Whether wrestling a “semi-tame” mountain lion in Mexico, making an emergency landing at an airport in Memphis, Tenn., or scuba diving within an arm’s length from a lamprey eel in the Caribbean, Dr. Richard Boatsman has quite a few personal stories to share.
Mulling over memories between sips of coffee – black, no sugar – the retired pathologist recalled his 40- year career in southwestern Oklahoma, his commitment to public health and contributions to the community, but more importantly his relationships with family, friends and colleagues.
Filled with enthusiasm that one only understands from being there firsthand, the 80-year-old pathologist told each hunting, fishing, scuba-diving and flying story with captivating detail. Recalling one such adventure, Boatsman’s eyes lit up as he talked about being mauled by a mountain lion in Mexico.
As part of “a group of local businessmen who went somewhere fishing every year – Panama, Alaska, Newfound land – just everywhere,” while staying in a resort in Mexico, a colleague said he had seen a few mountain lions outside, said Boatsman.
“Before we all went to our rooms after dark, Dr. Gilbert Gibson and T.J. Henry want- ed to know if that was true or not,” he said. “So, Gibson told me to go check it out. He (Gibson) had a decent high-dollar camera he was proud of. He said, ‘T.J., you go with him and if they’re there, you can take a picture.’ Sure enough, there were two mountain lions lying there about 50 feet apart.”
The doctor asked one of the resort housekeepers about the cats and she told him they were ‘semi-tamed and had been fed by the fishing guides’ in the area. Boatsman did give some credit to the language barrier.
“T.J. said, ‘Why don’t you go pet that mountain lion and I’ll take the picture.’” Kneeling, Boatsman was able to pet the male mountain lion shortly before the female littermate attacked. “My head was in her mouth, and they have really strong jaws,” he laughed.
During the attack, Boatsman’s shirt and back were shredded by the lioness’ claws. “It seemed to me that the fight lasted about 10 seconds, but I’m sure it was not that long. She (the female mountain lion) looked at me, and I at her, and mutually decided that we had a draw.”
Although Henry’s “fantastic pictures” were beneficial when later explaining what had happened, Boatsman grinned as he said he’d rather have had his friend’s help in the skirmish.
Another adventure occurred during a family vacation to Atlanta and onto Memphis. “They say, ‘Flying is hours and hours of pleasure interspersed with a few minutes of terror,’” the aircraft enthusiast said. “That’s the way flying is.”
Boatsman, who had received his pilot’s license during his residency, “took my [Cessna] 182, I had at the time,” he said. “It was really stormy. I was flying along and getting battered around.
“Going into Memphis, I had a total communications failure on my part,” he added. “I squawked a frequency on my transponder – transmitting into the blind. I didn’t know
if they were going to hear me or not. I couldn’t even see the end of the wings on my plane.
“As I got close to Memphis, I saw a hole in the clouds and dived down like a lovesick duck.”
Following FAA safe landing protocols, Boatsman and his family were able to safely land, he said.
EDUCATION AND CAREER
Looking over his curriculum vitae, “Every single one of these items has a story behind it,” he said genuinely.
Boatsman graduated high school in Columbus, Georgia, while his father, who at one time commanded the 7th Cavalry was stationed at Fort Benning. Receiving his Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from Oklahoma State University in 1962, Boatsman then became a veterinarian in 1964. Over the next two years, he himself actively served as a captain in the U.S. Army while stationed at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. There he “was the first person to see leprosy in an armadillo,” he said.
He then attended the University of Oklahoma Medical School, graduating in 1970. At OU, Boatsman was inducted into Phi Kappa Phi and Alpha Omega Alpha scholastic honor fraternities for being in the top 10 percent of his class.
During his internship and residency at St. Anthony Hospital in Oklahoma City he was under the watchful eye of Elaine Wollmann, the daughter of a Cordell farmer who ran the microbiology portion of the lab.
“When I went through my residency, she was my boss for about two or three months,” he said. After a long courtship, Boatsman moved to Lawton in 1974. He and Elaine were married in February 1975. Later that year he became certified in Anatomical and Clinical Pathology from the American Board of Pathology.
COMANCHE COUNTY MEMORIAL HOSPITAL
Since moving to Lawton close to five decades ago, Boatsman worked at Comanche County Memorial Hospital, serving as Director of Laboratories from 1974 until his retirement in 2012. He also led CCMH’s School of Medical Technology from 1974-2010, and directed the Extern Program — an initiative that al- lowed medical students from the Lawton area to practice under physicians’ supervision.
