INFORMATION FOR AUTHORS
June 2020 • DALLAS MEDICAL JOURNAL 27
Dr. GOSSARD passed away on
March 23, 2020, at age 97.
Born April 25, 1922, in Colorado
Springs, CO, to William Earl and
Ollie Harrell Gossard, he graduated from
high school in 1940 and immediately enlisted
in the United States Navy to escape
the Great Depression and snow shoveling.
Inducted into the Navy in San Diego, he
graduated from boot training and received
his initial training as a pharmacist mate.
After completing his pharmacist mate
training, he was assigned to the U.S. Naval
Hospital and the Receiving Ship U.S.S. Seattle
at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York
in the spring of 1941. While serving on the
Seattle, Dr. Gossard gained his first reallife
experiences in medicine and patient
care. Giving inoculations, suturing cuts,
and assisting Navy surgeons with complex
surgical procedures whetted his appetite
for more. In late 1941, as America entered
World War II, he was accepted into the
Navy’s Pharmacy and Chemistry School
held at the newly constructed Bethesda
Naval Hospital in Washington, DC. Graduating
from the Pharmacy and Chemistry
School in 1942, and with America at war,
Dr. Gossard received his overseas posting
and was assigned to the U. S. Naval
Dispensary in Tutuila, American Samoa,
where, for the next year as a Pharmacist
Mate Second Class, he ran the base hospital
and provided technical assistance to
the nearby Marine detachment whenever
their still malfunctioned. In September of
1943, with the Navy in desperate need of
line officers, Dr. Gossard was selected for
the Navy’s V-12 officer education program.
Given three choices of colleges to attend
for the V-12 program, he chose Colorado
College, USC, and Michigan; the Navy, of
course, sent him to SMU in Dallas. All
was not lost, however, as he soon met his
future bride, Betty Jane Cesinger, a Kappa
Kappa Gamma co-ed, whose parents
conveniently lived just a few blocks from
campus. A member of Kappa Alpha Order
and Cycen Fjodr men’s honorary, he excelled
academically in his premed studies
and in the summer between his junior and
senior years took and passed the medical
school entrance exam and was accepted
into the newly formed Southwestern Medical
School. Completing his medical school
studies in 1949, Dr. Gossard embarked on
his post-grad internship and, later, surgery
residency at Parkland Memorial Hospital.
This latter course of training was interrupted
in 1951 when the Navy called again,
and, now, Lieutenant JG Gossard USNR
was recalled to active duty for service in
Korea. After a brief stop at the Naval Air
Station in Corpus Christi, TX, Dr. Gossard
was assigned to the U.S. Navy hospital
ship Consolation (AH-15) as a surgeon,
where he received invaluable surgical experience,
especially in the area of vascular
surgery, treating battle casualties. Honorably
discharged from the Navy in 1953, Dr.
Gossard returned to Parkland for the completion
of his surgery residency. In 1955,
he opened his surgery practice and joined
the house staff at Methodist Dallas Medical
Center, where he would maintain his
private practice for the next 30 years. During
that time, Dr. Gossard chaired the Department
of Surgery, served as President
of the hospital’s medical staff, was elected
President of the Dallas County Medical
Society, served on the Methodist Hospital
Board of Directors, and was recognized by
the county medical society with the Max
Cole Leadership Award. After retiring from
private practice, Dr. Gossard served for 18
years as Director of Graduate Medical Education
at Methodist Hospital, overseeing
the training of interns and residents during
the founding of the hospital’s trauma and
transplant programs. Just months before
his passing, Dr. Gossard received the Servant
Leader Award from the Methodist Hospital
Foundation Board for his many years
of service to the medical profession and to
Methodist Hospital as a dedicated teacher
and mentor and as a leader of character.
Dr. Gossard was an avid woodworker and
enjoyed making furniture and play things
for his grandchildren. His handmade cradle
was used by all of the grandchildren, as
well as by many young neighbors just starting
families. He loved all dogs and fine
horses, and he never missed an opportunity
to cast a fly in moving water. He always
made the best of every situation. When
macular degeneration robbed him of the
ability to read and forced him to retire from
the profession he loved, he never complained;
he just switched to audiobooks
and continued to learn new ideas. He had
a keen interest in history, and his powers
of recall about people and events from the
past were legendary. Reflecting on his full
and exemplary life, he always said, “I owe
everything to the Navy.” Dr. Gossard was
preceded in death by his wife of 58 years,
Betty Jane Gossard, and is survived by his
sons and their families: Wayne H. Gossard
Jr. and wife, Lisa; Grady C. Gossard and
wife, Tracy; Craig W. Gossard and wife,
Lisa; three grandsons: Matthew, Jacob,
and Robert; and by Laurie and John Milliken.
A memorial service will be held at a
date and time to be announced when the
current COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.
Memorials may be made to Methodist
Hospitals of Dallas Foundation, 1441 N.
Beckley, Dallas, TX 75208.
Published in the Dallas Morning News on
May 3rd, 2020.
M E M O R I A M
Wayne H.
Gossard, MD,
FACS
1922-2020
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