Service to be Saturday For Dr. Paul D. White

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Category: Obituaries

Created on Wednesday, 03 July 2024 14:11

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Dr. Paul White

Dr. Paul White, who came to Sitka in 1972 to go into private practice, died Saturday at the age of 92.
Funeral services will be held at St. Peters-by-the-Sea at 2 p.m. Saturday, July 6.
Paul David White was born on June 16, 1932, in the small northern Texas town of Dumont. By the tender age of five, he was milking cows, and by eight driving tractors in the field, showcasing an industrious spirit that would define his life.
In 1945, he moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to join his mother, an English teacher. There, he attended high school and made the varsity boxing team, a testament to his passion for adventure and challenge.
Always eager for the next big adventure, he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps shortly after high school. Following training in Hawaii, he served a tour of duty in the Korean War with a squad that faced a 45% mortality rate. This harrowing experience instilled in him a profound appreciation for life and a drive to seek out its deeper meanings. The GI Bill allowed him to return to Albuquerque and enroll at the University of New Mexico, where he earned a bachelor of science degree in physics—a passion that never left him. Well into his 60s, he would work math and physics problems to relax.
He then enrolled in medical school at the University of Colorado, earning his MD in 1963. It was there that he met Wanda Batien. They married and remained devoted to each other for the rest of his life. Their son Peter was born in 1961 in Denver.
He completed his medical internship with the U.S. Army in El Paso, Texas, where his daughter Jennifer was born in 1963.
Looking for a way to combine his passions, he took a research position with Douglas Aircraft in Santa Monica, California, working on the Man in Space program. The program investigated the effects of null gravity on the human body by suspending volunteer subjects in a silicone solution to mimic weightlessness. His team’s groundbreaking findings are still used today in the design of space stations and exercise equipment for astronauts. Daughter Colleen joined the family in 1966.
In 1967, Paul accepted a position with the Public Health Service in Seattle, where he completed his surgical residency. Until 1972, he worked as a general surgeon and a clinical instructor for the University of Washington Medical School in Seattle. This period cemented his twin passions for excellence and sharing knowledge—qualities he carried with him throughout his life.
Then came Alaska. At 40, his adventurous spirit led him to The Last Frontier. In late June 1972, he packed his family into a Cessna 180 floatplane and flew to Sitka. There, he joined Dr. George Longenbaugh in private practice and served as a flying doctor to many of the outer lying communities for years. He and George handled the bulk of all surgery practiced in Sitka during the 1970s, demonstrating a level of expertise far beyond the specialization of today.
He retired from private practice in 1987 and flew for Mountain Aviation for a few years before returning to medical practice as an ER doctor and director of EMS at Sitka Community Hospital, manning the ER on weekends until he was in his mid-70s. He loved his EMTs and the crew down at the Fire Hall and took great satisfaction in working with the superlative men and women there, again combining his love of learning and sharing that with others.
Dr. White was a man of many passions, all of which he pursued with his characteristic drive for excellence. Flying was his true love—he once said that given the opportunity he would have dropped everything to be a fighter pilot—and after nearly 50 years flying experience in Southeast Alaska, he was an expert bush pilot. In his 60s, he decided to pursue his interest in aerobatic flying, ultimately buying a red Pitts Special which he delighted in flying over the waters off town in complicated routines that often reached g forces ranging from positive seven to negative five. Many of the locals will recall that little red plane buzzing and stalling, spinning and looping for hours on end over Sitka Sound.
All his life, he demonstrated grace under fire, calmly handling medical emergencies and once dropping a charging bear with a single shot between its eyes from his trusty .308, an event captured on a video that has been making the rounds since.
He was a man with a huge heart who loved to laugh and delighted in his family and community.
He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Wanda; his three children, Peter, Jennifer, and Colleen; grandchildren Jordan and Nicholas Carlson; Jessica Knutson; Kasiah White and Micah White; and five great-grandchildren (with three more on the way).
He will be sorely missed, but his spirit of the pursuit of excellence, adventure, love, and laughter will live on in the hearts of those who knew him, his family said.

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