DukeMed Alumni News
Summer 2008

Class Notes:

1950s

Albert “Burney” Huff, MD’50, reports that he is making good progress recovering from two broken hips suffered last year. He and his wife Miriam live in Wooster, Ohio.

William D. Rippy, MD’50, retired since 1990, doesn’t travel as often anymore but recently visited California, Arizona, and Colorado with his wife Helen. He reports they are both enjoying their new home and church in Leland, N.C. They have five children and nine grandchildren.

Spencer Spainhour Brewer Jr., MD’52, HS’54-’56, DC, reports that this year the class of 1952 book club will discuss Metamorphoses by William Anlyan, MD. He and his wife Nancy have three children. They live in Atlanta, Ga.

Robert Edward Chambers, MD’52, HS’54-’56, DC, and his wife Pat live in a retirement community in Gastonia, N.C. He enjoys playing golf three days a week, and Pat enjoys playing bridge. They spend their summers in the mountains. They have four sons and three grandchildren.

William Anderson Jr., MD’53, retired in 1990 but continued to work as medical director for a local skilled nursing facility. He currently works as medical director for a paramedic school at a hospital in Conneaut, Ohio, where he lives. He and Wanda, his wife of 56 years, have five living children, 16 grandchildren, and one great-grandchild on the way. He writes that he would love to hear from some of his fellow DukeMed classmates. His e-mail address is ander523@juno.com.

Bruce L. Baer, MD’53, DC, of Baton Rouge, La., lost his first wife, Eleanor, in 1999 to breast cancer. In 2003 he married Anna Marie. She died in 2005 from primary systemic amyloidosis. Retired since 1995, he has four daughters and 12 grandchildren.

Eugene M. Evans Jr., MD’53, HS’54-’57, DC, says that after living in his home for 44 years, he sold it and moved to a retirement community in Danville, Va. He writes: “Life is pleasant—no responsibilities except to write monthly rental checks. What a way to go.”

Tom Alford Vestal, MD’53, retired in 1992, but still runs a gynecology clinic at the Anderson Free Clinic in South Carolina. He and his wife Janis, WC’51, live in Anderson. They have five children—Lyndon, Collins, Jan, Ansley, and Ruth—three granddaughters and two grandsons.

John C. Ayers, Jr., T’50, MD’54, HS’54-’55, was one of several alumni to return to the Duke School of Medicine in February to teach physical exam skills to first-year students. He and his wife Lynesa live in New Bern, N.C.

Henry Pinsker, MD’54, DC, is using video technology to teach psychotherapeutic techniques to psychiatry residents at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) in Newark. The technique involves recording residents during treatment sessions and then using those edited video recordings to stimulate discussion during seminars or lectures. Pinsker, a retired professor of clinical psychiatry at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, lives in Teaneck, N.J.

George B. Skipworth, T’48, MD’54, DC, continues to go on medical mission trips to Belize and Guatemala with Tejas Missions, Inc. He has been going on these trips for 31 years. Now 81, he is semi-retired and still sees patients at the Columbus, Ga., practice he shares with Garris Morgan, MD. He has two living children—Heather Craven is a teacher in Seattle, Wash., and William is head of graphics at Beacon Ministry in Columbus.

Harold Simon, MD’55, retired from practicing medicine full time in 1995 but is staying active as a consultant to Veterans Affairs and other hospitals. He and his wife Jane have been married for 52 years. They have two grown sons and four grandchildren and live in Palm Beach, Fla. They are active in charitable work and enjoy travel, golf, and swimming.

Billy F. Andrews, MD’57, DC, continues teaching part time in medical history, ethics, and humanities in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Louisville. Highlights of 2007 were a presentation he gave in Athens, Greece, at the 25th International Congress of Pediatrics, and in Montreal, Quebec, at the 37th American Osler Society Annual Meeting. He lives in Floyds Knobs, Ind.

Rubin Bressler, MD’57, DC, is a professor of medicine and pharmacology at the University of Arizona-Tucson. He spent 16 years as head of the Department of Medicine and seven years as head of the pharmacology department. He says he is still focused on metabolic research and has published more than 300 papers. He and Paula have been married for more than 52 years. They live in Tucson and have three children and six grandchildren. One son is an endocrinologist, the other is a lawyer, and their daughter is a social worker.

Luther C. Sappenfield, MD’57, retired in 2007 after 43 years of practicing ophthalmology in Fayetteville, N.C. He and his wife Nancy are now living in a retirement community in Pineville, N.C., and enjoying golf, fishing, their children and grandchildren, and a vacation home at Lake Tillery. Sappenfield volunteers in outpatient surgery at Carolina’s Medical Center in Pineville. Nancy is undergoing chemotherapy for recurrent ovarian cancer.

Karl A. Zener, MD’57, recently started working as a staff psychiatrist at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., where he lives. In his new position he treats mostly post-traumatic stress disorder patients in an intensive outpatient setting.

James D. Mallory, Jr., MD’58, HS’58-’59, ’63-’66, retired in July 2007 after spending 37 years as director of a Christian counseling center in Atlanta. He and his wife Betsy live in Ashland City, Tenn., and have four married children. Jim has three children; Roger, a nephrologist, has three children; Deaver has three children; and John has four children.

Irwin Bernard Moore, MD’58, retired five years ago after serving as medical director for Progressive Insurance for 18 years. While at Progressive, he started the company’s wellness program and on-site medical and psychological facilities. Before that he was CEO of a larger multi-specialty group in Cleveland, Ohio. Over the years he says he has progressively given up on basketball, tennis, squash, skiing, and long-distance running. But he and his wife of 52 years, Beryl, still play a lot of golf, and he loves to fish in Florida where they have a winter home. He and Beryl live in Cleveland and have three children and three grandchildren. Their children Richard and Valerie both live in Cleveland. Their son David has a PhD in developmental psychology and teaches at Pitzer College in Claremont, Calif.

George H. Porter III, T’54, MD’58, retired as president and CEO of Alton Ochsner Medical Foundation in 1998, but continues to practice, teach, write, and speak. He and his wife Virginia, WC’54, MD’58, live in New Orleans, La.

Hal Judd Rollins, Jr., BS’57 (medicine), MD’58, retired in January 2008 after practicing ophthalmology for 42 years in Greensboro, N.C. He and his wife Ann, N’58, have three children, all graduates of UNC, and five grandchildren.

Donald H. Tucker, MD’58, BS’59 (medicine), DC Century, is retired and lives in Greenville, N.C., with his wife Barbara, WC’04. Their son Don, T’81, is a partner with a law firm in Raleigh, N.C. Michael, T’85, is CEO of VT Specialized Vehicles Corp. Their daughter Susan Weaver, T’83, MD’87, is executive director of Alliance Medical Ministry, a faith-based nonprofit clinic that provides affordable primary medical care to the working uninsured in Wake County, N.C.