Richard L. Worland
Richard L. Worland, M.D. passed of natural causes October 8, 2017 in Medford, Oregon. He was born October 5, 1944 in Paris, Texas along with his twin brother to Kenneth and Arlene Worland. Rick was raised in Wayne, New Jersey where he excelled in athletics and academics, became an Eagle Scout, and modeled in national ad campaigns with his twin, helping to pay for his education. He obtained his undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College in 1966. While at Dartmouth he was quarterback of the football team and captain of the track team. Rick went on to obtain his M.D. at the University of Rochester School of Medicine, and completed his surgical training at Roosevelt Hospital and Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center. Following two years as major in the Air Force at Pease Air Force Base in New Hampshire, he moved to Richmond, Virginia where he lived most of his adult life.
During his career as an orthopedic surgeon in Richmond, Rick formed the highly successful team of orthopedic surgeons, Advanced Orthopedic Center. He specialized in total shoulder and knee replacements. Rick designed and patented the BiAngular and BiPolar Total Shoulder Prostheses for use by Biomet, Inc., as well as other specialty instruments that were sold worldwide. Over the years he trained multiple international Orthopedic Fellows, and was highly respected for his many contributions to medical literature. He frequently lectured at national and international orthopedic conferences. Rick€s passion for his work dramatically improved the lives of thousands of patients within and beyond his local practice.
After retiring from medicine Rick moved to Oregon where he enjoyed golf, joined the Medford Rogue Rotary Club, and became an avid Oregon Duck fan. He had a wonderful sense of humor and enjoyed spending time with his beloved family. Rick was a proud father and grandfather and played an important role in their lives as well as those of his nieces and nephews.
Rick is survived by his former wife, Judy Charbonneau; his children, David (Tere) and Scott (Iris) from his first marriage to Sue Ballantyne, Lauren (Quentin) and Andrea; his grandchildren, Siena, Julia, Skye, Nathaniel, and Linden; his twin brother, Ronald Worland, M.D. (Lou); his nieces, Stacey (Jason) and Kelly (Darren); and great-nieces and nephews, Hayden, Blake, Reid, Sloan, and Piper. He will be sorely missed and always remembered as a passionate, inspirational, heart-centered leader, mentor, loving healer, and a shining light and joy to his colleagues, friends, and family.
A small service was held with immediate family and a memorial service will be planned for a future date. For further information and/or to leave memories and thoughts, please visit http://www.never-gone.com/Memorials/rickworland. Donations in his name may be made to the Orthopedic Research and Education Foundation, http://www.oref.org or Medford Surgical Missions, rworlandor@gmail.com.
— Published in Never-gone.com.
Richard L. Worland Tribute by Erv Burkholder
Rick and I met playing American Legion baseball against each other in 1959. He was spending a summer on his uncle’s farm
near Sumner, Nebraska. I didn’t know about it at the time, but Rick found me on the first day of freshman
football practice and informed me that we had played baseball against each other
in Cozad three years earlier. I did remember that Sumner (a town of about 300)
had surprised and whupped Cozad’s butt (a sprawling metropolis of 3000) behind
the pitching and hitting of these two twins who came out of nowhere. Rick had a
fast ball, and Ron had a curve like....WOW. They both struck me out at least
once!
Rick played quarterback on the Wayne (NJ) High School football team which won the NJ state championship in 1961. With Rick in the Wayne backfield were his twin brother Ron at left halfback and Roger Pezzuti at right halfback. No wonder they won the state championship!
The last time I saw Rick was in Paris on the last day of the Class of ’66 Prague to Paris Mini-Reunion Cruise in August 2013. The once great fast-baller, New Jersey State Champ javelin thrower, and freshman quarterback who could throw the football 65 yards (maybe it was 66!) could no longer lift either arm high enough to brush his hair or to put on earphones for the bus tours. But he still had the same positive, go-for-broke attitude that he had had 52 years earlier. He initially sighed up for the ’66 Mini Reunion to the Norwegian Fjords but was forced to drop out prior to the event. He didn’t make it back to Hanover for the 50th Reunion. I spoke to him once after the Reunion and he expressed his regret at having to miss the Reunion, but explained that he just didn’t get around well enough to make it on his own. I tried to call him twice earlier this year; I left a message both times but did not get a call back. I heard the news last week that he had passed away on October 8th. Peter Tuxen reports that Rick was living in a Care Facility and was suffering from dementia. Rick performed surgery on me on four different occasions. The first was on my Cornell knee at Roosevelt hospital in New York in 1972 when he was doing his surgical residency under the doctor who was the Jet’s primary orthopedic surgeon.
About 25 years later in 1996, Rick (now head of the Worland-Jessup Joint Replacement Institute of Richmond, VA) and his partner, Doug Jessup, did a bilateral knee replacement on me. I was and still am impressed that the bilateral knee replacement was completed in an hour and 10 minutes. Rick showed me his watch as I was going under and again as I was coming out. It is now 21 years later and both knees are going strong and appear to be good for life. Rick told me at the time that I should expect them to last about 10, maybe15 years. The Doc did good work.
Rick and his partner did two hip replacements on me in 2000 and 2006. I was instructed to have no weight bearing for six weeks on the knees in 1996 and the first hip in 2000. I was up and walking the day after the hip replacement in 2006. Now that’s progress.
Rick had a outstanding career as a orthopedic surgeon. He performed hundreds and hundreds of knee and hip replacements, and held patents on several hip and shoulder prostheses. Every year Rick sponsored a “joint replacement” golf tournament with a turnout of several hundred of his former patients. I played in it twice. I beat Rick once and he beat me the second time. Although I lived in McLean, Virginia and Rick lived only two hours away, I was never able to get together with Rick for any serious time together; he spent all of his spare time teaching joint replacement seminars all over Central and South America. He also did two-three weeks stints doing knee replacements in clinics in Honduras or Costa Rica or Panama.
I saw Rick once a year for check-ups for 15 or 20 years; we would spend five minutes on knees and hips, then 30 minutes catching up on life. Once I saw him just a few weeks after he had had a shoulder replacement himself, the result of his years as a fast baller, javelin thrower, and quarterback I presume. He explained that he had only missed three days of surgery after his operation. He had his shoulder replacement on a Friday, and was back in the operating room do- ing knee replacements the following Thursday. When I expressed shock, Rick explained calmly that he had patients with pain, and every day he missed in the operating room meant that four or five of them would never get their replacements and would continue their lives in pain. He could not abide that.
In the end Rick’s unyielding go-for-broke life style caught up with him. He spent his last several years unable to comb his hair and walking with a severe limp from a botched back surgery. If he had it to do over again, Rick would not have changed a thing. RIP my friend.