join them, 9/11 happened. The Air Force pulled my retirement orders and sent me to the Philippines to command a special operations mobile forward surgical and critical care team supporting forces hunting the Abu Sayyaf guerrillas. I have always loved the TV show MASH, and that experience was as close as I got. I also got an appreciation for the woman I was dating at that time, Merrill. I left town with less than two weeks' notice. I gave her my car, some money to pay my bills, and, most importantly, access to my Spurs season tickets. When I got back my car was in perfect shape, she gave me all my money back, and kept me in my Spurs tickets. So, of course, I married her. She and I are about as different as two people can be. She is a real rodeo cowgirl, and I am a city boy. We could not be happier during our 22 years of marriage. When you meet her, you will love her.
I spent private practice dabbling in anesthesia group and hospital leadership positions. I did some humanitarian missions with our church. In 2008, I developed chronic lymphocytic leukemia, which in 2013 underwent a Richter’s transformation to become a large B-cell lymphoma. I was having abdominal pain but blowing it off. Jim Growney saw me grimacing and admonished me to go to the ER. He probably saved my life. My white count was 64,000, and my platelet count was 52,000. Not a good score. I underwent very successful chemo, but then it tried to kill me. I had a series of fevers of unknown origin, making multiple trips to the ER and being sent home with no diagnosis. Finally, I got a fever and told myself I was sick of going to the ER—bad move. I awoke at two in the morning with a searing headache, severe night sweats, and a room air oxygen saturation of 66%. Merrill was able to get the ambulance in time and get me into the ICU, where they eventually diagnosed me with ARDS/pneumocystis pneumonia. A prolonged recovery followed, made much easier by my Wilford Hall partners, who maintained my clinical practice while I was trying to develop enough stamina to climb a flight of stairs.
From that event, I learned what was important in life. I stepped away from all administrative duties to focus on those who supported me during my illness. I am now winding down my clinical work. I still do operating room anesthesia once a week while still working at River City three days a week. I may be the ultimate dinosaur, the last pain doctor still doing operating room anesthesia. I do expert witness consulting for personal injury cases with pain management charges, a role inspired by Bob Kirby. It is an interesting sideline that has opened my eyes to many problems in insurance and medical care.
Merrill and I have three children and six grandchildren between us. Life is good.
I treasure my experiences at Wilford Hall and my entire military career. I cannot wait to reunite with dear friends.
Dennis Wagner
Time really does fly by so quickly. It does not seem possible that I left Wilford Hall 39 years ago. I remember all the names; at our reunion, I will recognize most of the faces. From your stories, all of us have had our professional, medical and personal challenges I am no exception. As a group, it seems like we have all done really well.
My entire career was spent in academics, most of it at Indiana. I took a brief detour to The University of South Carolina, in Columbia. Andy Stasic was also there. Andy and Jon Anagnostou were also my partners at Indiana. Most of my academic career has centered around pain management and global health. In 1998, I began a personal collaboration with the Anaesthesia Department at Moi University, Eldoret, Kenya. This blossomed into a very healthy collaboration between anesthesia departments at Indiana University and Moi University. This partnership started with a Kenyan 500 bed teaching hospital that had no anesthesia monitors, no ventilators, no ICU and no anaesthesia residents. It took years to help our Kenyan colleagues address all these problems. It also took the help of many people, especially the help of my wife, Sarah. With her help as a nurse and her insight into many obstacles we faced, we transformed The Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret into a modern clinical and academic center. We collaborated with the Kenyans at Moi to develop an ICU and an anaesthesia residency. To date, there have been two graduating classes of residents and currently a total of 24 residents.
Through my Kenyan colleagues, I also became an active member of an Anesthesia Task Force, under the umbrella of The Pan African Association of Christian Surgeons (PAACS) challenged with developing another anesthesia residency at Kijabe AIC Hospital, Kijabe, Kenya. I am happy to report that this residency started 3 years ago, and will graduate it’s first residents in spring, 2025.
I retired from clinical practice at the end of 2020, but I still remain on the faculty at Indiana as a Professor Emeritus. I am actively involved in clinical work and teaching at Moi University in Eldoret, Kenya.
I have had a very busy retirement. Six years ago, I began playing the trumpet again after a 45-year hiatus. I play in three different local groups which keep me very challenged and busy. I still enjoy flying, golf, woodworking, scuba diving, and traveling.
It will be great to see old friends in San Antonio. I know it will be a very memorable time.
