Paul Dr. Langlinais

Paul was the fourth child born to J. Willis Langlinais and Nellie St. Julien Langlinais.

He was preceded in departure by both parents, a sister Baby Marie deceased at birth, his brother, Rev. Willis Langlinais Jr., S.M., Ph.D., and his sister Marie Lucie Kirtley, R.N., B.A.

On the date above, Paul moved on to the next phase of his existence.

Those who will follow: his wife, Carol, his sister Nell Heffernan, B.A., M.A. lives in Northeast Maryland, children; Hank, Nevyn Rick, Michelle Langlinais Stout, Lorena Kanak and husband Jerome, Rachel Langlinais, Matt Langlinais and wife Lisa, Maureen Rast, Bridgette Watson and husband Drew, Grandchildren; Zeke Stout, Evan Langlinais, Amanda Heyen, Sara Ware, Marissa Stout, Kevin Kanak, David Kanak, Luke Langlinais, Marc Rast, Troy Langlinais, Tristan Watson, Matthew Paul Langlinais, Great grandchildren, Paul Earl Heyen, Zori Aaralyn Stout, and a new baby due in December.

Paul has elected to be cremated.

Honorary Pallbearers: Sons - Hank, Rick, Matt; Sons-in-law - Jerome, Drew; Friends - Dallas Cassel, Tom Benson, Bob Jackson, Jack Gerson, Charles Coben, Stanley Cohen, Robert Goldberg, Tito Tawil, Charles Lerner and Tom Roddy.

Read on to share Paul's life story.

Paul was the fourth child born to J. Willis Langlinais and Nellie Marie St. Julien Langlinais. Their first child was a girl who died shortly after birth. Then came a boy, J.Willis Langlinais Jr., followed by a girl, Marie Lucie Langlinais, then Paul and then the youngest, Marie Nell Langlinais.

By age 5 he had contracted all the common childhood diseases. As was customary at the time; all four of us had our tonsils removed on the same day by the same surgeon.

He began elementary school at age 5 ½. There was no law requiring age 6 as a minimum, but all of us were so big I think our folks were ashamed to see us not in school.

I became an altar boy when I was 6, mostly because our mother was a daily 6:00 mass attendee so the priests decided my brother and I could come in more easily than most of the boys.

In the second week of my second grade I was struck and run over by a city Police car in route to direct school traffic at a nearby school. It was determined that he was in the throes of a grand mal seizure and did not see me. He stopped a block down the street because he thought he had a flat tire. I suffered a fractured left femur thigh bone, multiple jaw fractures and a cerebral concussion. I was sent home two days later. This was all in the year 1932. We learned that a month earlier he had run over another pedestrian under the same circumstances. During my recuperation, the City treated me like a king; frequent visits by the Chief of Police bearing gifts. In addition, the Fire Dept. sent their big hook and ladder truck with the rear wheel steering to take me for a ride. I often wonder in today's litigious society what that accident would have been worth. The City paid the hospital and doctor bills; I believe the total was less than $200.00. Our family doctor at the time recommended that the family not sign any release papers for two 2 years in case new or ongoing symptoms presented themselves My sister Lucie, always said the family signed too soon. As an aside the number of the car was #32.

I joined the Boy Scouts when I was 12 and attended a couple of summer camps but never progressed beyond Tenderfoot.

I attended grade school at St. Gerard's Parochial School. At that time there was no 8th grade so I entered high school at Central Catholic High school when I was 12 in 1938. Joining the Drum and Bugle Corps, I played the bugle and the trumpet through my junior year. After a verbal confrontation with the director I was tossed out of the Corps. with the director promising I would receive no ranking in the R.O.T.C. in my senior year. A retired army sergeant was in charge of the R.O.T.C. and really, totally disliked the band director so he immediately named me Regimental Adjutant with the rank of Captain. During my sophomore year I began working at a grocery store named Handy-Andy. We worked from 7:00 A.M. until 7:30 P.M. sacking groceries, sweeping floors and stocking shelves. The pay for the day was $2.00 less 2 cents for Social Security. That was only on Saturdays. In my junior year I began to work selling women's shoes and hand bags at Baker's Shoe Store owned by a chain called Edison Bros. The manager was Mr. Walberg, and the assistant was Mr. Landisman. We worked 3 or 4 afternoons a week and all day Saturday, for commission only. One Easter week I earned $39.00 before taxes.

I played football in my senior year as right end. Our team was called the Iron Men of '42.

During High school and my first year in college I dated many girls. I really enjoyed dancing.

