Tribute to a great man

On the morning of July 18, 2013, Roland Paul Sharp, D.O., passed away peacefully. Upon learning the news, the entire WVSOM community, near and far, began to grieve.

It is rare to find someone as universally loved and respected as Dr. Sharp, the founding president of the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine. For many West Virginians, he was a beloved friend, family physician and educator who provided a model of service leadership.

He was 105 years old at his passing.

During a July 3 visit by WVSOM faculty, staff and students to his White Sulphur Springs residence, Dr. Sharp’s mind was alert and memories of the early days of the school were as clear and bright as if they’d just happened.

He led a simple life — an extraordinary life — which he chronicled with warmth and humor in a series of audio taped interviews for Allegheny Mountain Radio. His

“Dr. Sharp was an extraordinary man. His values and vision shaped this institution. His compassionate mentorship of the school’s first graduates transformed them into role models of patient-centered care. And his unwavering commitment to rural primary care defined who we are today. He will be greatly missed.”

MICHAEL ADELMAN, D.O., J.D., D.P.M. PRESIDENT

“Dr. Sharp was one of the best storytellers I ever had the pleasure of hearing. I loved to hear about his life. Through the years, I came to learn that Dr. Sharp faced some real challenges, just as we all do. There was hardship and personal loss. Once when we were talking, he ended a story about himself with a comment I’ve never forgotten. ‘Nothing in life turned out as I had planned. It turned out better.’ That was the essence of the man.”

SALLY COOPER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WVSOM FOUNDATION, 2005-2013 personal recollections were then published in book form by the Pocahontas Communications Cooperative: Roland Sharp – Country Doctor: Memories of a Life Well Lived.

Born in 1907 on a small farm in Frost, W.Va., Sharp taught in one-room schoolhouses for more than a decade in order to earn the money to pay for college, graduating from Concord State Normal School (now Concord University) at age 28. Subsequently, he earned a master’s degree from the biology department at WVU. It took him another six years to complete his medical school education and residency requirements at the Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine (now A.T. Still University) in Missouri. To help make ends meet, he worked as the school’s histology-embryology instructor, then as acting chair of pathology and, finally, assistant professor of anatomy.

The culture of Kirksville had a profound impact on Sharp. In his memoir he recalls “When I went to Kirksville, the professor said ‘We’ve taken 50 students. We have 50 places. We can take 50 students in our second year. If you do not reach the second year, your background will

be poor, your attitude toward your studies will be poor, or you will just be plain no good. In other words, we’re prepared to take care of every one of you who comes in here if you are dedicated students and you show a social attitude to take care of patients. Today, you became our colleagues. Come to us anytime you want help. If it’s in class, out of class, if you need tutoring or if you feel that you’re poorly trained in one field of your premed, tell us so we can give you help.’”

It was a lesson that he would remember years later when he was tasked with shaping a new college of osteopathic medicine in West Virginia.

Upon completion of his medical education, Dr. Sharp practiced for 17 years as a coal company doctor in Mullens, W.Va., serving miners and their families. He enjoyed delivering babies and he delivered a lot of them, at least 1,500 in his lifetime, traveling to remote cabins down a valley or over a mountain and even performing one delivery completely in the dark.

At age 54, he returned to his home county of Pocahontas and worked in Green Bank as a rural family doctor for another four decades, interrupted briefly by his term as president of WVSOM.

He was 67 years old when he was approached in 1972 by four osteopathic physicians – Drs. Apgar, Bailes, Newell and Wallington – about starting an osteopathic medical school in West Virginia. The Greenbrier Military School campus in Lewisburg was up for sale, along with all its contents, and they wanted to buy it. They needed someone with experience on a medical school faculty to be dean of the new college. Thanks to his years teaching at Kirksville, Sharp fit the bill. His values, his work ethic, an extensive background in education and his years of experience in rural primary care were exactly what the new institution needed.

The four gentlemen persuaded Dr. Sharp to take the helm of the newly-established Greenbrier College of Osteopathic Medicine. “We hold dear the fond memories of our esteemed friend and mentor, Dr. Roland P. Sharp, WVSOM’s first president. His legacy as an osteopathic family physician, educator, husband, father and friend will long be remembered.

The WVSOM Alumni Association Board of Directors and Membership applaud him for his personal sacrifices, which afforded each of us the opportunity to enjoy our professional experience. We proudly serve our patients and families in the great state of West Virginia, in Appalachia and across the globe utilizing the philosophy and professional skills in osteopathic medicine as demonstrated by Dr. Roland P. Sharp. We hold him in high regard for mentoring us and leading us through his own personal example of humility and professional excellence.

He is loved!”

ROBERT B. HOLSTEIN, D.O., ‘79 PRESIDENT, WVSOM ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

“Dr. Sharp was my first president. He was also my family physician when I was growing up in Pocahontas County. Working together in the early years of WVSOM was a team effort. Everybody worked hard and everyone was very hands-on. Dr. Sharp used to stay in and have lunch with the office staff each day. He never stopped looking after people, even when he became president of WVSOM. He never wanted to hurt anyone’s feelings, but he would definitely speak up if he thought someone wasn’t taking care of themselves.”

