A long time area physician, Dr. Howard R. Patton, died January 6th at the age of 101.
Dr. Patton practiced medicine beginning in 1937 in Damascus, and later at an office in Beach Lake. He then held office hours on West Street, Honesdale, across from Wayne Memorial Hospital.
Said Peter Propst, son of the late surgeon Dr. Harry Propst, “ He was amazed at his [Dr. Patton’s] longevity and service to the community.”  Propst recall that his father worked along side Dr. Patton in the Emergency Room, and went to visit Dr. Patton at his ocean side cottage in New Jersey. Dr. Patton and his wife Marion only lived two doors away from the Propsts on Park Street in Honesdale.
 As reported in his obituary, in addition to treating any of his patients requiring hospitalization, he served the hospital through emergency room care, performing autopsies and managing the medical laboratory. Dr. Patton served on the Board of Trustees of the Wayne  Memorial  Hospital and was a long time member of the Wayne County Medical Society. He retired from practice in 1976.
H. Richard Garman, who is Executive Director of Wayne Memorial Hospital Foundation, recounted Dr. Patton as a close friend. “He was probably one of the most remarkable individuals I have met in my life,” he said.
It is believed Dr. Patton served at the old hospital building on Court Street, prior to the present facility being dedicated on Park Street in 1951. Although retired for over 40 years, he remained dedicated to the welfare of the hospital, said Garman, who kept in contact with him.  Even in his late 90’s, Dr. Patton would inquire of Garman about the hospital and the people he worked with.
“Speaking with him, all this gentleman ever wanted to be was a physician,” Garman reflected., “He always credited his wife Marian of being the person who permitted him to commit is life to medicine. She took care of the home and family and he took care of the practice. He described himself as the introvert, and his wife, the extrovert.
“He was always disturbed by Man’s inhumanity to other men. He was truly a humanist,” Garman said.
Medical director of the laboratory at Wayne Memorial for many years, Dr. Patton would leave Honesdale on Tuesday night for Philadelphia, stay with a relative there and all day Wednesday, worked in a Philadelphia hospital lab with other physicians gaining further hands-on experience. He then would drive back to Honesdale Wednesday night and be in his office Thursday morning. “He did this for years,” said Garman.
Even with his eyesight failing in later years, he would read the major newspapers with a reading machine, and have his daughter clip out health care stories. “He would then send them to me,” Garman fondly recalled.