Alvin (Swan) Sewell
After leaving the residency, I spent 1 yr. at Scott AFB and 3 years at Maxwell AFB. When I left the AF I moved my family, Crystal and 3 kids: Lydia, Solomon and Miriam, back home to Macon, GA. It was close enough to my parents to visit frequently and far enough from my in-laws so that they never just dropped in.
I joined a practice of very diverse, well-trained anesthesiologists. We staffed a level 1 Trauma Center that did everything except pediatric hearts and transplants. We had the United Nations of anesthesiologists: Brazil, New Zealand, Iceland, Philippines, India, Spain, Puerto Rico, Jamaica and 2 Americans. They had trained at great programs: Yale, Cleveland Clinic, Pittsburg, Montefiore, Emory… work was highly stimulating and gratifying. The only problem was we hated each other.
To limit my contact with my colleagues I did orthopedics or personally performed cardiac almost every day for 10 years. It was clinically the most enjoyable era of my career. Ultimately, the hospital had had enough of our bullshit and terminated the contract, 90 days to GTFO. The hospital asked me to start a new group. Four of the docs I did not hire filed a lawsuit against me, another partner, the new group and the hospital that lasted 10 years and cost $2MM in legal fees. It only ended when the original judge retired and the new judge deemed the case meritless and threw it out. The group I started lasted 10 years, another really good era of my career. It ended when we were forced to sell, to Mednax. It was a good payout, but the culture of the group went to shit.
During all of this my children thrived. Lydia competed nationally in equestrian events. Solomon spent at least 3 months a year in a Spanish speaking country from age 15-26 and Miriam wrote a book. Despite the children doing well, Crystal’s and my marriage ended after 25 years. Lydia and Miriam are both married with kids, 3 boys between them, both living in Arlington, VA. Solomon is single and living in Miami but looking to move soon.
Outside of work, 4 knee surgeries left me unable to compete at the sports I loved, so just wanting to compete at something, at 33 I started playing golf and I’m pretty good. Despite only playing 2-3 times a month and rarely ever practicing, my index is 5.9.
I love good bourbon, good food, traveling and live music.
After 36 years in Macon, I’d seen enough trauma for 2 careers, had enough of the toxic work environment and another failed marriage I “up and left”. I moved to Charlotte, NC and joined a practice where Carl Scharf and Paul Vadnais previously worked. It’s a pathway to retirement. They asked what schedule I wanted. I said every other week, no nights, no weekends and no holidays. They said okay. It was a good move. I’m relaxed and happy. I had forgotten work could be this easy and my colleagues could be so nice.
Life is good.
David Hood
I finished my Wilford Hall Residency in 1982 and started my Fellowship in Obstetric Anesthesia at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC and upon completion, I returned to Wilford Hall to join the staff (83-87). Completing my Air Force obligation, I resigned my commission and joined the staff at Wake Forest, emphasizing obstetric anesthesia. Early in 1989, I decided that it was foolish to throw away 11 years of active military service (3 years in the USMC and 8 years USAF) and joined the Navy reserves, which had the best reserve program for academics. My Navy career included being assigned as the commanding officer of a reserve medical unit, a 9-month active duty activation during Desert Storm, and a two-year assignment as the US Navy Surgeon General’s Reserve Specialty Leader. I retired from the Navy as a 06-CAPT in 1999.
My career at Wake Forest included teaching residents in obstetric anesthesia, clinical research, and a fair amount of basic science research, including NIH sponsored research. I enjoyed teaching residents and lecturing and presenting papers at meetings all over the world. I retired from Wake Forest in 2016 as a tenured Professor.
Caron and I still live in Winston-Salem. We have four children, one nurse, one independent eBay businesswoman, one nuclear officer in the Navy, and one online marketing director. We enjoy hosting or visiting our 6 grandchildren. Recently, Caron and I have discovered cruising which for us is a less hurried, less stressful vacation experience of foreign ports.
We are active in retirement and as my wife often says: “Life is Good”.
Laura (Werner) Dexter
When I left WHMC, I was assigned to MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida. As idyllic as it sounds, I was sadly dismayed because I had hoped to trade assignments with Dave Register. He was understandably unhappy about his assignment to the Philippines, as he had a wife and school-age children, whereas I was unexpectedly finding myself in an ideal position for a solo assignment. (My husband Tim stayed behind in San Antonio and filed for divorce a few months later.) But the Air Force in its infinite wisdom decided to stick with its plan for me, thereby making me possibly the first physician in military history to volunteer for the P.I. over a cushy Gulf Beaches assignment—and be refused.
