At an early age, Ralph Hathaway knew he wanted to pursue a career in medicine. He wanted to follow in the footsteps of family doctor, whom he referred to as an ìold-fashioned country doctor.îìIn seventh grade I knew what I wanted to do,î Hathaway said. ìI wanted to be a doctor and take care of people.îOf his family doctor and mentor, Hathaway said he ìmarveled at his ways of dealing with people.î Despite knowing that the doctor might hurt him, Hathaway said he always looked forward to going to his office.Born and raised in Hallowell, Maine, Hathawayís first job was at a funeral home. He worked there from the seventh grade through high school graduation, he said. ìI started there doing menial work ñ cleaning, weeding, mowing,î Hathaway said. ìAnd then through the years you progressed up.îWhen he was a sophomore in high school, he got a real taste of medicine when he helped a woman deliver her first baby.Set to graduate from high school in 1951, Hathaway had hoped to enroll in medical school but was financially unable. He joined the naval reserves, where he trained as a nurse.He also met his wife, Amy, during that training. ìI spotted this little redhead and found out who she was and went over and introduced myself,î Hathaway said. ìAnd she told me to get lost.î He persisted, recalling their next encounter. ìShe was knitting a pair of argyle socks, and I said, ëYou know what? Iím going to get those argyle socks, which you are knitting for your boyfriend, and Iím going to marry you,íî Hathaway said.They married in 1954, and after 52 years of marriage, Hathaway is still the proud owner of the argyle socks ñ which have never been worn. A year after they were married, they had their first and only child, William.After being on active duty for three years, Hathaway was discharged but remained in the naval reserves. He was living in New York City then and decided to go to television school. Hathaway worked as a studio camera man for a variety of television shows, but the union soon went on strike, and he didnít.ìBecause I didnít go on strike, I was known as a scab,î Hathaway said. ìAnd when they settled the strike, I found myself with three alternatives: wear cement shoes in the Hudson River, pay a $1,000 fine or get out of Dodge. He chose the latter and packed a bag and headed for Maine on a Greyhound bus.In Portland, Maine, Hathaway worked as a news photographer for a T.V. station. However, medicine called. ìI got the itch that I wanted to be a doctor and I had to figure out how I was going to do it,î he said.Hathaway secretly applied for pre-med at Northeast Missouri State University. His wife, however, found the acceptance letter in the mail, and, although she was surprised, he said she was supportive.He completed his undergraduate work and was then accepted into three medical schools. Hathaway chose the Kansas City College of Osteopathic Medicine.The courses werenít easy, he said, but the bigger challenge was the cost of medical school. With only a $500 scholarship and his wifeís $60-a-week income as a nurse, Hathaway worked three different jobs to make ends meet.He persisted again and graduated from medical school, completing an internship in Maine. Hathaway then set up a private practice in a small town in Maine, where he was the townís only doctor ñ and the countyís medical examiner and deputy sheriff.After 10 years in private practice, Hathaway said he was burned out and called it quits. At the same time, his son had joined the U. S. Air Force and was encouraging his father to do the same. In 1975, Hathaway became a major in the Air Force. After a six-month assignment in New Hampshire, he was sent to Canada, where he went to flight medicine school.For several years, Hathaway served primarily as a flight surgeon in the USAF. He lived all over the map: Alaska, Florida, Washington, Missouri, North Carolina and Texas. He remembers delivering a baby in the bush in an isolated area in the Alaskan wilderness. He also was in Washington when Mount St. Helens erupted ñ he lived nearby.Hathaway retired as an AF colonel in 1993 and for the next five years he and his wife traveled throughout the United States in their motor home. Their goal: visit the 50 states.In recent years, Amy Hathaway began developing medical problems. She now resides in a nursing home. ìShe still knows who I am,î Hathaway said. ìShe raises that good arm up when she sees me come into the room.îHathaway now keeps busy giving lectures to area groups on the dangers of radon. Heís a member of the Masons and the Shriners. He said he found his ìnicheî with the Shriners. ìI can help take care of kids, he said.îA little more on Ralph HathawayWhat are you currently reading?ìReaderís Digestî and ìUp Most for the Highest,î a devotional bookName someone you admire and why?Ronald Reagan, Gen. Patton, Gen. Eisenhower: They were all great leaders. Reagan was a great conservative leader, and the two generals were great generals from World War II.Favorite vacation spot(s)?The Grand Teton Mountains, the New England Coast, and the Redwoods of California.Favorite memory?Probably when I met President Eisenhower when I was a news photographer. He was touring the New England area, visiting Sen. Margaret Chase Smith. They offered him Maine lobster to eat for dinner, and he turned it down for a steak.
