Class of 1970 Commemorative Biographical Book

R I C H A R D A . ( R I C K ) R E I S M A N

Narrative: On the occasion of the reunion of our “Blaze of Glory” medical school class, it is humbling to reflect on the 50 years since we graduated. Once I got over the shock of being a relocated mid-western youth to what I thought was the East Coast but discovered I was south of the Mason-Dixon line, I wound up enjoying some of the greatest adventures and friendships, as well as some of the finest learning exposures and teachers that I have had the pleasure of experiencing. Memories flash in my mind of Phillip Tumulty rounds and stories, Joel Elkes recounting the early days of LSD research in 1950, living room band performances of The Marihuana Brass, and many, many ski and Rehoboth, Delaware beach trips. And who could forget “the Alligator” at our graduation party? So after leaving Baltimore, I did a medicine internship at U. of Chicago Hospitals and lived in Obama’s neighborhood of Hyde Park. The eight block walk to work in the bone-chilling winters was a special part of the blurred memories of one of the last of the every other night internships. I should have made better note of the one month of dermatology inpatient rotation where I had adequate sleep to avoid falling asleep while driving on expressways that occurred the other 11 months. I heard from Uncle Sam during that year that my services were needed by the Army in Da Nang during the height of the Vietnam War. My training was interrupted and when the draft law expired that summer, Congress argued for three months before renewing the draft. In the meanwhile, I travelled the West Coast with my brother, talked to draft dodgers in Vancouver and determined that even though I was a confirmed war protester, it was pretty drastic to leave your own country, friends and family behind. So, with the help of the Quakers in a lawsuit, and perhaps my Chicago grandfather with a bribe, the draft got cancelled and I was released upon the world, ready or not. I started working with one of the first emergency medicine contracting companies based in the Chicago area. They had two planes and I often was flown to various downstate Illinois mid-sized cities and worked 48 hour shifts (people actually went to bed by 10 p.m. in those days). Other times I worked in urban ER’s in the Chicago area. I found I really enjoyed this new field. I also enjoyed the schedule that afforded much free time with travels across the country only costing a rebuild of my VW van engine each time. My neighborhood in the DePaul University part of the north side of Chicago

became a group of good friends. It was a wonderful time in urban living and I got involved in the free clinic movement and helped to staff one of the eight free clinics in Chicago. A friend and I refurbished an old sailboat, and he taught me to sail on Lake Michigan. My girlfriend and I joined 11 of our friends and made the pilgrimage to the SF Bay Area in 1974. Once in California, we were exposed to the gems of the Cali lifestyle, and spent our free time exploring backroads, learning about wild plants that could be used for foods, dyes or even medicines, and visiting with all the other ex- Chicagoans that were there. We had the dream of moving to the country where I would be a small-town doctor. But alas, only I did that dream and in 1975 found a family practice to join in Willits CA, in Mendocino County. For 11 years, I was a small-town M.D., married a local lady, and we had a handsome son Uriah and a step-daughter Jennifer, who was an avid horsey-girl. It was a busy life with managing a practice and employees, being chief of staff or ICU director, and purchasing 15 undeveloped acres and building a home and horse farm on them. Things change. Divorce happened and after a bachelor phase, I met the love of my life, Catherine O’Connor. We moved together to Los Altos, CA where I wound up working at Mountain View Medical Clinic, a group of nine family practice physicians. After our wedding, we had a lovely

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