CHERYL BAKER, SECRETARY TO PRESIDENT SHARP, 1976-1978

“Dr. Sharp hired me in May 1978 just as he was preparing to leave the school. We’ve had many conversations over the years, including the last month of his life when I would go over to visit him and take some of the students to hear his stories.

His medical education was always very important to him. He talked a lot about ‘being at Kirksville.’ When he was attending medical school, he was involved with some of Andrew Taylor Still’s descendants, including the eldest son, Dr. Charley Still. It was like the ‘hands that touched the hands’ kind of thing, learning from the source of osteopathic medicine.

He also loved to reminisce about his time working as a coal doctor. He was proud of the fact that the coal companies never ‘owned’ him. He was very much his own man. He was for the miners and supported the miners. He said, ‘I’m going to do it the way I do it.’ His patients would pay him with moonshine, quilts and produce out of their gardens.

Many people may not know that Dr. Sharp and Gwen Clingman were cousins. They grew up together. Gwen once told me ‘Roland and I climbed every tree in Pocahontas County.’ From 1972 to 1974, the four founders plus Dr. Sharp and Fred Smith would get together to strategize about the school, work on the curriculum or plan their politicking visits to Charleston — a lot of those planning meetings took place in the little back room behind Gwen’s kitchen, what is now the Stardust Café.

He wasn’t one of the founders of the school, people sometimes get confused about that, but his vision touched every part of it.”

ROBERT W. FOSTER, D.O., ASSOCIATE DEAN/FACULTY MEMBER, 1978 – PRESENT “With a small leadership team, he began the process of putting together provisional accreditation, preparing a curriculum and staffing the school. He welcomed the first class of entering students in 1974 and guided them during their four years of instruction until their graduation in 1978.

After graduating its first class, the American Osteopathic Association granted full accreditation to the college, now operating as the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine under the auspices of the West Virginia Board of Regents. Confident the school was on the right course, Dr. Sharp determined to leave the institution – not to retire, but to continue practicing medicine. He would not retire, truly, until he was 94.

“My husband, Joe, graduated with the Class of 1978, so Dr. Sharp was our president when we arrived at the school. I remember him as always being such an advocate for the school and for osteopathic medicine. From the very beginning, he really put his stamp on the place. The school wouldn’t be what it is today without his guidance and direction shaping the institution. The last time I spoke with him was at Kate’s Mountain and even then he was still promoting WVSOM and rural primary care.”

CHERYL SCHREIBER, CHAIR, BOARD OF GOVERNORS

“I loved and appreciated him. He wrote a letter of recommendation for me for WVSOM and took care of my father’s family. There are not enough words of appreciation for what that did for me, my family and my patients. I love my job and my osteopathic family because of mentors like Dr. Sharp.”

MADONNA (ABSHIRE) RINGSWALD, D.O., ‘79

“Dr. Sharp was a mentor and role model to many, the likes of which will not be seen again. He was the author of the blueprint that allowed many of us West Virginians the opportunity to enter into medicine; a pathway that otherwise may not have been made available to us.”

LARRY SIDAWAY, D.O., ‘80

“I am saddened to learn of the passing of Dr. Roland P. Sharp. I wouldn’t be an osteopathic physician today if it weren’t for Dr. Sharp. Learning to become a physician at WVSOM and then practicing osteopathic medicine has been a transformative experience in my life. On my first day as a new WVSOM student, Dr. Sharp shook my hand as he said ‘Welcome to WVSOM.’ I said ‘Thank you, I’m glad to be here.’ He said ‘You should be – you were at the bottom of the list.’ I thought he could have meant alphabetically at the bottom of the list. On second thought, he could have meant at the bottom of the list otherwise.

Years later, at a CME luncheon at The Greenbrier Resort, I made sure to sit at Dr. Sharp’s table. I thanked him for making WVSOM possible. I also thanked him for my being able to attend WVSOM. He said he empathized with me since he had also been an older applicant with a varied background who one day realized he wanted to go to osteopathic medical school in order to practice medicine. Dr. Sharp knew his students and where they were in practice. He would refer patients to me, an indication that, perhaps, I was no longer at the bottom of the list.”

DAVID B. WINTER, D.O., ‘81 The holistic and compassionate approach to practicing medicine that characterized Dr. Sharp’s life’s work imbued the institution with core values which survive to this day. It is not an accident that WVSOM is No. 1 in the country at producing rural primary care physicians. Dr. Sharp set a standard for rural primary care the school has been trying to live up to ever since.

He received numerous accolades over the years. The West Virginia Society of Osteopathic Medicine named him Practitioner of the Year in 1971 and, in 1976, presented him with the Distinguished Service Certificate, the highest honor conferred by the society. In 1979, the National Student Osteopathic Medical Association honored Dr. Sharp as Outstanding Medical Educator in the U.S. In 1989, WVSOM and the West Virginia Board of Regents authorized granting a Doctor of Science, honoris causa, to Dr. Sharp, a rare honor.

On the occasion of his 100th birthday in December 2007, then Gov. Joe Manchin III recognized Dr. Sharp’s service to rural medicine in the region with a Distinguished West Virginian Award.

In his memoir, Sharp says

A memorial service for Dr. Sharp will be held on the WVSOM campus Saturday, August 24. “Do all you can for anybody, or everybody, regardless of their station in life, and don’t question what you will get out of it.”

It was a principle he lived his entire life.