Bandmates, Brothers and Friends Return May 9 - Remembering Dr. Bill Withers and His Local Medical Practice
For a third year, Bandmates, Brothers and Friends (BBF) will reunite in Waukon for another night of musical entertainment to benefit the Veterans Memorial Health Care Foundation. The BBF band began this benefit three years ago to raise funds for the Veterans Memorial Health Care Foundation in honor of their father, Dr. Bill Withers, who worked for 50 years as a local physician in this community. Dr. Withers himself truly enjoyed these musical events the last two years as it allowed him to reconnect with so many of his former patients and their families. Sadly, Dr. Withers passed away this past September at the age of 90, but his sons, Bill Jr., Jim and John, and the other band members all agreed to return this year to again benefit the hospital foundation, but also to celebrate the memory their late father with the community.
They will also welcome the regionally known JayR Brink Band who will close out the musical line-up that night, all held on Friday evening May 9, from 6-11 pm at the Allamakee Fairgrounds Pavilion.
In 1956, Dr. Bill Withers visited Waukon for the first time, coming here to meet the parents of his girlfriend, Elizabeth “Libby” Hale, whom he had met on a blind date at Colorado University in Boulder where they both attended college. Libby’s father owned the Hale Women’s Clothing store on the corner of Main and Allamakee in downtown Waukon, along with eventual stores in both Decorah and Oelwein with Dudley Hale, Nate’s brother.
Dr. Withers was born in Oklahoma, moving to Kansas and later Colorado where he graduated from High School in Fort Collins. He did his undergraduate studies there, transferring to Denver to begin medical school in the fall of 1954. He finished school in 1958, marrying his girlfriend Libby in June of that year. He performed an internship at Denver General Hospital in 1959, then served two years in the Army as a physician in Fort Louis, WA, where his oldest son, Bill Jr., the Event Coordinator of this benefit, was born.
Whenever Dr. Withers visited Libby’s hometown of Waukon, her uncle, Dr. Jeffries, (referred to as ‘Uncle Doc’) was sure to keep in touch, introducing him to both Dr. Romingers, who were among the founding physicians of Veterans Memorial Hospital, along with Dr. Lou Bray.
In 1961, after his military service, they asked him to come for an interview because they were looking for a partner. He accepted and joined the private practice with Dr. Rominger and Dr. Bray, with Dr. Perry and Dr. Olson joining the practice in later years.
Dr. Withers saw the first emergency patient in the then-new ER rooms when the 1976 addition was made to the hospital, when the ER and X-ray areas were added. Delivering babies was a happy part of his practice, delivering around a total of 1000 in his years of service. He even kept a snowmobile in the yard for getting to the hospital in snowstorms for emergency or baby delivery calls.
Dr. Withers was always a supporter of those pursuing a nursing career, knowing the great need for nurses in small-town hospitals who are there ready to care for patients in what he referred to as ‘the golden first hour’ of being sick or injured.
Their private clinic practice was sold to St. Francis Hospital in La Crosse around 1986 because they had a family practice residency which would help recruit more doctors to town.
By 1992, Dr. Withers had practiced in Waukon for 30 years and the night hospital work, sometimes on-call as often as every-other night, was too much. He then joined the Gundersen system, floating to work in different clinics across our region, remaining with Gundersen for another 20 years, for a total of 50 years of family practice medical service to this community. He reflected on his long, dedicated career in an interview prior to his death, “I enjoyed every minute of my entire career and never hated going to work in the morning!”
Dr. Wither’s three sons, Bill Jr., Jim and John, brainstormed the idea of a musical reunion during one of the annual fishing trips the boys took up north each year with their father. Bill Jr. remembered that night, stating, “At that time, the hospital had just become a county hospital. We were sitting in the cabin and putting together pieces of the puzzle that revealed a little bigger picture around rural healthcare, dad’s longtime service to the community, and friends and family possibly coming together again, and that’s how we came up with this band benefit and reunion.”
The three Withers boys, along with the eight other members of former bands they were a part of over the years, will once again be reuniting to benefit the Veterans Memorial Hospital Healthcare Foundation at their third annual event on May 9. This year’s event will mark the 47th year that many of BBF’s original members had first played in a band together. Many of the returning musicians are from Waukon including brothers Bill Withers Jr., Jim Withers, John Withers, along with Gary Hesla, Bob Bechtel, Dave Dougherty, Brad Prestemon, Todd Pickett and Joel Anderson. They will be joined by Keel Clemmens and Jamey Lideen, longtime band members over the years.
The first set of BBF members will take the stage to begin the night, offering a variety of older country and dance music, with a second set of BBF members performing a variety of hits from the 50’s through the 90’s. The JayR Brink Band will close the evening.
Pizza by the slice will be offered at the event, as well as the cash bar. Free-will donations will be accepted at the door that night, as well as online, with all proceeds going to benefit the Veterans Memorial Hospital Health Care Foundation in the purchase of equipment for expanding the Infusion Outpatient Services and local Chemotherapy. Online donations may be made by using this QR code, by visiting our donation page.