Anyway, MacDill was remarkably relaxed and laid-back after the thrills and excitement of Big Willie. There was no ICU, which greatly limited our ability to do any interesting surgeries on any challenging patients. But I soldiered on despite my professional disappointment and ended up having a blast. I made some wonderful friends, learned the joys of the fresh grouper sandwich, and discovered that being “mission essential personnel“ earned me the privilege of remaining on base to deploy sandbags while Hurricane Elena made landfall. I got my scuba certification to console myself for the discovery that my modest abilities at waterskiing did not in any way prevent me from being a hopeless dud at windsurfing.
The chairman of my department at MacDill was an IMG with dubious anesthesia training and sadly limited English language skills. But I like to believe that helped me learn to hone my skills in tact and diplomacy. A few years later, I saw him listed by name in an article in the Readers Digest titled The Worst Doctors in America.
When my military obligation ended, I decided to embark upon a pediatric anesthesia fellowship. At the time, I merely thought it would make me more hireable by all the mixed anesthesia groups out there who like to have one person with extra pediatric experience to do the kids. But rather to my surprise, I found I liked it. And after finishing my year at Children’s National Medical Center in DC, it seemed all the jobs I liked best were 100% pediatric practices.
So I remained in pediatrics forever after. I have worked in both academic and private practices and in numerous places around the country, from Florida to Ohio and from Texas to Minnesota. Except for a brief tenure as vice chairman of the Anesthesia Department in Columbus, OH, I have assiduously avoided administrative positions and have stuck with doing what I do best, which is being a lowbrow clinical gump (albeit pediatric) anesthesiologist.
I retired in 2018 after 14 years at Children’s Hospital of Minnesota. I moved back to Wisconsin where I grew up and where I still have family and friends nearby.
Now I occupy myself by taking two or three international vacations a year, generally with family and friends. When I see you all in October at the reunion, I thought I would have just returned from two weeks in India. But I dislocated my right shoulder a few months ago and tore the hell out of my rotator cuff, so instead I should be rocking my new scar from a total reverse shoulder arthroplasty.
Over the past 30 years, I have become increasingly involved in large dog rescue. My special interest is in senior and special-needs dogs. My present tally is six large dogs, along with three courageous cats. I like to think it keeps me humble; I have found it impossible to become too persnickety and set in my ways while dealing with the foibles and messes of that many animals. And I find immense gratification in my ever-changing menagerie, most especially because I have been able to hire professionals to clean the house and scoop the backyard twice a week. I would not wish to be accused of carrying this altruism thing too far.
I look forward to seeing everyone again in a few months. I loved my residency classmates and look back on those as some very happy years.
Fred Potts
Why I Didn’t Win The Nobel Prize (I’m sorry, I tried)
Early during my residency I was assigned to the Orthopedic Suite where I had 5 young Airmen Basics for knee arthroscopy. All received my standard anesthetic at the time: curare, pentothal, sux, nitrous oxide + Halothane. All developed a massive, persistent erection during surgery. All 5! This response is not unheard of during anesthesia. I would speculate that the average anesthetist would see this response maybe once or twice a year. But five in a row?
I reviewed in my mind all the medications I had given. None was known to have that effect on a regular basis. My suspicion fell on nitrous oxide. Why? Because nitrous oxide and oxygen are not supplied by a pharmaceutical company, but a Welding Gas Company. I was suspicious of the care of analysis that a Welding Gas Company would utilize compared to a pharmaceutical company.
After contemplation of that situation for a couple of days, I wrote a research proposal to investigate the cause, which I speculated to be a contaminant in the nitrous oxide, perhaps nitric oxide. My proposal targeted contaminants in nitrous oxide. The Hospital Research Board rejected the proposal as “trivial”. Twenty two years later another group of researchers won the Nobel Prize for the physiologic effects of nitric oxide: Robert F. Furchgott, Louis J. Ignarro, and Ferid Murad shared the Noble Prize in 1998 for their discoveries concerning nitric oxide as a signaling molecule in the cardiovascular system.
Do I hold a grudge against the Hospital Research Committee? No, but I am pissed that I didn’t write a more convincing research proposal.
Bill Caskey
Wilford-Hall started what has now been an exciting 45 year career as an Anesthesiologist. I was privileged to have had Dr. Robert Kirby as a mentor not only at WHMC but also at the University of Florida a few years later when I was a fellow in Cardiovascular Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine (also had my residency classmate Gary Gammage there as a junior cardiac attending as well as Sam LaPolo, CRNA who both took great care of me—-including somehow pulling me out of the somewhat dingy resident locker room to a full length wood paneled locker in the carpeted faculty lounge!) Like Dave Brown, I also contracted non-A non-B hepatitis junior year but was blessed not to develop any sequelae!
