New Members Elected to Hospital's Hall of Fame

Each year, a special Hall of Fame Committee is convened to select those remarkable individuals who have contributed to the improvement of healthcare in San Juan County and to the growth and excellence of San Juan Regional Medical Center. We present here the 2007 inductees who will be formally inducted at a ceremony on Tuesday evening, November 6, 2007 at 7:00 pm in the San Juan College Little Theater.

Jack Cline

Jack Cline was a man of incredible energy, who devoted that energy, for as long as he lived, to the community he loved. He was born in Farmington on October 29, 1907. He graduated from Farmington High School in 1925, and attended the University of New Mexico, earning a degree in civil engineering. Jack took over Fruitland Trading Company when his father died, and became a successful and widely known merchant with ownership interest in several trading posts. He also learned to speak fluent Navajo.

Although Jack died at the young age of 47 in 1955, he made remarkable contributions to San Juan County in those few years. He served for years on the hospital board, the San Juan County commission, the First National Bank Board, the San Juan County Republican Party and the Indian Traders Association. Jack was president of the Central Consolidated School Board at the time of his death, and their new high school, Central High School, was dedicated in his honor when it was built.

Jack worked hard for the hospital while he was on the San Juan Hospital board of directors, most notably in obtaining county-wide support, including federal and local funds, to help build the "new 45 bed San Juan Hospital." That building was the foundation for today's San Juan Regional Medical Center. After his death, the hospital recognized Jack's remarkable achievements by naming Medic One Ambulance Substation the Jack Cline Memorial Building.

Raymond Keith

Raymond Keith, born in 1914, was set on his career path at an early age. He landed his first job as a soda-jerk at Fox drug store in Amarillo, Texas when he was in the 8th grade. This modest first step would lead to his exceptional career in pharmacy, and, years later, bring a growing hospital in northwest New Mexico its first pharmacist.

In 1952, the oil and gas boom in Farmington brought many people to the area seeking new opportunities. Raymond was one of those. He moved to Farmington, opened a pharmacy, and operated the business for two years until he joined forces with another local druggist, Black's Pharmacy. Then, in 1959, he joined San Juan Hospital, the once small, rural hospital that was becoming a major institution in the area.

He was the first, and for 17 years, the only pharmacist at San Juan Hospital. He worked long days with few weekends off for many of those years. San Juan Regional Medical Center has always been fortunate to find extraordinary people just when they are most needed. Raymond Keith was one of those extraordinary people – a man who brought care, conscientiousness and expertise to the hospital pharmacy just at the time when that hospital was poised on the verge of its greatest growth.

Dr. Frank Nordstrom

Dr. Frank Nordstrom is a man of intelligence, skill, athletic grace and great compassion who accomplished two important firsts: he was the first pediatrician to practice in the Farmington area, and he was San Juan Regional Medical Center's first full time Medical Director.

At the age of 17, he entered Duke University's Pre-Med program and graduated with a college degree two years later. From there, Frank went on to the University of Illinois Medical School where he received his MD at the age of 24. He served his residency in Pediatrics at Presbyterian- St. Lukes, now Rush Medical College, and was honorably discharged from the Navy about the time the Korean War began.

Dr. Nordstrom came to Farmington in 1954 and for a number of years, was in practice with a group of physicians who formed the San Juan Clinic. After that practice closed, he was a solo practitioner for years, serving the citizens of San Juan County for parts of 4 decades until his retirement in 1988. His retirement, however, was short-lived, and he was asked by San Juan Regional Medical Center administrator Don Carlson to serve as the hospital's first medical director. Frank consented, and he held that position for 3 years, extending his service to the community into its fifth decade. For all those years, he has helped to bring the highest standards of medical care to the people of the San Juan River Valley while showing us all how to live a life of adventure, passion and curiosity.

Carl E. Matthews

Carl E. Matthews is the current Chairman of the Board of the Robert W. Umbach Cancer Foundation and has been on that board since the foundation was created. He also currently serves on the hospital corporation as a representative of St. John's Episcopal Church, and he has been a member of the hospital corporation since 1992.

