A natural caregiver, mentor to family physicians
A family physician in the eastern suburbs for decades, medical mentor and veteran of the Battle of the Bulge, Dr. William Garner came of age in the “Greatest Generation.”
And, like many from his generation, his upbringing had its challenges.
“His mother died when he was 7, and I think that explains his caring for others,” said Dr. Garner’s daughter, Ella Moravec of Point Breeze, about the impact her father’s early life had on his long career. “He was always very sweet and tender with children. He had compassion for those who suffered.”
Dr. Garner, 94, died at his Penn Hills home Tuesday of complications of dementia.
He was a 1943 graduate of Mt. Lebanon High School, where frequent air- raid drills and rationing were the norm during the World War II years.
He enlisted in the Army after graduation and served as a combat medic in Europe with the 8th Armored Division, 36th Tank Battalion. His first mission as a medic was at the Battle of the Bulge in late 1944 and early 1945.
“He didn’t talk about it when I was growing up, so I didn’t hear a lot of this stuff until he was older,” his daughter said. “There was devastation everywhere.”
After the war, Dr. Garner worked at an Army clinic in Austria, treating local residents until his discharge in 1946.
He was awarded a Bronze Star and Combat Medic Badge, along with several other medals for his service.
When he returned home, Dr. Garner attended the University of Pittsburgh and its School of Medicine.
He opened two practices in Penn Hills, and by 1970, Dr. Garner was appointed director of the first family residency program at what was then Shadyside Hospital.
“He loved mentoring people,” his daughter said. “And I think he was a natural caregiver.”
At home, her father could be brusque at times, Mrs. Moravec recalled, but he was always loving.
“He was definitely the head of the household, but he was very caring and involved with us,” she said.
Her father loved swimming and visiting beaches and eventually learned to scuba dive, she said.
“He became a master scuba diver,” Mrs. Moravec said.
Dr. Garner also served as a dive doctor on scuba trips to exotic locations such as like Bali, Borneo and the Caribbean.
His love of diving prompted Dr. Garner to also learn underwater photography, and many of his colorful photos decorated his medical offices.
Dr. Garner also loved art and painting, his daughter said.
But it was her father’s sage advice for which he was mainly known, including the words of wisdom he shared in a September 1998 story in the Pittsburgh Post - Gazette about his 55th high school class reunion.
“Being kind and honest will serve you everywhere, in foreign countries and under the water,” he said then. “If you approach the animals with kindness, you can be safe with the sharks and everything else.”
Along with his daughter, Dr. Garner is survived by another daughter, Anita Lohr, of Mineral Wells, W. Va.; a son, Bill M. Garner, of Norton, Ohio; stepdaughters Maggie Tingleff, of Hundred, W. Va., and Laura Dernar, of Murrysville; a sister, Sally Gustafson, of Lafayette, Ind.; eight grandchildren; and 10 great- grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his wife Helen Hewitt and step sons Kaarne and Alan Tingleff.
His funeral was Thursday.