Hide Article Text (OCR)
Local doctor retiresBy JANICE CORNETT Courier staff writerAfter practicing medicine in Ottumwa for 54 years, delivering almost 3,000 babies and slowing down to where he’s been seeing “only” about 50 patients every morning for the past seven years. Dr. Welden Loerke is retiring.But he and his wife, Ruth, both want everyone to know that they’re not leaving town. “And the office will not be closed,” smiles the almost 80-year-old osteopath.Loerke’s medical career began 57 years ago in the northeast Nebraska town of Norfolk When he and his young bride moved to Ottumwa three years later, the Loerke Hospital on Marion Street was where he and his late brother, Gerald W., joined in medical partnership.“That’s a lot of bottoms to spank,” laughs Loerke, recalling the thousands of babies he delivered. His office walls are lined with pictures not only of some of those children but also of the many other children he has tended through the years.For the young patients, the doctor has always offered a “lollipop at the end of the visit. ... It pays to get on the good side of little kids!”Brothers and sisters along for the visit, even though they didn’t need to see the doctor, were also given the candy. “But I only allow one per kid,” says the sugar-conscious Loerke.Loerke’s practice has served all ages, and the doctor is quick to credit his receptionists/assistants, Karen Baskett and Debbie Cram-blett, for their work over the years.Dr. Welden Loerke•J wouldn’t have traded them tor anything!” he says.The two, he adds, will be staying on with Drs. Gary Davis and Lawrence E. Merrick of Albia, the osteopaths who will be taking over Loerke’s practice at 520 N. Sheridan.In retrospect, the osteopath says he’s seen many changes in his chosen profession.“Treatment has changed dramatically,” he comments. “We used to have smallpox, diphtheria... W'e had no antibiotics or antihistamines.” Young people, he remembers, at one time died of appendicitis or tuberculosis. “Now' people are living longer... Attitude has a lot to do with how you feel.”Dr’ Loerke’s “attitude” encompasses myriad hobbies: coin collecting.golf, gardening, tending his beehives, singing in the church choir and involvement in a variety of civic groups. As well as a “Haley’s Comet Expedition.”The physician explains that he’ll be seeing the comet in 1986 for the second time in his life.He remembers, as a 5-year-old, standing hand-in-hand with his father in Nebraska and seeing the comet in its 1910 passing: “My father told me to remember it well... I might see it again. I’ve looked forward all my life to it.”And he and his wife are doing up the second viewing in style. They plan to leave March 26 on a cruise ship headed for the Southern Hemisphere. Along with astronomers, physicists and other spectators, the couple hope to see the comet on April 11 while in French Polynesia. The entire cruising expedition is expected to take 16 days, after which they will return to Ottumwa.“We might take trips,” Loerke says, smiling, “but we will always live here. Ottumwa has been a good town, and we don’t want to leave our friends.”Even Iowa winters are O.K.: “I don’t know any different, except Nebraska winters. And they’re worse!” Loerke’s family, friends and patients are invited to attend at retirement reception in his honor from 2-4 p.m. Aug 31 at Willard Street United Methodist Church. Among those attending will be the Loerke’s two sons — Richard, who lives in Oklahoma, and David, who’s from New Jersey — and the couple’s four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.Neighbors—.....
Newspaper Details
Ottumwa Courier
Ottumwa, Iowa, US
Sat, Aug 24, 1985
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 23 Jan 2025
Other Publications Near Ottumwa, Iowa
Ottumwa Daily Review
Ottumwa Courier
Ottumwa Tri Weekly Courier
Baptismal Register Sacred Heart
Standard Atlas of Wapello County Iowa