In the spring of '42, when I was 16, I spent my earnings taking flying lessons at the San Antonio Municipal Airport. The cost was $10.00 per hour. $8.00 to rent the plane and $2.00 for the instructor. I was cleared for solo after 7½ hours of instruction. This was all done in a Piper Cub J3, which at that time sold for $3, 200.00 new.

I entered St. Mary's University in the fall of '42. I did poorly as a student and did not register for my sophomore year. Instead I went to work for the San Antonio Transit Co., the local bus company as a parts department clerk on the night shift, 11:00 P.M. until 7:00 A.M. I stayed there until I enlisted in the Army Air Corps. in October '43.

I was first sent to Dodd Field, an induction center here in San Antonio for two weeks. From there we went to Sheppard Field in Wichita Falls for Basic Training for 6 weeks of training and testing for the air force pilot cadet program. From there we went to Merced Air Force Base in California where we learned we had passed the exam for pilot training. After 3 weeks we were sent to Ellensburg Wash. for college courses. That lasted 3 months followed by a transfer to Pecos Air Force Base in West Texas where we did a number of odd jobs that had little to do with actual flying. From there we were sent to Mather Air Force Base in Sacramento, Calif. where we did mostly maintenance work for 2 months. We were then sent to Deming, New Mexico where we began training as Bombardiers??? Subsequently we were sent to Luke Air Force Base just outside Phoenix Ariz. This was the home base for a smaller facility south of Phoenix at Ajo, Arizona, just north of the Mexican border. The cadets and we were flying AT 6's. There were many exciting moments there. Our job was to tow targets for a group of Chinese cadets to learn air-to-air gunnery flying

AT 6s and firing at the targets we were towing. We were then sent to Roswell N.M. for separation and discharge. We were given $200.00 and all our government uniforms.

I registered for classes in pre-med at St. Mary's University in January 1946. Very few of the hours I had completed in '42-'43 were acceptable for Medical School application. I carried a full academic load from then until graduating in May 1948 with a degree in Biology. During my senior year I worked as a private duty nurse on the 11:00-7:00 shift.

Soon after my return to San Antonio, my sister Nell, who was attending Our Lady of the Lake College, introduced me to one of her acquaintances, Margaret Mary Goodwin. Margaret and I began dating in early '46 and were married in August of 1948. I went to work as a timekeeper for a construction company, Hill and Combs, for which my dad had worked as masonry supervisor for many years. I learned I could make more money as a bricklayer's helper, so I quit the timekeeper job. This job convinced me beyond a doubt that I did not want to be a bricklayer and being a physician was by far a better profession. Margaret's parents gave us a 1942 Dodge. The first home Margaret and I had was a garage apartment on Denver Blvd. We next lived in a duplex off of Woodlawn Ave. From there we moved to an upstairs apartment where her lovely Aunt Lorena lived in the downstairs. This was on Zarzarmora and ??? Street. In 1951 we moved into a G.I. home on Lark St. It was a 2 bedroom, one bath house, as I recall it cost $8, 700.00. I then went to work at Southwest Research Institute for $190.00 a month. While there, I worked on a Master's Degree in biology and was given a raise to $210.00 a month. I was offered a job at Ft. Sam Houston Medical Lab for $250.00 a month testing food and examining tissue from dogs suspected of having rabies and testing for flu virus. I had been applying for admission to the Univ. of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston TX. since the summer of '48 and every year until '52. In the words of the University I was never REJECTED, I was simply NOT ACCEPTED. In the spring of 1952 I was declared an alternate and asked to come to Galveston for an interview. I was accepted. By this time Margaret and I had Hank, born in October '49 and Rick in '50. I was notified the week before classes that I had been accepted. Margaret's parents, Guilford and Mabel Goodwin, immediately began re-arranging their home for Margaret and the boys to live with them while I was in Medical school in Galveston living in the fraternity house of Phi Beta Pi

Things did not go well. By late October, early November the boys were in the hospital being treated for dehydration following severe vomiting and diarrhea. Margaret felt she should come to Galveston with me so we borrowed my sister Nell's Studebaker and a trailer and moved our essential needs over the Thanksgiving weekend. Our first home was a nice, but small, one bedroom apartment where we paid reduced rent because I agreed to maintain the lawn around the building. I'm not sure, but as I recall, my parents agreed to pay the rent, and Margaret's parents were helping significantly. In the spring of '53, her parents gave us a new Chevrolet. I had begun working in the hospital blood bank every 5th night drawing blood from donors for transfusions. This job paid $70.00 a month and I sold a unit of blood every other month for $25.00. In addition, I had taken a job as "Insulin extern" which meant being at the psych hospital at 5:00 A.M. 7 days a week. This job paid $75.00 per month. I had also been working in the physiology lab based on my work at Southwest Research Institute for another $80.00 per month. I neglected to mention, my G.I. bill was paying me $150.00 per month.

