Dr. Richard H. Ettinger

Dr. Richard H. Ettinger (Dick) a long time resident and distinguished physician from Bend passed away on April 3, 2014 at home in the company of his lifelong sweetheart, Marjorie Larsen Ettinger, whom he met in the third grade. Dick was born on February 9, 1924 in Aurora, Il. His distinguished medical career started in Chicago, IL where he received his MD at the age of 21. Following graduation from Northwestern University School of Medicine he and his young wife, Marge, moved to Washington, D.C where he continued his residency and research in diabetes and glucose metabolism at the Army Medical Service Graduate School, at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, during the Korean war. Dick and Marge moved to Bend in 1954 where he join the Bend Memorial Clinic as their seventh physician. Dick practiced medicine in Bend for 50 years, and was the Chief of Medicine at St Charles Hospital for most his career. He also distinguished himself in medicine when he served as president of the prestigious North Pacific Society of Internal Medicine. In Bend he was a consummate volunteer and civic leader. His contributions included his leading efforts to ban motorized vehicles in the wilderness, serving children on the Citizens Review Board, and he was one of the founders of Volunteers in Medicine Clinic of the Cascades. Valued and highly esteemed as a physician, it was in his personal life that he shone the brightest. The father of a distinguished brood of five, he instilled in all his children, and later in life to his grandchildren, the passion of intellectual pursuits and the love of the outdoors. He was an avid mountain climber, elk hunter, bird watcher, photographer, woodworker, sailor, and fisherman.? His enthusiasm for learning was contagious. He once registered as a graduate student in geology in order to take courses on the geology of the Wallowa Mountains. He loved the mountains and was often found photographing wildflowers along the Metolius, always in the company of his bride. For 25 years he and Marge cataloged the flora of Central and Eastern Oregon, particularly of the Warm Springs Indian Reservation. They donated their collection of plant pressings and photographs to the Museum of Warm Springs, COCC, and Gonzaga University. He is preceded in death by his parents A. Howard Ettinger and Ruby Boldin Ettinger and his sister Carleen Straka of Salem OR. He is survived by his wife Marge Ettinger, daughters Susan Schneider of Bend, and Janice Laxson of Anchorage, AK, and sons Dr. Chip Ettinger of Summerville, OR, Dr. Tom Ettinger of Cashmere, WA, and Dr. Bill Ettinger of Spokane WA, ten grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. In February, Dick celebrated his 90th birthday in Bend with Marge, his children, and their spouses. A family celebration of Dicks life is being planned for later this summer. Dick would love to know that your memory of him was honored with a donation to the Volunteers in Medicine Clinic of the Cascades, 2300 NE Neff Rd. Bend, OR 97701, a cause he cared so much about.