In Memoriam
Margaret Billingham, MD, CRT ’64
July 14, 2009, at 78. Born in Tanga, Tanzania, she earned her medical degree in 1954 at the Royal Free Hospital Medical School in London. She came to Stanford in 1964, and was a fellow in cardiopulmonary medicine at the VA in Palo Alto with Dr. Fred Eldridge. Billingham moved up the academic ranks until she was named a full professor of pathology in 1988. She also served as the president of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation in 1990 and as president of the Society for Cardiovascular Pathology in 1993. Her pioneering research helped solve a potentially fatal problem that faced patients in the early days of heart transplant surgery. Billingham developed a method of spotting the earliest signs of rejection and created a grading system that enabled cardiologists to act as soon as the problem arose. More than 40 years after Dr. Norman Shumway at Stanford Medical Center performed the first successful heart transplant surgery in the United States, her system is still in use around the world. It is known as “Billingham’s criteria.” She was at Stanford for 43 years and had continued to make major contributions to the development of heart biopsy techniques. At a time when many women were blocked from advancing to senior careers in academia or medicine, Billingham was known for mentoring younger faculty members and supporting their careers. In 1991, she became Stanford medical school’s director of Women in Medicine and Medical Sciences. She and her husband, John, formerly chief of life sciences at the NASA Ames Research Center, retired to the Nevada County community of Penn Valley in 1994. In addition to her husband, John, she is survived by two sons, Bob and Graham, and four grandchildren.
Brice Norman Brown, MD ’72
September 19, 2009, at 63. He attended the University of Iowa, graduating Phi Beta Kappa in 1967 with a BS in chemistry. He went on to receive his medical degree at Stanford and completed his medical residency in San Diego in 1978. Brown was a major in the U.S. Army, where he served as a flight surgeon. He moved to Las Vegas in 1980 and founded a private practice in general surgery, where he remained in practice until 1994. He is survived by his children, Cherin Aquilar and Peter Brown.
John “Jack” Dickinson Milburn III, MD, CRT ’55
August 12, 2009, at 88. Born in East Hampton, Conn., he attended Colorado College and graduated from Dartmouth College. Following completion of medical school at Hahnemann Medical School in Philadelphia, he served in the U.S. Navy. Milburn moved to San Francisco after the Navy to complete Stanford medical school’s residency in obstetrics and gynecology. He then opened a solo practice in Palo Alto, where he remained for 30 years, retiring in 1987. He delivered two generations of babies, and was noted for his careful attention to detail and his polite, respectful approach to the care of women. Milburn was ahead of his time in his approach to the prevention of osteoporosis and heart disease in women. He was a member of the clinical faculty at Stanford and helped to train many residents in the field of ob/ gyn. Milburn was a longtime resident of Woodside, Calif., and was a familiar sight driving his white convertible, with his Dalmatian, Courage, at his side. His home featured the “Silver Dollar Saloon,” where friends and colleagues enjoyed good times with Milburn, who was a generous host. He was previously married to Myra Moss, of San Marino, and is survived by close friends, Loren and Erica Walden of Portola Valley, and Nancy Mason, MD, of Palo Alto.
David Bruce Downie, MD, CRT ’74
April 16, 2009, at 66. He received his medical degree from USC and moved to the Bay Area to complete an internship at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, where he was honored as Intern of the Year. After returning from Vietnam as a captain in the Army Medical Corp, he completed his residency in otolaryngology at Stanford. Most of his career as an ENT head and neck surgeon was at Sunnyvale Medical Clinic/Camino Medical Group and El Camino Hospital. After his retirement in 2003, Downie remained active as he loved to hike, bike, run, kayak, swim, golf, and ski. He found magnificence in nature and could often be found enjoying the family cabin in Bear Valley, Calif. He is survived by his wife, Edna; his children, Jeff Downie and Shannon Coan; and his first wife, Kathie Lloyd.
Douglas Alan Farr, ’60, MD ’64
February 5, 2009, at 70. After serving as a flight physician on helicopters in Vietnam, he completed his psychiatric residency at NYU/Bellevue Hospital in New York. Farr practiced psychiatry in New York City and Chattanooga, Tenn., before returning to Salinas, Calif., where he entered private practice in the early 1980s. He is survived by his brother Donald Farr, ’53, MS ’54, PhD ’58.
Barbara L. Gorman, ’46
June 4, 2009, at 85. Born in San Francisco to Bert and Phyllis Stallings, Gorman spent her early years in San Francisco before moving to Burlingame. She married her husband, Ernest J. Gorman Jr., MD (deceased 1989), and in 1946 received her degree in nursing from Stanford. They moved to Redwood City and later settled in Woodside in 1955. She was active in the Garden Club and volunteered at the Coyote Point Museum, Allied Arts Guild, Red Cross, American Cancer Society, and most recently, St. Francis Center of Redwood City. She is survived by her children, Jim Gorman, Kate Parker, and Trish Gorman, three grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.
