James Thomas Pipers

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Dear Classmates, LLU Class of 1960,

Greetings. We are 71 survivors. I wish each of you many more healthy years.

I was California-born in 1933 to Greek immigrant parents who daily blessed their good fortune to be Americans. Not going to college was never an option: “The first generation works with its hands, but the second generation works with its mind.” The gentle encouragement toward our noble profession was always present. Thanks Dad.

What a great ride it has been for all of us. Being the depression generation, we found the world’s opportunities uncrowded. Unlike our parents, we avoided a 30s-type depression or a conflagration like WWI and II. We shared in the world’s unprecedented prosperity while living longer healthier lives.

When I started orthopedics we had three antibiotics and the surgical implants looked as though they had been made in someone’s garage. Then they gave us all those amazing new tools to enjoy.

Of course the enjoyment did not extend to lawyers, politicians or insurance companies, but we managed, and I am very grateful for the opportunity our education provided.

A few of life’s landmarks: After graduation, I enjoyed the next five years at the Los Angeles County Hospital, completing a rotating internship and orthopedic residency. We all spent some time at the “rock” so we understand that “survived” is probably a better word.

I opened a solo orthopedic practice in Pomona and managed to pass boards, gain admittance to the specialty academy and have our fourth daughter (although those are not necessarily listed in order of importance). You will all recall that 1965 was the year they passed Medicare so our waiting rooms filled immediately.

In spite of a thriving practice, we longed for greener mountains. So in 1973 we moved to Bellevue, Washington. That was the year of the famous Seattle billboard: “Last one out please turn off the lights.” Not exactly perfect timing! Dick Thornton and I shared an office for a few months then I went on to join four UW grads and enjoyed several more years of very satisfying practice. None of us won the Nobel Prize or found a cancer cure, but we all did our best to practice good medicine and to make ourselves available to our patients. I managed to hold the usual medical staff offices, serve 14 years on the hospital board and do a little teaching.  Medicine is a tough high wire act, but where else can you enjoy such comrades.

Our Bellevue hospital had been considering changing locations, but good medical office space was scarce. So in 1975 a small group of us built a Northwest-style medical building. The process was much harder then I had imagined, but in the process, I learned a bit about commercial development. This proved helpful as Bill Gates transformed Bellevue/Redmond into a sister city of Seattle. Sometime you get lucky just being there.

Luck ran out in 1983. Our marriage of 23 years failed as my father lay dying. Mom developed Alzheimer’s, the economy tanked, I was audited by the IRS, sued twice, and my four daughters were quick to express their unhappiness. Eventually whoever was putting pins in my doll relented. Jan and I parted amicably, I won the lawsuits, the IRS audit was “no change” and my daughters gradually came around. In spite of a 300-plus stress score, I didn’t get sick. This August I attended my eldest granddaughter’s wedding who, with her husband, is an LLU student.

In 1985 I married Dorie, a pretty OR nurse. (She is quick to point out that we did not break up each other’s marriages.) She brought three beautiful daughters to add to my four, who by this time were all very nearly adult. We now have 13 grandchildren among the bunch. Their parents are all competent adults bearing up under life’s vagaries at least as well as we did.

Thanks to Bill Gates, by 1987, I was in a position to retire. So while we were still healthy enough to sleep on the ground, we decided to take the opportunity. The last two decades have been an adventure of enjoying family, reading a thousand books (everything from string theory to Grisham’s novels), doing a bit of overseas medicine and poking around as many interesting places in the world as we could find.

Of course it has not all been wonderful. This year we acquired a second home in Arizona and took up golf. Impossible! Who started this ridiculous game anyway?

Our best to all, 

Jim Pipers