"I was born in a log cabin (no joke) near Capps, which is a small community near Harrison, Arkansas. That was September 20, 1930 just as the Great Depression was getting under way. My family was very poor, subsistence farming, raise your own food and sell enough produce (milk, eggs, etc.) to purchase some supplies. My family did not have a home of their own, so we lived with relatives or on the farms of relatives. When I was 6 years old I was diagnosed with tuberculosis (TB) and my family was told to move to Arizona. The treatment then for TB was fresh air and prayer. So we lived in Arizona through the 7th grade. My father helped clean irrigation ditches and finally got a promotion to 'ditch rider.' He would turn water on and off to farms for irrigation. Life was a bit better.  

My mother always stressed education. After high school, I started pre-med at University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. Barbara and I were married just before I started to University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS)--I would never have made it without her. After graduation, I did a rotating internship and then was drafted into the Army. I had planned to pursue cardiology, but the Army put me to doing pediatrics. I am not sure why, except I had very good grades in pediatrics during med school, or maybe they thought I would do less harm there?  It fit, so I completed a pediatric residency at the University of Colorado. Following my army obligations, I spent 25 years in a very busy pediatric practice in Fort Smith and then taught at Arkansas Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) in Fort Smith.

My introduction to Northwest Arkansas Free Health Center came while I was the volunteer Medical Director at a summer camp for children with cancer at Lake Fort Smith State Park. One of the volunteers at the camp was also a volunteer at the Health Center.

The patients at Northwest Arkansas Free Health Center were very appreciative, and I tried to treat everyone with the kindness and courtesy they deserved. The amount of pathology that walked through the doors at the Health Center was always amazing to me. One lady with severe peripheral vascular disease, that I referred to UAMS for surgery, had been misdiagnosed as having arthritis because of severe leg pain. Another lady with severe hypothyroidism had been lost in the shuffle. There is so much need among those less fortunate--the need for treatment before their conditions become even worse.

I have worked hard throughout my medical career, but have always found time to volunteer and fulfill my commitment to assist others. It gave me a warm fuzzy feeling to know that I was helping someone. I remembered my early years of poverty so I could identify with them."