After Big Willie, I was assigned as Chief of Anesthesia at Homestead AFB in beautiful sunny south Florida where I met and married my wife of 40 years, Barbara— only to receive, upon return from our honeymoon, an unexpected invitation from Uncle Sam to become the Chief at RMC Clark AB —sending my classmate Gary Gammage back to WHMC! While not initially very thrilled to spend my first year of marriage separated oversea, I had the great privilege to work with Kirk Bodary while stationed there. John Krauland had taken my job at Homestead but fortunately for me (and my wife who very much wanted to keep her job as an EAL flight attendant in Miami) John wanted to go back to WHMC and we were able to somehow work the assignment system so that I came back to HAFB and he went to Wilford-Hall.
After fellowship at UF and Texas Heart, I joined Palm Beach Anesthesia Associates eventually becoming managing partner of that group. I stepped down from that role a few years ago but continue to enjoy a full time Anesthesiology practice (albeit with no more weekend calls!) I stayed in the reserves for 18 years after leaving active duty, finally retiring on 5 July 2001—exactly 30 years after I entered the USAFA on that date in 1971. My final reserve assignment was as an IMA to the commander at DGMC (who I first met at HAFB in 1982 when he was Chief of Aerospace Medicine there). The deputy commander was my USAFA classmate, Tom Barbera who had been a surgery resident with me at DGMC in 1979 and then before Anesthesiology residency at WHMC served as a flight surgeon at Hill AFB in 1981– when he tried to kill me skiing in back bowl powder there in Feb ‘81 while I was doing a pediatric anesthesia elective at Primary Children’s in Salt Lake(Tom was then, is now, and likely will always be a better skier than I could ever be!!) Amazing how the Air Force small world provides multiple opportunities to meet and work with old classmates, colleagues, and friends. I am truly looking forward to renewing old friendship and swapping war stories this fall.
Our older son,Stephen, works for Northrup Grumman in Colorado Springs after a four spending fours years in the USAF. Our younger son, Daniel is finishing his degree at Florida Institute of Technology. Looking forward to his future gainful employment so Barbara and I can officially start “the golden years”—-planning to retire from full-time practice next year but will likely continue my academic appointment with the University of Miami Medical School in order to do some part-time teaching.
On another note, I was pleasantly surprised at seeing my name as the first recipient of the “prestigious” Annual Anesthesiology Resident Award for New Technique of the Year(not quite as prestigious however as the Arthur B. Tarrow award!)——I still say that given enough practice it might have become a useful part of the airway management algorithm!
Tom Barbera
I am grateful. I spent 30 years active duty in the Air Force. It afforded me the opportunity to be geographically and professionally mobile … I bore easily. Anesthesiology was woven into a career centered on the operational Air Force. I had three years as an F-16 flight surgeon and family physician in Utah before residency. I thrived on hours in airplanes, deployments, patient care (as a physician not as a specialist), and leadership.
There were four years at Keesler ….. too early the Chief ….. working at what became a cardiac / “open heart” fellowship. I have fond memories of “the south”, boats, skiing, and New Orleans. I joined Marshall, Jay, and Dan at the “Camelot” of anesthesia assignments in Wiesbaden Germany … best partners I ever had. 89’ – 92’ coincided with Gulf War I and deployment to Turkey/ Iraq and in Europe.
I met my German physician wife Anne (loving and tolerant), and we moved to RAF Lakenheath UK (near Cambridge) where we homesteaded for 7 years … three kids. I served as Chief of Hospital Service and at Travis as Med Deputy Commander. I was Commander at Osan Hospital Korea, a highly operational tour but on flight status and accompanied by family. We traveled in Asia. We PCSed with young children to the Wright Pat hospital “front office”. The Midwest is “middle-earth” with traditional family values, and we stayed in AF retirement.
I always practiced clinical anesthesia. I broadened my AF workaholic nature into life as a soccer coach for ten years. A month before AF retirement, one of the soccer kid’s parents approached me and said “You are an anesthesiologist. Do you want a job?” I asked if they wanted a CV. “No, you are nice to the kids …. The anesthesia is easy … we want someone who can get along”.
