Being a writer is not an easy task, in the best of
circumstances. A quick glance at history will
tell anyone that. But when that writer is battling
health problems, and still manages to do a
praise-worthy job of writing for high-profile medical
organizations, connect with physicians, and
befriend co-workers who honestly loved her, then
that person has spent a life well-lived.
Luanna Crow, who worked as Editor at the Bexar
County Medical Society for about three years, died
last October. She was 59.
Everyone who knew her speaks of not only her
professional skill but also of her loving, generous
nature. And her goodness came in the face of serious
health problems she had faced for most of her
life. But she kept her own feelings of fear and doubt
locked inside, and instead tried to stay strong for
her family, her friends, and her co-workers.
To the end, even after undergoing a bilateral
mastectomy after being diagnosed with ductal carcinoma
in situ, she continued smiling and giving to
others. Her health for most of her life had been
troubled, beginning with a
diagnosis of Hodgkin’s when
she was 22.
In Ms. Crow’s own words: “Now I had cancer again.
And this time I had to face it,
not as a vigorous 22-year-old,
but as an overweight middleaged
woman with compromised
cardiac function,
multiple surgeries, a cancer
history, and an oddball
immune system. In doctortalk,
that makes me a ‘complex’ patient.”
What everyone who
worked with her remembers
are not the health problems,
but the bright smiles and
offers of a shoulder to lean —
or cry — upon.
“Luanna was a wonderful
person who truly showed she
cared,” says Steve Fitzer,
BCMS CEO. “This quality was
evident in her relationships
with the staff and members
of the medical society as well
as in her dedication to producing
a top-notch publication
for BCMS.”
Co-workers at the Cancer
Therapy and Research Center
were no less glowing or affectionate
in their feelings
toward her. “Some people
face more adversity in their lives than people can
imagine, and manage to be wonderful in their personality
and productive in their life,” says Alex
Miller, MD, the surgeon who treated Ms. Crow for
the ductal carcinoma. “She was such a person.”
The Publications Committee that worked with
Ms. Crow to produce San Antonio Medicine whilst
she worked at the BCMS was heartbroken to hear
of her passing. With many kind words, and also
many expressions of sorrow, the physician members
of the committee talked about how good it
had been to work with her, and how much she will
be missed.
In a time like this, when one so precious to so
many has been lost, there are no words of comfort
sufficient to quell the pain. But comfort can come
in the memories, in the continued affection, in the
knowledge that up until her last breath, Ms. Crow
was doing the work that she loved to do, and
spreading joy to those around her.
In the end, a life well-spent is the best memorial
one can have.
William Farrar Pipes, MD
22 November 1932 - 2 February, 2008
Dr. William Farrar Pipes, MD, 75,
passed away after a fruitful, service-filled
life. He was president of the Bexar County
Medical Society in 1976. He also served as
the Medical Director for the Northeast
School District for 26 years, as President of the American
Academy of Family Physicians, Alamo Chapter in 1969, as
Chief of Staff of the Southwest Texas Methodist Hospital in
1972, and the Texas Medical Association Board of Councilors
for 15 years.
A life-long resident of San Antonio, Dr. Pipes earned
his medical degree from the University of Texas Medical
Branch in Galveston in 1957. While completing his medical
degree, he married a young woman, Lucile Winerich,
who would remain his sweetheart for 51 years.
After graduating from medical school, Dr. Pipes trained
at Philadelphia General Hospital, moving on to become a
Captain in the U.S. Army at Fort Sam Houston. He served
the community as a long-time family practice physician
from 1960 to 1994.
Dr. Pipes is preceded in death by his parents Ernest and
Ora Pipes and two sons, William Winerich Pipes and
Robert Summers Pipes.
He is survived by his wife of 51 years, Lucile Pipes, son
David Pipes and his wife Ruth of Odell, Nebraska; daughter
Luci Bell and husband Seth of San Antonio; two grandchildren,
Billy Pipes and Lucile Bell; brother Reverend Ernest
Pipes, Jr. and wife Margaret of Santa Monica, California, and
their children Bruce, Gordon, and Heather, along with various
other loving relatives.
Dr. Pipes’ quiet, comforting manner with patients and
his leadership qualities and active yet humanitarian professional
interaction with other physicians will be missed.
John M. Herring, MD passed away on 10 February, 2008,
at the age of 85. After entering Vanderbilt University in 1940
initially to pursue a degree in Engineering, Dr. Herring
enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. He was deployed to the South
Pacific and, upon returning, graduated from Vanderbilt
University in 1947.
Like his father, he felt his true calling to be in medicine,
and he graduated in 1953 from the Medical School at the
University of Tennessee, specializing in Physical Medicine
and Rehabilitation.
He moved his family from Virginia to San Antonio in
1968 when he joined the faculty of the University of Texas
Health Science Center at San Antonio. He retired in 1987
and thus had more time to paint, listen to jazz, and travel.
He is preceded in death by his parents and his son,
Richard E. Herring.
He is survived by his wife of 52 years, Christina M. Herring;
his daughter, Lisa Herring Kouns and husband Brian and
their daughters, Lauren and Jordan; his daughter-in-law,
Melissa S. Herring and her children, Marshall and Rachel.
Dr. Herring’s caring nature and natural gifts as a healer
will be missed.
