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Doc Sid and Patti Walker have a special place in
their hearts for the 100 Club. That’s because they might never have met
if they hadn’t both belonged.
In her early years Patti aspired to be a nun. Her parents, however, had
different goals for their daughter. She didn’t get their permission to
enter the convent. Instead, she finished high school and went on to
college at the University of Wisconsin, where she met her husband Ken.
They promised her father that she would get her degree after they were
married, and this she did, attending classes while either pregnant or
carrying a nursing infant in a sling. While working on her doctorate she
became interested in the work of educator Maria Montessori, studying
with two professors who had taught under Montessori. Patti incorporated
the Montessori Method in the early childhood classes that she taught at
Mount Mary College in Milwaukee. By this time, she was the mother of
four children.
Sid was a Kansas City boy. He attended K.U. at Lawrence KS for his
pre-med education. From there it was on to K.U. Med School in the Navy
V-12 program. It was during his internship that a beautiful student
nurse bewitched him. Lee and Sid were married and over the next several
years brought three children into the world. After his general and
orthopedic residency Sid went off to do his part in the Korean War. He
was stationed at the Osaka Army Hospital in Japan, where many orthopedic
casualties came under his care. He fused joints and did spinal surgery
on patients with tuberculosis. The experience here contributed greatly
to his bone and joint expertise. While in Osaka he found enough spare
time to tour the beautiful island of Honshu. He found Japan fascinating
from both a travel and medical standpoint.
One interesting experience was the responsibility of caring for 500
prisoners of war, including both North Korean and Chinese. Sid had a
hard time keeping track of x-rays since the patients smuggled them under
the fence to their comrades on the outside, who removed the silver from
the films.
After the war, Sid returned to Michigan and completed his formal
training at the Henry Ford Hospital. From there, he set up a private
practice in orthopedics on the shores of Lake Huron. He was active in
the Orthopedics Surgeons Association and produced papers and exhibits
which were internationally recognized. Before his retirement, he took up
the then newly invented science of arthroscopy. It is now used
extensively to repair knee joints and other conditions which formerly
required invasive surgery.
Sid and his wife Lee decided to semi-retire to Glenwood Springs, where
he practiced part-time with Doctors Derkash and Weaver. Hiking with Hal
Sundin, the Shermans and the Wheelocks was a favorite activity. This
group became part of the start of the 100 club. Sid became known as the
“Medicine Man” and sometimes the “Witch Doctor.” This was after he found
a dead porcupine and developed for the first time in the history of
medicine the science of “porcupuncture.” He also is noted for inventing
the “manure poultice” for sprains and contusions. He lost his wife Lee
in 1999, the same year he completely retired.
The 100 Club & Sunlight ski area were also an important part of life for
Patti and Ken.. Patti relates hosting Halloween parties and not knowing
the names of the people she wanted to invite. With no membership list at
that time, Patti would call Hal, describe the person she wanted to
invite and Hal would give her the name. At her final party before Ken
went to the nursing home, Patti entertained one hundred fourty people at
her home. Ken died in 2000.
Sid proposed to Patti in Australia by asking her if she would consider
wearing a “Patti Walker” pin to 100 club functions. Patti said “Yes” and
they were married in 2001. Sid says if it hadn’t been for the 100 Club,
his life for these four years would have been dull, dreary, despondent
and without interest, since he would have never known Patti. They now
live in Battlement Mesa, home of several other 100 Clubbers
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