Dr. H. Sprague Taveau IV

Dr. Horatio Sprague Taveau, IV was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to H. Sprague Taveau, III and Catherine M. Humphreys on March 27, 1943. As a child and son of an Army Air Corps/U.S. Air Force NCO, he traveled the U.S. and other countries. He attended schools in Plattsburg, New York where he graduated from high school in 1961. Sprague had a dream, or more of an obsession, to be a small town family doctor. His dreams were delayed by the Vietnam conflict, as he enlisted in the U.S. Army as an 11C Mortar Crewman in 1962 and was stationed at Ft. Benning, Georgia, and then Fairbanks, Alaska, immediately after graduation from Advanced Individual Training. He rose quickly through the ranks, attaining the rank of Staff Sergeant in 1965 and becoming a Drill Sergeant, assigned to Ft. Benning, Georgia. Sprague served two tours in Vietnam, the first from 1965-66, and the second from 1967-68. During his time in Vietnam, he earned a Silver Star, multiple Bronze stars for Valor, a Combat Infantryman’s badge, a Purple Heart, and a Battle Field Commission, among other decorations and awards. He fought in the Idrang Valley and in other storied battles as a member of the fabled 1st and 2nd Squadrons, 7th US Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division.

After Sprague returned from his second tour in Vietnam, his dreams of becoming a doctor were reignited. He was hearing his calling to graduate from college and take his entrance exams. He was accepted to the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, class of 1977. He served in many leadership roles while in medical school including being class president. He frequently donated blood playing for the PCOM Ice Hockey Team, and was the President of the Lambda Omicron Gamma (LOG) fraternity. After medical school, he did not find a small town to serve in a Norman Rockwell-esque fashion, but instead completed a family practice residency at Madigan Army Medical Center in Fort Lewis, Washington. Sprague then served as deputy commander for clinical services at Fox Army Health Center at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama. He returned to Washington State where he served as Chief of Family Practice at Madigan Army Medical Center, and as Division Surgeon, 9th Infantry Division. The Army then decided to send him to Korea, where he served as the Division Surgeon, 2nd Infantry Division, “Second to None”, at Camp Casey.

Upon returning to the States, Sprague served as the Deputy Hospital Commander at Reynolds Army Community Medical Center, and as III Corps Artillery Surgeon at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He was awarded the Legion of Merit for his role in designing the current tactics, techniques, and procedures for medical evacuation in a theater of operations. Sprague decided to retire from the Army as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1987. On February 3, 1990, Sprague married his soulmate and best friend, Jean Forsberg, in Jacksonville, Arkansas. She and Sprague then continued his desire of finding a small town to serve as an old-time, small town family doctor. This led them to practices in Beggs, Oklahoma, Saint John, Kansas, and Rockport, Texas. After a while, he realized he was not meant for this role and the Vietnam War had shaped him into a leader, commanding troops in battle. This is what led him to work as an ER Doctor and Director in Corpus Christi, Texas, Abilene, Texas and Amarillo, Texas. He loved being an Emergency Room Doctor. Every shift brought him back to the gallant and courageous days when he was a young Captain commanding a company to overtake or repel a superior force. While in Amarillo, along with his duties in the ER, he started work with National Wound Care Company and was their National Medical Director. He was an ER physician and director for more than 10 years until his health caught up with him; he was plagued with back pain throughout his life, [which presumably started after he “unassed” himself from a Bell UH-1 “Huey” helicopter hovering at 30 feet that was taking on .50 caliber enemy fire to the transmission housing behind his head]. Then as age kicked in, he became too slow to keep up with the frenetic pace of the emergency room. He then transitioned to working only in Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy and Wound Care. Sprague was Medical Director for a clinic in Amarillo, Texas, then decided to slow down a bit and moved to the Greater Fort Hood/Killeen area and ran three clinics there for 11 years. Dr. (LTC. Ret.) Taveau succumbed to chronic congestive heart failure on April 19, 2021 in Temple, Texas at the age of 78. He was preceded in death by his parents and two sisters, Kathy Allison and Shelley Jones.

Survivors include his loving wife of 31 years, Jean Taveau of Belton, Texas; his four children, LTC (R) H. Sprague Taveau, V, Dr. Jon W. Taveau, Capt. Jeanelle L. Wadkins, and Mrs. Catherine M. Havins; his nine grandchildren, Christopher (35), Chase (23), Jack (15) , Emily (14), Sam (13), William (11), Natalie (10), Sidney (5), and Avery (3); his three great grandchildren, Karley (13), Inara (9), and Quinton (3); and his siblings, Susan Taveau, Scott Taveau, Lindsey Taveau and Steve Taveau, as well as many colleagues, friends and extended family.

The family will receive visitors from 1-2:00pm, Saturday, May 22, 2021 at the First United Methodist Church of Temple. A funeral services will follow at 2:00pm with Dr. Tom Robbins officiating. Burial, with full military honors, will follow at a later date at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia.

The family requests that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made in Dr. Taveau’s name to the First United Methodist Church of Temple, 102 N. 2nd Street, Temple, Texas 76501 (fumctemple.org/giving).