Carl Matthews was born March 4, 1929 in Newton, Kansas and grew up in Potwin, Kansas. He attended the University of Oklahoma where he received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Petroleum Engineering. His career in the oil and gas industry was interrupted by the Korean War from 1952 until 1954. After the war, he resumed his career as a petroleum engineer. Carl and his new wife, Pat, moved to Farmington in 1960. Carl was working for El Paso Natural Gas Company at the time, and he would spend a large part of his career – 21 years – with that company in Farmington. Through those years, he and Pat raised three children, Jennifer, Chris and Andrew and made many life-long friends in the area.

San Juan Regional Medical Center and San Juan County have benefited richly from Carl's interest in healthcare. From 1993 until 2000, he was on the hospital's board of directors, serving one year as Chairman of the Board. He served on the investment committee for three years. He started serving on the Robert Umbach Foundation when it was created in 2001, and he still serves Chairman of that board today. He has also served on the San Juan Medical Foundation board and has been a Connelly House volunteer.

Charles Martin

Charles "Chuck" Martin arrived from Denver in May, 1952 to serve as the new hospital administrator for San Juan Hospital at a critical time. He was assistant administrator at General Rose Memorial Hospital in Denver when he was tapped to move to Farmington, and he arrived just as a two year building and expansion plan was nearing completion. Not only was San Juan County's economy booming, with new residents flooding in daily, but the new hospital, nearly 3 times larger than the old one, needed to be staffed – and quickly.

Chuck managed to recruit nurses to staff the new hospital, but staffing remained a challenge through the years as the local economy went through several oil booms. One of his more innovative solutions to understaffing was to spearhead a group to start the hospital Auxiliary, a volunteer group that still plays a big role at San Juan Regional Medical Center today.

Charles Martin served as the hospital administrator for 23 years, from 1952 until 1975. These were perhaps the most pivotal years in the history of San Juan Regional Medical Center as it moved from the horse and buggy days to the days of modern healthcare in a large and diverse community. Through all those turbulent years of transition, Charles Martin was the hospital's steady guide.

Alvin S. Hartz, M.D.

Dr. Alvin Hartz was teh first board certified specialist in San Juan County when he moved to Farminton in 1953. Here, he practiced internal medicine until his retirement in 1987 - nearly 35 years. During those years, he served as Chief of Staff at the hospital twice, once in the 1950s and later during the 1980s. Intellectual, dedicated and professional, he devoted his career to practicing hands-one medicine. Early in his career, for instance, before moving to Farmington, he had a job at a teaching hospital, where he spent most of his time teaching and consulting. "It wasn't a satisfactory career for me because I wanted to practice," he said.

When he moved here, during the first oil and gas boom that exploded the population from 3500 to over 12,000 in two years, he certainly got his wish. This is the way he described those early days:

The town had grown so much that people were looking for doctors, and although I would have preferred to do cardiology, pulmonary diseases and that kind of thing, the first six months I was taking in pediatrics (until Frank Nordstrom came in)...and even...some deliveries...And we all had to take on emergencies every five or six days.

Alvin Hartz was born in Baltimore, MD and received his B.A. from Johns Hopkins University at the age of 18. He attended medical school at the University of Maryland where he also served his residency. At the end of his residency, he was called into the service in World War II. He served in a number of duty stations includeing the Philippines and in post-war Japan. After the war, he returned to Baltimore, spent time in a fellowship at Harvard. He served the San Juan Community for parts of four decades until his retirement. After retirement, he returned to Milwaukee where he died in 1989.

SJRMC Hall of Fame 2006

• Dr. David Kendall
• Larry Marcum
• Dr. Michael Moran
• Dr. Joe Sharpe
• Myron Taylor
• Jane Turnbull

2005

• Bob Bayless
• Ed Foster
• Dr. John McCulloch
• Frank Nelson
• Jessie Palmer
• L.O. Speer

2004

• Don Carlson
• Dorothy L. Sexton Crossan
• Ben Eastburn
• Eula Griffith
• Ida King