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 A Tribute to Laurence W. Porter, M.D. “Doctor Larry Porter was an extraordinary man!” This statement would elicit no surprise from either Doctor Porter’s former associates, Clare Trueblood, M.D. and Bob Cornish, M.D. nor thousands of patients the three cared for during their years of clinical practice. Doctor Porter, a 1954 graduate of the University of Iowa College of Medicine, was 76 years old when he died on March 25, 2004, after a one-year struggle with lung cancer. His last days were difficult. But his family and friends drew comfort from the affirmation of life Larry provided them, in his words, his works and his music. Retirement from Equitable of Iowa in 1993, (Larry was Vice President of Medical Underwriting) proved impossible. He was asked to stay on as the company’s Medical Director until 2000. And when at last, Larry truly retired, he elected to become a professional student, re-entering life’s classroom with zest. He loved learning, he discovered, for the sheer joy of learning. What does a man who had thrived on delivering babies, performing surgery, and practicing medicine in the days of housecalls, do for an encore? Larry Porter studied philosophy. Art and history. Higher mathematics. Astronomy. He delved into physics, exploring quantum mechanics, wrapping his mind around the nature of the universe. In 1997, Larry engaged a life-long interest in music. The once-reluctant piano student returned to the keyboard, mastering the difficult art of composition. Larry’s music was as concise as the man himself, as lyric as any Brahm‘s etude, but with a spare beauty that was his alone. Larry embraced life, even as his own drew to a close. He developed his own spirituality, reminding his beloved wife, Melanie, that he “would not abandon reason, but would recognize its limitations.” Extraordinary words. But, then again Doctor Larry Porter was an extraordinary man. |
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