By this time we had moved into a much larger home and Michelle was born in '55.

The wife of a classmate and Margaret started a day care center for children of Med. Students. This venture turned out to be less than we had hoped and was discontinued. We later moved into the upstairs of a home of a lovely family named Pistoni. They were kind and generous and helped to spoil the children. At this point I received a letter from the State Comptrollers office stating it had been noted that they were sending me 4 checks a month while being a full time medical student. They insisted that I would have to give up one of my jobs. It did not take long for me to resign from the insulin job.

In the spring of '53 I failed in Biochemistry, but was told I could take a make-up exam at the end of the summer. I failed that exam also and was ready to start packing to return to San Antonio, but both sets of parents insisted I should stay and repeat the entire freshman year, which was the school policy. I finally graduated in the spring of '57. We moved back to San Antonio to the G. I. house, which had been rented out while we were in Galveston.

I began my internship at the Santa Rosa Hospital for $225.00 a month plus meals when I was on duty. By the way, my internship pay was distinctly higher than internships at other city hospitals. Lorena was born in April of my senior year. We added a large bedroom and bath at the G.I. house at 154 Lark Street and borrowed money to buy a new Chevrolet Station Wagon.

Toward the end of my internship I visited Wade Lewis, a high school classmate who was in his fourth year of private practice as a General Practitioner. He said a Radiologist he knew had invited him to do a Radiology residency, which he would subsidize, and then Wade would sell me his existing practice for $3, 500.00, which was an incredible offer. We were all happy until the wife of the Radiologist stated she would not agree to the subsidy her husband had offered. Soon thereafter, I received an invitation to move to Austin for a 3 year residency in psychiatry. This was out of the question for me and I mentioned it to Wade. He was very excited and applied for the opening that had been offered to me and was immediately accepted. He and his family moved to Austin and I moved into his office. Wade had sent a letter introducing me to the core members of his practice. My first day was a Saturday morning and I saw 20 patients. This entire sequence was a Godsend. No new doctor could have seen a full day of patients for several months or a year or more. Wade had grossed $30, 000.00 that year. Since I added surgery and obstetrics, which Wade, had not done, I managed to gross $32, 000.00, which my Dad thought was villainous. My surgery was restricted to tonsillectomies, appendectomies, and hernias. I did get paid as an assistant when I scrubbed for the more difficult procedures. I delivered 18 babies my first year. At the time a delivery was $150.00 including circumcision. Parents of newborn girls thought this was unfair. An office visit was $3.00, house calls were $10.00 and hospital visits were $5.00. I began a rotating call schedule with Dr. Ed Mueller, Sr. and his son. Dr. Mueller, Jr. Dr. Ed Mueller, Sr. had delivered three of our children and Junior and I had been in High school together. We alternated weekends, they covered my practice Wednesday's noon to midnight and I covered their practice Thursday's noon to midnight. I discontinued obstetrics in 1971 having delivered 282 babies, but I really was too busy to continue OB.

My first office nurse was from the Santa Rosa who worked with me for about 2 years until she became pregnant. Another nurse whose name escapes me followed her. Next was Sue Joyce, followed by Kay Casper who married while working with me. After Kay were Joan Smiser and Barbara Elliott. Danine Luddeke worked with me until 1985 when I went into the multiple clinic situation. I could not have been as successful without Kathy Hewlett, who served as a most effective manager. I was on the staff of Santa Rosa, Baptist and Methodist hospitals and later St. Luke's hospital as well. I served as 'on-premise doctor' for Methodist 2 shifts a month. I was at this time delivering babies at the Salvation Army home for unwed mothers. That was only for 1 year.

At home we now had Rachael, born in September 1960. Margaret and I had planned to buy a lot on Oban St. near Mount Sacred Heart School where all the children had been attending. Now Margaret's parents insisted on buying 2 adjoining lots on Barchester just 2 blocks from the Oban lot. We then built a home for $24, 000 and moved into it in1961. At about this time I was in a bowling league bowling once a week. I subsequently joined an international bowling league. We went to Monterrey Mexico for a 3-day tournament, once a year, and then hosted them in San Antonio once a year. I was elected president to give me some unneeded headaches.

In 1962 Matt was born. Now with six children, we hired live-in help; a gentle young girl named Ophelia.