Fast forward 13 years of cardiac, general, and outpatient anesthesia at Dayton Heart and Good Sam Dayton. We reinvented our life and marriage as retirees when they closed the hospital. The kids have grown up …. Dan - Air Force internist, Tim - lawyer, and Julia – HPSP medical student.
12 years “overseas”, TDY and travel, and my German family have left me with a distinctly “international” perspective. WHMC is a bright memory. I look forward to seeing everyone.
Steve Ruh
When I was finishing up at Big Willie, I recall being the only one in my class hoping to go west for assignment, and I was excited to see March AFB in California was open. Unfortunately I ended up in Spokane, WA. That was followed by a stint in Tucson, before separating and starting private practice back in California. A small, 3- man group with 1 CRNA was pretty taxing, but fun, since I was "home". Unfortunately, a series of setbacks to family led to a very poor decision that ultimately made the OR a very dangerous place for me. I seriously considered leaving medicine, took some time to heal myself and family, and dabbled with playing golf as a career(I'm good, but clearly not THAT good). I eventually decided to return to medicine and have been working in Addiction Medicine for the last 25 yrs, especially managing opioid use disorder. In 2019, I had major gastric cancer surgery to remove a 13 lb G.I.S.T. along assorted other giblets, and in 2021, suffered an infusion reaction to monoclonal antibodies for COVID treatment, and was 2 months in the hospital and physical rehab. Regaining my strength and stamina has been a daunting task, but I'm still kicking and able to play golf again. Every negative PET scan is a blessing.
Regan and I have been mostly homebodies, raising our 2 kids. Neither are married, so no grandkids to play with, at least not yet. I'm getting close to hanging up my stethoscope and finally seeing this country and playing all the golf courses I've seen on TV over the years. I'm not interested in going overseas, so I won't be emulating Deb, except to play a little-known golf course in Scotland.
All in all, life has been good to us, even when it's been hard.
Deborah Holubec
When I first read the request for info, I thought my life has been pretty boring…After I left big Willy in April 1987, my husband and I, with our 6 month old daughter, moved to Odessa, Tx. I did anesthesia, but wasn’t happy there. I had a son a year later. Then did a pain fellowship at Texas Tech with Gabor Racz. Went back to Odessa, and shortly thereafter we moved to Plano. Have been doing pain management since then. Hubby died in 1991, and I remarried in 1994. Between us, we have 10 grandchildren. Got breast cancer in 2012, and dealt with 16 rounds of chemo, 2 months of oral chemo, surgery, and radiation. It was a beating! I joined the Air Force to see the world, but met my husband, and never went anywhere, except short TDY in Philippines, and few trips to teach ACLS. Over the last years, we have travelled all over Europe: Slovenia, Italy, Australia, Germany, Scotland, England, Ireland, France, Spain, Belgium, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Austria, New Zealand, Holland, Finland. Probably most memorable was the 70th anniversary of D Day in Normandy in 2014. So maybe it wasn’t so boring..
Kent Johnson
I went from Wilford Hall to the Clark Air Base in the Philippines. I appreciated Marshall Wong's help when I was there. My final Air Force assignment was at the Air Force academy. Janice and I then moved to Salt Lake City and eventually we settled in Brigham City Utah where I worked for about 25 years and I recently retired. While in Brigham City I took a week off every month and the family and I have had a great life. I have done anesthesia all over the globe. In the Philippines, Japan, Korea, Madagascar, El Salvador, Equador, Peru, Ghana, some of these places multiple times; and of course the locations in the U.S. where we made our living. Janice as an RN has joined in the humanitarian stuff as well. We have 5 wonderful children and 15 grandchildren. We recently built us a geezer house (no stairs) down the road from where one of our children lives with his family. I regret that Janice and I will not be attending the San Antonio reunion.
Dave Brown
Wilford Hall had a huge impact on my career. Bob Kirby remained a mentor over a considerable time. I always recall his admonition that when making a point speak softly, and don’t be afraid of silence. My first post-WHMC position was in Seattle in 1985. Over time I practiced in multiple different academic institutions and found out at the end of my career I was really a chair that turned departments around; always loved recruiting, and trying to build teams that supported clinical care, research, and education. Over time it became more difficult as medical practice became corporatized.
The biggest impact of WHMC on my life was the hepatitis C infection I picked up there, when it went by the name, non-A non-B hepatitis. At age 61-years I began chemo for my hepatitis, and in March of 2012 I spent almost a month unconscious and/or delusion in our SICU at the Cleveland Clinic with multiorgan failure from EBV; as a result of chemo-induced immunosuppression. After extubation I learned to walk again, ended my dialysis, and began care for my leukemia/lymphoma transformation. I did learn military service has a “long-tail”. There are remarkable drugs for blood cancers now and I am so thankful for them.
