Milton William Talbot

Milton William Talbot, Jr. died September 24, 2009, in Austin, Texas. He was born on February 1, 1922 in Evangeline Parish, LA, the only child of Milton William Talbot, MD, and Willie Alice SoRelle. He grew up and attended public schools in Leesville, LA, where he became drum major of the high school band, participated enthusiastically in the Boy Scouts and earned Eagle Scout rank. He graduated from Leesville High School in 1939 as valedictorian, and graduated cum laude from Harvard College in 1943. He entered Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans following his Harvard graduation. While at Tulane he was a member of the Phi Chi medical fraternity, and served as president of his class and the Medical Student Body. Along with his medical school classmates, he completed the four-year medical school curriculum without breaks between class years on a three-year wartime schedule was inducted into military service and was a member of the Army Specialized Training Program. During his senior year he was commandant of the Tulane detachment. He graduated in 1946 second in his class, was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha, medicine's national honor society. Following a year of internship at Charity Hospital in New Orleans he attended the School of Aviation Medicine at Randolph Field, graduating with the designation of Flight Surgeon. He was subsequently assigned to the 38th Light Bombardment Wing at Itami AFB, Japan, where he served as the Wing Flight Surgeon and Base Hospital Commander with the rank of Captain. He counted his two years in Japan as among his best, where he had time after years of study to enjoy the country and where he met and fell in love with Judy Conley, who he married in 1950. After his return to civilian life in 1949, Dr. Talbot served pediatrics residency at Charity Hospital in New Orleans, became certified as a Diplomate of the American Board of Pediatrics and was made a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics. At the completion of his residency he accepted a position as a pediatrician with the Malone and Hogan Clinic, a large multi-specialty group in Big Spring, TX. He remained in Big Spring with Malone and Hogan, raised his family, made many close, lifelong friends, and was an active member of the community and his church. He and his family moved to Austin in 1971, where he entered practice with Dr. Maurice Cohn. He and Dr. Cohn founded the Capital Pediatric Group with which he practiced general pediatrics until his retirement in 1998. Dr. Talbot had many avocations and interests. He was an enthusiastic instrument-rated private pilot with over 1500 hours in high performance single engine aircraft; a highly ranked shotgun marksman who competed nationally in Skeet competition; an avid and skillful hunter of dove and quail, and who cherished time spent with his daughter hunting elk in Colorado's high country. But his major activities and contributions were related to his profession and his church. He was a member of the Howard County and the Travis Country Medical Societies. He served both as chairman of their governing boards and as president and as a delegate to the Texas Medical Association House of Delegates. As a member of the Texas Medical Association, he chaired numerous committees and for nine years chaired its Council on Constitution and Bylaws, where his interest and skill in organizational structure facilitated the design and implementation of a major reorganization of the Association. He served twelve years as a Delegate from the TMA to the American Medical Association House of Delegates. With privileges in most of the local hospitals, his major affiliation was with Brackenridge, which provided the principal facilities for the hospitalization of sick children. He served as Chief of the Pediatric Service, Chairman of the Medical Executive Committee and as President of the Medical Staff, and for many years as Chair of its committee on Constitution and Bylaws. His involvement with the care of children at Brackenridge led to his constant attempt to improve their care and culminated in his leadership of the effort to establish a hospital on the Brackenridge campus specifically for children. This effort culminated with the creation of Children's Hospital of Austin in 1984. He designed the staff structure for Children's, and was its first Chief of Staff. Through his participation and leadership in the Texas Pediatric Society and the Texas Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, his organizational involvement with the medical care of children extended beyond Austin. He served as president of the Texas Pediatric Society, Chair of its Executive Board and Chair of its Committee on Constitution and Bylaws, in which capacity he organized the restructuring and ultimate unification of the two, established a single entity that could more successfully influence issues of children and their health throughout the state. He held the position of Clinical Professor of Pediatrics from the University of Texas Medical Branch and received the Sidney Kaliski Award for meritorious service to the Children of Texas and the Charles Daeschner Award for lifetime achievement, both awarded by the Texas Pediatric society, and was named Brackenridge Hospital "Physician of the Year" in 1983. Dr. Talbot was a member of the Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in which he served on its vestry, as senior warden and in numerous capacities as a Lay Minister and Verger. He had similarly served at St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Big Spring, where he was also instrumental in the design of the church as the chair of its building committee. Throughout his distinguished professional career, he most of all adored his family, all of whom adored him in return. He was a loving and compassionate husband and father, and took great pride in his children and grandchildren. He and Judy have a host of wonderful friends, whose company has been a source of enormous pleasure. He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Judy Conley Talbot, four children: Anne Talbot Draper and her husband John, of Steamboat Springs, Colorado, Martha Talbot Wyckoff and her husband Michael of Austin, Paul William Talbot and his wife Laura of Dallas and Emilie Talbot Brooks and her husband Gordon of Burlingame, CA.; nine grandchildren: Dow Draper of Kirkland, WA; Brad Draper of St. Paul, MN; SoRelle Wyckoff, Talbot Wyckoff, Catherine Talbot, Anne Talbot, Christopher Talbot, Miles Brooks and Hugh Brooks, and one great grandchild, Sydney Draper. Memorial services will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, September 28, 2009 at the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd, 3201 Windsor Road. For those wishing to make memorial contributions the family suggests the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd, 3201 Windsor Rd., Austin, TX; St. Mary's Episcopal Church, P.O. Box 2949, Big Spring, TX; and the Texas Pediatric Society Foundation, 401 West 15th Street, Ste 682, Austin, TX.