In 1965 I had become the house doctor for the Oblate operated St.Anthony junior seminary down the street from my office. One day the priests talked me into paying their entry fee for a charity golf tournament. They insisted that I play with them knowing I had never held a golf club in my hands. The night before the tournament they took me to a driving range and taught me how to play golf. The next day I won the class C trophy because with my score of 132, no one else was as bad. I continued to play and developed a distinctly better game for many years, but when I reversed and began playing more and more and evermore poorly, I eventually surrendered and withdrew from active participation in 2003.

Note: I didn't quit, I simply withdrew from 'active participation'.

Margaret and I separated in fall 1966 and I moved into an apartment 3 blocks from our home on Barchester, situated so that the children would not have to cross a street to come to visit. We divorced in early 1970.

In 1969 a group of 32 doctors formed a partnership to buy property and build a hospital very close to the Methodist hospital. I was elected treasurer and one of the three General Partners. We opened "SAN ANTONIO COMMUNITY HOSPITAL" in August 1971; I was elected and served as chief of staff for 3 years followed by serving as Chairman of the Board of Directors. I was then asked to serve as chairman of the PSRO committee, a job that didn't make me popular with my peers.

In 1973 our partnership built a 60, 000 sq. ft. office building adjacent to the hospital. Two years later we built a second identical office bldg. I was drafted to be a co-manager of the buildings. Seven years later we sold all three buildings at a decent profit.

In October of 1977 I married Carol Lively, a single mother of two girls, Maureen, 11 and Bridgette, 8. I feel as strongly about these girls as I do my biological children. We lived in an apartment complex called Oak Hills Village on Babcock Road, just five minutes from my office and stayed there 8 years. In 1985 we moved to Canyon Creek Village. Due to distinct differences with

our landlord, we moved to my parents' home a year later. The home was vacant at the time. We stayed there for 3 months, then back to Canyon Creek Village to a different condo, which we purchased and continue live in and enjoy after 20 years.

In 1984 I was approached by Humana Health Plans to take over and operate three walk-in clinics here and one in Portland, Texas near Corpus Christi. Subsequently we acquired 4 more clinics

giving us a total of 7 clinics, all of which did well except the one in Portland, which we left after one

one year.

In 1992 we sold all of the clinics to Dr. Salustiano, which he lost in less than a year, leaving me with over $100, 000.00 to be paid by me. An acquaintance, Tom Jackson, executive director of a health care plan called Physicians Corporation of America, or P.C.A., invited me to be regional medical director, meaning San Antonio and surrounding counties and going south to Corpus Christi. Mr. Jackson was terminated and replaced by Mr. Alan Preston who left when Humana bought P.C.A.. Humana already had two Medical Directors so I was "not retained" rather than being terminated. I was given a very generous exit package, which paid me with all benefits through summer of 1998.

Going back ten years, Carol had been looking for land that we could buy with the Veterans Land Grant. That was five acres for $200 down and $150 per month for thirty years at 3.25% interest. She found an ideal place near Pleasanton, Texas, 5.45 acres with an adjoining 3.26 acres, which we bought separately. There was a stock tank, which we stocked with bass and perch. In 1999 we had a small but fine little house built there. One bedroom 1½ bath with large storage space and a two car carport. We have really enjoyed it, as have our children and grandchildren and many friends.

As of today, June 2006, my eldest son Hank, is a Radio Transmission Engineer in Tucson, Arizona and single. Rick is 55, a licensed teacher, yoga instructor, Massage Therapist and an accomplished artist, living in Austin. He is single and has two children from an earlier marriage. Michelle is 50, Manager of Sales for a Christian Publishing Company, a single mother of three adult children and lives in Franklin, Tennessee. Lorena is 48, an accomplished R.N., married with two children and lives in Hallettsville, TX. Rachael is 46, works as a talented Marketing Director and is single. Matt is 44, a Buyer and Marketing Director in the Crude Oil Industry, married and has 3 children and 2 stepchildren. Maureen is 40, a Worker's Comp. Billing Specialist and a single mother with one child. Bridgette is 37, a Legal Assistant and married with one child.

I began smoking when I was 16 years old and quit when I was 49. I developed emphysema and for the last four years I have been on supplementary oxygen, which I use most of the time but I can enjoy lower levels of activity without oxygen.

This is written in June of 2006. My current activities are maintaining the place in Pleasanton, we call El Sitio, fun with Carol, reading, visiting with children, grandchildren and continuing my hobby since I was 13, building, assembling, and painting model airplanes, boats and cars. I think we have over 250 airplanes hanging from the ceiling, mostly in the garage and the storeroom at El Sitio.

To this point I have had a full and mostly happy life.

Adios.