Bill's World

I had lost track of Dr. Bill Eckbert and figured that he and his wife, Sarah, had slipped off to some retirement place in Florida and lived out their days in happiness and peace.

His obituary was in the paper Tuesday. He was 95, and there went one of God’s special people.

For over 55 years, he had practiced family medicine in Cramerton. He was a beloved member of the community, committing himself and his talents to the care of people, reaching out – always reaching out – in an effort to iron the wrinkles from somebody else’s life.

“Doctor Bill,” as he was affectionately known, was born in Pennsylvania, got his medical training at Duke while Sarah was becoming a nurse there. They were married at the end of Bill’s senior year in medical school, and Sarah was nursing at Duke Hospital.

The couple moved to Baltimore, Md., where Bill completed his post-graduate training in infectious disease and then moved to Crossnore where Sarah had grown up. Bill practiced medicine there and Sarah ran the small hospital before the onset of World War II.

It was at Crossnore where I probably had first met the two, but never realized that until years later, back in Gaston County. At that time, I was a student in the business college at Crossnore and had occasion to visit the hospital. It got so that when I walked through the door I could see heads turning like windmills, and somebody would say, “Here he comes again.”

After Pearl Harbor, Doctor Bill left his medical practice and joined the U.S. Army. He saw action in a glider regiment and later was placed in an infantry division that fought its way through France and through southern Germany.

After the end of the war, the Eckbert family settled in Cramerton and took over the practice of a retiring family physician.

The obit says: “In the early days, Sarah worked side by side with Bill in the office. Many times, they were not paid with money but with food: chickens, fish, fresh vegetables and fruits. As the only physician, Bill was always on call except for the one week in summer when he took the Eckbert family for a vacation to Daytona Beach.”

Later, the doctor recruited a partner, Dr. Rufus Davis. The two practiced together for many years, trading night calls so that each got some rest from the practice.

When Davis retired, Bill continued to practice until he retired at the age of 85.

The doctor and the nurse then moved to Winter Park, Fla., to be near their son’s family and their great-grandchildren.

Doctor Bill was a do-er of good. He practiced that, just like medicine.

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