“At least one medical student from each class (1974- 1980) returned to practice in Lawton,” he said. “The whole purpose was to show them (medical students) that this was a good place to practice. Good hospital. Good doctors. It’s hard to get good doctors, but I recruited a lot.
“One of the program’s doctors, (Dr. Edward Legako) retired this week. He was one of my first students and children’s pediatrician.”
For 35 years Boatsman has served as chairman of CCMH’s Institutional Review Board, “ensuring that all the clinical trials and protocols carried on are in the best interest of the patient,” he said. “They (clinicians) report to us on how the study’s going. We especially want to know if there are any adverse reactions as a result of the treatment protocol.”
In 1993 he and four colleagues founded the CCMH Foundation as a way to raise funds for the hospital in order to provide better care through innovation. The CCMH Foundation enabled the hospital to initiate and expand southwest Oklahoma’s only Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, acquire a multimillion-dollar robotic surgery apparatus,
a three-dimensional breast imaging (mammogram) machine and facilitate many other medical advancement purchases.
OKLAHOMA BLOOD INSTITUTE
In 1977 Boatsman became one of the founders of the Oklahoma Blood Institute. He and his devoted team at Oklahoma Blood Institute raised the standards for which testing for all blood testing including becoming the world’s first blood bank to test for the virus that causes autoimmune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).
“It was reported, but we didn’t know much about it at that time,” he said. “The type of test we developed for AIDS is also used for hepatitis and other viral diseases. My wife, who does all the COVID-19 testing for CCMH, uses is an offshoot of that same test now known as PCR (polymerase chain reaction).”
Boatsman has served on OBI’s board of trustees in various roles since the organization’s inception, including chairman of the board since 2014. He was recently granted an extension of two (2) five-year terms. “I serve at the pleasure of the board,” he said humbly. “I’ll get evaluated every year just like everyone else.”
STATE BOARDS
Several state appointments fill Boatsman’s CV. He was a member of the Oklahoma State Board of Pathologists, serving as president in 1978, and served as state Medical Examiner from 1974-1992, where Boatsman oversaw all the forensic cases for Comanche County during that time. Most notably, Boatsman recalled working the Geronimo Bank Murders case in the early ’80s.
In 1985 Gov. George Nigh invited Boatsman to the state Licensure and Supervision board.
“When I came on that board, there was a lot of problem doctors who came to Oklahoma and during one of my first meetings, a doctor with a really bad track record came in. I asked, ‘Why do you want a license in Oklahoma? You don’t have any family here or any relationship to Oklahoma.’ When he replied that Oklahoma had a reputation for easily allowing troubled doctors to get a license, I just about had apoplexy.
“When I got off that board seven years later, Oklahoma was one of the hardest states to qualify for a license. I’m really proud of that.”
AROUND THE COMMUNITY
Boatsman has been involved with the Lawton-Fort Sill Chamber of Commerce and Industry since 1983, beginning the new millennia as chairman of the board of directors. He also has been chairman of the Wildlife Committee as well as the chamber’s Legislative Task Force.
As a 12-year member of the Comanche County Fair Board (chairman 1993-1995), he was instrumental in updating and upgrading the facility, which included replacing outdated heating and air units and installing a $65,000 floor for the basketball court. “It was the same parquet floor used by the Boston Celtics,” he said. Those renovations allowed the facility to host more events.
For close to two decades Boatsman served on the board of directors for Lawton Food Bank and was named chairman of the board from 2004 to 2006. He has also served on the board of directors for The Cancer Centers of Southwest Oklahoma since 2005.
HONORS AND ACCOLADES
For “the greatest contribution to the practice of medicine in the state of Oklahoma,” Boatsman was awarded the 1991 Presidential Citation from the Oklahoma State Medical Association. He also received the Walter Joel Award for Lifetime Contribution
to Pathology in 2008. “I’m really proud of that,” said Boatsman of the Joel Award. Dr Joel “was a pathologist at the VA Hospital in Oklahoma City when I worked for him. He had had a pretty long career, working in Germany, Egypt and the United States. He was an internationally known pathologist who was kind, gentle, very intelligent and talented.”
FAMILY LIFE
Boatsman is especially proud of his wife, three children and five grandchildren. His wife, Elaine, continues her work in the labs at CCMH. Mentioning his children, Boatsman beamed, “Brett is a veterinarian in northwest Oklahoma City; Erin is a pediatric oncologist in San Diego, and Justin is a radiologist in San Antonio.”