1960 Aces with Careers in Healthcare

 

Editor’s Note: Many of our classmates worked in healthcare careers. At least one, Tom Tatlock, is still active with a particular emphasis in the field of traumatic brain injuries. The following article from October 2021 is being reprinted as part of a focus this month on health and wellness.

During the pandemic, we have learned to think broadly about  essential healthcare workers. Many of our 1960 classmates worked in the healthcare field, using their minds, hearts, and energy to address health and medical needs. They became nurses, doctors, veterinarians, phone-answerers, medical technicians, needle-stickers, bedpan-bringers, x-ray readers, lunch cart-pushers, thoughtful listeners, tears-dryers, pulse-takers, and appointment-makers. 

The profiles here are just a start. Please us send your story or forward names of classmates who should be included.

Bev Brandom, 1942-2006 – Bev worked as a nursing assistant for more than 30 years until she retired.

Daryl Burnett, 1942-2017 – Daryl specialized in adolescent psychology. He directed a programs for troubled adolescents at Charter Pacific Hospital in Torrance, California. This in-patient program was designed to redirect teenagers’ energies, reinforcing positive behavior patterns and practicing socially acceptable interactions in a variety of environments.  

 

Betty Huyett Carr, 1942-2018 – Betty worked alongside her husband in his chiropractic practice.

 

Jim Davidson, 1942-1996 – After graduating from Washington University Medical School, Jim interned at Detroit General, did his residency at University of Washington hospitals, and served two years as a Medical Officer in the U.S. Navy. He settled down with his family in Tacoma WA to practice Emergency Medicine full-time at Tacoma General and Allenmore Hospitals for the next 23 years. During this time, he became Board Certified in Emergency Medicine and was instrumental in obtaining departmental status for the Emergency Room. He was Director of the Emergency Department and served on the hospital’s Executive Committee for many years. As one of the early practitioners of Emergency Medicine in the area, he was a prominent member of the state Emergency Medicine Society. A prolific letter-writer, Jim regaled friends with stories from the Tacoma ER, always noting ironically the contrast between the life-and-death action and the sometimes circus-like atmosphere.

Ted Frieze –  Ted was a Navy Corpsman Second Class, Surgery technician, who served in Vietnam in 1965.  

 

Willa Gisick Schultz, 1942-1995 – Willa worked for many years as a medical office receptionist, a job well-suited for a woman with such a gentle and caring personality.

 

Tom Hickey –Tom earned a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from The Ohio State University in 1968.  He enlisted in the Army and began serving his country as a captain in the U.S. Army Veterinary Corps.  He spent his first year at Fort Polk, Louisiana, as Post Veterinarian. Then, in 1969, he began a year of duty in Vietnam. He was awarded the Bronze Star medal for his work diagnosing and controlling rabies in animals and humans.  He then joined the Mead Johnson/Bristol-Myers Squibb organization and retired as Director, Veterinary Sciences.  During his career he was recognized as an advocate for the humane care and use of animals used in medical research.

Paula Jennings Johnson, 1942-2015 – Paula had an early career as a dental hygienist and raised four children in Kansas City, where she and husband Dick made their home. Paula was devoted to the Kansas City community, serving on the boards of the American Red Cross, Pembroke Hill School, and Children’s TLC. With a passion for art history, she later earned an MFA and worked for many years as a docent at Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City.

Monte Johnson, 1942-2003 – Monte earned a Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Illinois in 1966. He enlisted in the Army and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Vietnam War. Following military service, he worked as a social worker, mental health professional, and forensic psychologist in California, Oregon, and Washington, D.C. In 1977, he earned a PhD. in Professional Psychology at the United States International University in San Diego.

 

Ann Knorr Addison, 1942-2016 – Ann worked for 15 years as a customer service associate at her neighborhood Walgreens. She was well-known for her warmth, helpfulness, and kind interest in the members of hundreds of families who knew her at the store.

Jerry Leisy – Jerry received his medical degree from the University of Kansas Medical School. He practiced as a psychiatrist and is affiliated with Wesley Medical Center in Wichita.

 

Cindy McCullough Wells, 1942-1999 – Cindy worked for many years as a dental office receptionist in Springfield, Missouri.

 

Sally Paup Long, 1942-2000 – Sally was a receptionist at the Wichita Clinic.

 

Calvin Ross – Calvin earned a Ph.D. from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville with a Pastoral Counseling and Ethics residency in the Psychiatry Department at U of Louisville School of Medicine. As Senior Chaplain and Biomedical Ethicist for a hospital network—now Ballad Health, an alliance of 21 hospitals in TN and VA — he taught seminarians and ministers providing pastoral care for patients and families in their uncertain times of suffering, fear, loss, and spiritual search. He also supervised a team of physicians, chaplains, nurses, administrators, and social workers as ethics consultants for patient treatment decisions in complicated cases.

Tom Tatlock –After graduating from the University of Kansas School of Medicine, Tom did a medicine internship there. Then he completed a 3-year residency in psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. He was a psychiatrist in Appleton, WI until 1999 when he sustained a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Since that time, he has been a voluntary educator on brain injury and an advocate for persons with brain injuries. In 2007 he earned a graduate certificate in special education and brain injury from The George Washington University.  

Tom Vosper –  Tom served six years in the U.S. Army Reserves, working on the Surgical Room Scrub team at Ft. Riley, Kansas.

Jane Windsor Just, 1942-2018 – Jane’s concern for others led her into nursing. She became a certified nursing aide and then graduated from St. Francis Hospital School as an X-ray technician in 1964.  She split her time between caring for her family and working at Wesley Medical Center early in her career. Then, she worked for the Wichita Urology Group before moving on to the Mid-Kansas Ear, Nose & Throat in Wichita as an x-ray technician. After retiring to Phoenix, she worked as a volunteer for the Red Cross and for Arrowhead Hospital.