I left academics and practice in 2015 and launched an advanced illness advisory firm, Curadux. We raised external funding, used retirement funds, and went five years before calling it quits when Covid turned everyone’s attention to lockdown. We developed an elegant videoconferencing platform with experienced physicians serving as “care guides” to walk alongside patients and families facing consequential health decisions.
Kath and I have two children, Sarah, and Cody, who lost their Texas drawl when we moved to Seattle, and between their families now have five grandboys. Seems like we are unable to make girls in our family. We split our time now between Texas and Wisconsin. Summers and fall near our lake home in Hayward, WI, and winter and spring near Troup, TX on a 100 acre ranch with hay and cattle. I lead a small home church - Solid Rock Church – that is virtual due to our travel and my associated work with a Native American Ojibwe tribe – the Lac Courte Oreilles band. My work with the tribe seeks to minimize addiction. We are blessed beyond measure and thankful the USAF gave us our start.
Kirk Bodary
After Wilford Hall I spent 18 months in the Philippines with Bill Caskey followed by a tour as chief of anesthesia at Wright Patterson which was rife with staffing and other issues. Some of you are well aware of that as you had to come assist with staffing on a TDY basis. Thanks again for that! I separated from the Air Force in 1989 having served 12 years on active duty and completing my obligation. I stayed in the reserves getting activated to Wilford Hall for Desert Storm. I retired from the reserves after 8 years which gave me the 20 years total to qualify for military retirement pay and benefits. Although I say I retired from the Air Force, I actually retired from the Army. I switched services at the 17 year mark because the Air Force wouldn’t promote me because I didn’t have any professional military education (PME). Apparently the Air Force Academy didn’t count. The Army promoted me within 3 months of the switch!
Since then I have been in the Rochester NY area in a number of roles including department chair at a 300 bed teaching hospital, HMO medical director and hospital VP of medical affairs. I wised up in 2004 and began working at an outpatient surgery center which was much more accommodating for time with family. I technically retired in 2021 but still work an average of 6 days/month split between an endoscopy center and a cosmetic surgery OR.
Speaking of family, I have wonderful twin daughters one of which is a pharmacist and the other a physical therapist. Both are married with 2 kids. 16 month old Jake and 3 1/2 year old Lydia live nearby. Nearly 6 year old Emma and 3 year old CC live in Cleveland. Also family related I got divorced and remarried around 12 years ago which resulted in another 5 year old granddaughter named Amelia. She also lives nearby. You will meet my wife Colleen at the reunion.
Between a little work and grandkids I keep pretty busy in retirement. I supplement that by being a construction volunteer with Habitat for Humanity a couple days per week. It is very rewarding and a great bunch of guys and gals. I thought I was pretty handy, but I have learned a lot and have a ton of fun at the same time.
I look forward to seeing everyone in October!
Dan Towle
Christy and I left Wilford Hall for a great tour at the USAF Academy Hospital, starting our family of four children, and building a mountain cabin on weekends. Four years later we headed back towards home in Kansas City to begin a 31-year career primarily doing pediatric anesthesia with an emphasis on congenital cardiac at Children’s Mercy Hospital. I was number 25 to join my group, and over time used those AF leadership skills as corporate VP to grow our group up to 125 physicians and 230 CRNAs. In the final six years I explored a new arena for my group and created a mobile anesthesia section specializing in office-based pediatric anesthesia. Bowing out of clinical practice in 2019, I then spent three years as the Chief Medical Officer for a national system of pediatric surgi-centers. Finally, for the last year, I am gainfully retired.
International Health was always an interest, and over the decades Christy graciously functioned as a single mother of four as I was involved providing anesthesia and primary care in Peru, Honduras, Bolivia, Haiti, Lesotho, and Nepal. Christy and I enjoy cycling and have ridden in Spain, France, and Canada tackling some big humps in the Alps and Pyrenees. Over the years I kept running, though never as fast as Kirk, and eventually ran the Boston Marathon twice. Nowadays, the scenery goes by a bit slower.
We are blessed with our four children, two of them living internationally, and two granddaughters. Free time is spent traveling to see family, collecting wine to go with some attempts at cooking - whenever we aren’t back in Colorado at the cabin mountain biking. Life has been a joyous sojourn - especially being blessed by a career finding its roots in the wisdom and comradery shared with all of you. Thank you!!