Ivan Grossman, MD ’70
August 20, 2009, at 82. After a stint in the U.S. Navy, he took over his father’s dry cleaning business in his early 20s. While working and raising five children, Grossman went to college. In 1965, the family packed up the station wagon at their home in New Jersey and headed west to Stanford University School of Medicine. He graduated at age 43, the same day one of his daughters graduated from Los Altos High School. Grossman worked for 20 years as an ER physician at Kaiser in Santa Clara, where he searched for and offered his patients alternative ways of healing. He was a pianist, music lover, and golfer, and had three holes-in-one to his name. Having lost many of his family members in the Holocaust, he was passionate about making the world a better place. He worked tirelessly to raise money and awareness for the creation of the state of Israel. After he retired, Grossman co-produced an Academy Award-nominated documentary with Pierre Rehov. He is survived by his wife Sherry; daughters, Dian Kjaergaard, Nancy Grossman, Laurie Grossman, and Jane Grossman; and three grandchildren.
Farrel L. Hansen, Jr., ’46, MD ’50
February 9, 2009, at 84. His greatest ambition from early childhood was to become a doctor. In 1943, Hansen enlisted in the U.S. Navy, and following boot camp he was selected to enter the Navy V-12 program for medical training. In 1970, he set up a full-time ER, which was the first such program in the state of Idaho, and received a number of awards for the development of the Emergency Medical System. Hansen enjoyed hiking, backpacking, and mountain climbing throughout most of his life and continued to pursue his favorite hobby of photography actively after his retirement. He is survived by his wife, Barbara.
Clifton F. Lawrence, PhD ’65
April 2, 2008, at 85. He served as a captain in the U.S. Army Medical Corp for 20 years, beginning during World War II, when he served in North Africa and the Far East as a physical and marksman trainer. In the private sector, he was a speech pathologist and audiologist, and served as director of the Cincinnati Speech and Hearing Association for 10 years. Lawrence went on to serve as the executive director of the American Speech and Hearing Association before retiring. He is survived by his wife, Betty Rae, and his children, Scott and Patrick.
Harvey B. Lyon (Ted), Jr., ’41, MD ’44
June 5, 2009, at 91. Born in Oakland, he was the founder of the Miramonte Mental Health Center in Palo Alto. After retirement, he relocated to Nevada City, Calif., where he worked to house and feed the homeless. Lyon is survived by his brother, Richards P. Lyon, ’39, MD ’44, and daughters Erin, Jayne, Sally, Linda, and Karen.
Eugene Mathias, ’49, MS ’51, MD ’57
May 26, 2009, at 81. After receiving three degrees at Stanford, he returned home to Tulare, Calif., where he practiced family medicine for 43 years. He was in practice jointly with his father for 24 years. They were affectionately known as “Dr. Charlie” and “Dr. Gene” to their many patients and friends. Mathias was chief of staff at Tulare District Hospital and had widespread community involvement in many local organizations. He was an avid fly fisherman and golfer, and also raised horses. Classmate Dr. Robert Cody writes: “In the last few years, I have had many phone conversations with Gene. He would call to inquire about classmates and tell me how he regretted that his health problems made it impossible to attend our 50th reunion. I will remember Gene as a most affable, genial friend and classmate.” Mathias is survived by his wife, Priscilla; his children, Bruce, Craig, and Dena Korenwinder; and eight grandchildren.
Chester (Chet) B. Noyes, ’40, MD ’44
April 30, 2009, at 91. He grew up in Piedmont, Calif., and, while still an undergraduate, served in the Naval ROTC where he participated in the search for Amelia Earhart in thePacific. During World War II, he served in the Navy as a doctor aboard a submarine tender. A prominent surgeon in Marin County, Calif., Noyes was also an enthusiastic yachtsman. He was the founder of “Yacht Docs” and was a member of the San Francisco Yacht Club since 1957. His interests were many and varied and included the Angel Island Docents and Hospice. He is survived by his wife, Lucie; children, Peter, Peggy, Dirk, and Bill; 11 grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren.
Tyana Payne, MS ’69, PhD
July 17, 2009, at 63. Born in Detroit, Mich., she attended Oregon State University from 1964 to 1966. Payne graduated from Stanford with her master’s degree in nursing in 1969, and received her PhD in public health/human sexuality in 1973 from Tulane University. She joined Project Hope in South America and set up nursing programs at the University of Brazil in Natal. After attending a public health conference in Beijing, Payne met her future husband, F. Marshall Boker (deceased), in Manila, Philippines. They spent several subsequent years sailing the South Pacific on a 42-foot ketch. Payne was an avid scuba diver, sailor, hiker, nature lover, bird watcher, and rock, shell, and hat collector. She worked as a public-health counselor before retiring in 2009.
Clinton Bruce Sayler, ’54, MD ’58
July 21, 2009, at 77. He completed his residency at the Public Health Service Hospital at Johns Hopkins University, where he went on to earn a master’s degree in public health. Sayler’s medical practice took him many places, from service in the Coast Guard as a lieutenant commander; as a public-health physician for several years, including a summer treating Native Americans in the Four Corners region; and later to Seattle, where he served as chief of radiology at the U.S. Marine Hospital. Finally, he moved to Portland, where he practiced radiology as a partner in Radiology Consultants, focusing his work at Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital & Medical Center. Sayler retired in 1995, but continued to volunteer, most notably in a cancer hospital in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. He was an acknowledged expert in the field of mammography. Saylor authored or co-authored many studies in that field, and was responsible in 1973 for developing the mechanics of marking breast lesions. He is survived by his wife, Mary, and his children, Gregory, Jeffrey, and Carol Marie Meyer.
We value your feedback and look forward to seeing your class notes. Send us an e-mail