3/3/1989

Portrait in paper

Rudolph F. Sievers, 80

Dr. Rudolph F. Sievers died Friday, March 3, 1989.

He was born January 4, 1909 to the late Walter and Frieda Sievers of Scribner, Nebraska. He graduated from Scribner High School in 1927 and the University of Nebraska at Lincoln in 1932. He received his Doctor of Medicine Degree from the University of Nebraska College of Medicine in Omaha and a Ph.D. Degree in Physiology and Pharmacology in 1939. He also did graduate work at the University of Chicago between 1932 and 1939.

Dr. Sievers served his internship at the Norfolk, Virginia U.S. Public Health Service Hospital and then joined the regular Corps of the Public Health Service in 1940. He was assigned to the Quarantine Station in Algiers, Louisiana, and then to the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. There he did basic and clinical research in toxicology. He published over 30 papers in the field as well as co-authoring a medical textbook. In 1946, Dr. Sievers came to Blair, where he initially officed with Dr. C.D. Howard. They later formed the Blair Medical Group.

Dr. Sievers served as President of the Nebraska State Medical Association and the Nebraska Academy of Family Practice. He served as Instructor in the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology at the Medical Center in Omaha for 15 years. He also was a Clinical Instructor in the Preceptorship program since its inception in 1950. He was President of the Board of Nebraska Blue Cross-Blue Shield for two years and a member of that board for 12 years.

In 1980 he received the Jack Elliott Award from the University of Nebraska Medical Center. In 1982, he was honored by the State of Nebraska as the initial Family Physician of the Year. In 1984, he was honored by Scribner, Nebraska, as its Native Son and by Blair, Nebraska as its Man of the Year. In 1987 Dr. Sievers retired from the active practice of medicine.

Dr. Sievers, in addition to his interest in education, was an avid traveler and combined both interests in serving as the leader for Nebraska medical practitioners participating in the People-to-People trips to eastern and western Europe in 1966 and South America in 1968-69.

Dr. Sievers was a member of the Congregational Church, Theta Nu, the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) , Lions Club, American Medical Association, American Academy of Family Practice, American Legion, Phi Chi Medical Fraternity, having served as both national and international president for the latter.

Throughout his life Dr. Sievers was a supporter of Boy Scouts. As a youth, Dr. Sievers was a member of Boy Scout Troop 2 in Scribner, later serving as its Assistant Scoutmaster. For more than 15 years, he served as the institutional representative of the Boy Scout Troop sponsored by the Blair Lions Club.

His wife of fifty-three years, Wilma, died four days prior to Dr. Sievers’ death.

He is survived by one daughter, Mrs. Rex (Stephanie) Engebretson, Englewood, Colorado; and two sons, H. Neal Sievers, MD, Blair; LeRoy W. Sievers, Lincoln; three grandchildren: Mrs. Lonnie (Melissa) Ackerman, Christopher Engebretson, and David Neal Sievers; and one great-granddaughter, Melinda Ackerman. Also surviving are two sisters, Mrs. B.R. Durkee of Rock Island, Illinois, and Mrs. T.V. Moore, Jr. of Omaha; a son-in-law, Rex Engebretson; and a daughter-in-law, Jane Sievers.

The family suggests memorials to the Blair Memorial Community Hospital, Congregational Church of Blair, Blair Boy Scout Troop 143, or the charity of the giver’s choice.

Funeral services will be held 2 p.m. Saturday march 11, 1989 at First Lutheran Church in Blair. Visitation will begin Friday, March 16, and last until service time on Saturday.

#2-Published in the Enterprise June 5, 2020 Editorial Section

A history lesson on MCH&HS

Thank you for the uplifting report on the current status of Memorial Community Hospital and Health System (MCH&HS) under the management of Manny Wolf. It made me very proud!

MCH&HS, the Blair Clinic and Dr. Rudy Sievers were the reasons that my family and I moved to Blair in 1964 — the same year that Sievers was the president of the Nebraska State Medical Association.

Sievers had started medical school in 1932. His father, a Schuyler farmer, sold some land, put Sievers' tuition money in the bank, which promptly went broke leaving him penniless. Sievers then took eight years to finish four years of medical school, supporting himself by waiting tables in sororities, etc. and doing research for drug companies. When he graduated he had both an M.D. degree and a PhD in pharmacology.

By that time, World War II was upon us, so Sievers spent the war years in Washington, D.C., working for the National Institutes of Health where he became an expert on the subject of T.N.T. poisoning (this became a problem among workers who were involved in manufacturing explosives).

After the war, Sievers returned to Blair joining with a former classmate, C.D.Howard, forming the basis of what eventually became the Blair Clinic.

Within only a few years, the old Blair Hospital, which was located on the corner lot now occupied by the MCH Auxiliary Closet, became totally inadequate. It was then that Sievers told everyone that unless we get a new hospital, “I’m leaving town!”

With that statement, legendary nurse, Dorena Walker fielded the ball and ran with it, organizing the entire community to create MCH&HS then and which has evolved into what we have here today.

As legendary radio personality, Paul Harvey used to say , "Now you know the REST of the story.”

Doc Charles Bagby

Obituary courtesy of the Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair Public Library at Blair, Nebraska.~~~