Neuer concludes three decades of Emporia service
Bobbi Mlynar, Special to The Gazette
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Strong family ties are pulling Dr. Fred and Paula Neuer to the Kansas City area, though they’ll leave a bit of their hearts in Emporia.
Fred Neuer, a radiologist at Newman Hospital, will retire on July 31st; the couple plans to move about Sept. 1.
“I will always consider this my home,” Fred Neuer said in a recent interview. “If all three of (the children) weren’t in Kansas City, we’d still be here.”
The metro area also holds major bonuses – small grandchildren – and the Neuers want to be part of helping them grow up, too.
“I just love it here,” he said. “It’s really with a tear in my eye that I leave, leave the people here who’ve been very good to me.”
The other side of the coin is that the Neuers have been very good to Emporia, too.
Fred described his wife as a strong advocate for the community and for Sacred Heart Church, where she has been the head organist, served on the liturgy committee, donated quilts she’d made as a hobby, and for many years headed the church’s annual fall festival.
“But grandchildren are her No. 1 priority,” Fred said.
Fred Neuer helped lead the Clean Sweep Emporia drive, which helped residents clear away thousands of tons of trash. He credited Jeanine McKenna, June Hubert, Phil Dillon, Antonia and Stan Felix and Patty Gilligan as being key to the project.
“That was a real successful endeavor,” he said. “You know, we really were proud. … It was just so neat to see the community come together and try to clean up.”
Professionally, Neuer said, radiologist Dr. Steve Knecht, now retired, gave him an impetus to grow and improve to benefit the community’s health, as did the technicians and others he worked with in the radiology department. Knecht inspired Neuer to keep up-to-date on the latest technologies in the field, and to be generous with his church, he said.
The broader view
Neuer also became active in making visible improvements to Emporia’s housing. He and Nick Laurent earlier had joined forces to tear down dilapidated houses near Emporia State University, and replace them with attractive new apartment buildings. The project started with then-ESU President Kay Schallenkamp.
“(She) said, ‘You know, the environment on the east side of the campus is just horrible.’ She challenged the people in the city, somebody to come and do it, and Mo (Maurice) Schmidt asked Nick Laurent and I if we would be interested in developing that area,” Neuer said.
Neuer had watched his maternal grandmother survive the Great Depression because she owned some real estate and rented out rooms to carry her through. That memory was one factor in his agreeing to be part of the project.
“We’re very pleased with it. We’re very proud of it. It’s not a money-maker, but it has really, I think, enhanced the neighborhood and it’s helped out the university.”
Neuer said he could not have found a better friend or a better business partner than Laurent.
“He always kind of kept me on the straight and narrow, didn’t let me waver,” Neuer said. “He and his wife, Jan, are just great people – community-minded. That rubs off on you.”
The Neuers had not known how involved they would become when they came to Emporia in 1978, after Fred finished his residency in radiology at St. Luke’s Medical Center.
All they were certain of was that Neuer was coming to what he described as a “great practice” and that both enjoyed small-town living.
Medical, military, medical
He’d already served from 1972 to 1974 as a flight surgeon in the U.S. Air Force, after graduating with a medical degree from the University of North Carolina.
“My parents were immigrants to this country, so to not go, that would have been embarrassing,” Neuer said, explaining the thought processes of a first-generation American who paid his own way through college before enlisting.
Stationed primarily in Korea, Neuer also flew Air-Evac missions to Southeast Asia.
“We thought the war was over, but it wasn’t,” he said. “We took the wounded out of Thailand and brought them to Clark Air Base.”
By the time Neuer was discharged from the Air Force and had completed his residency, Knecht had replaced radiologist Dr. Bill Saul, who retired, and a second radiologist, Dr. Conard, was preparing to retire. Knecht got in touch with St. Luke’s and learned that Neuer was available and willing to join the practice here.
He could not have predicted the changes his specialty would undergo.
“We’re really imaging experts,” Neuer said. “When I first started 33 years ago, we were an ancillary service, but today imaging is a centerpiece of medicine.
“We do CT scanning, MRIs, ultrasound. So we went from an ancillary service to being a very major part of medicine. I’m really thankful for having been in that exciting field, to go from periphery to the center,” Neuer said. “… You know now if we make the diagnosis early, we can significantly help people.”
Keeping up with technology presented an ongoing challenge.
“Dr. Knecht and I had to learn a lot of this OJT (on-the-job),” Neuer said. “We had to go away to conferences and learn all these things because we didn’t have it 30 years ago. The new radiologists all come out trained on these things.”
They appreciated Newman Hospital’s efforts to keep up-to-date on equipment, but longed for the hospital to install expensive digital mammogram equipment.
“We’ve been fighting for a breast center, I’d say 15 years ago,” Neuer said. “The economy of scale wasn’t there, but the hospital finally said, ‘Yes, we’re going to do it.’”
Though it will be Neuer’s replacement, Dr. Andy Legaka, who will use the digital mammography unit, Neuer doesn’t mind. The community will benefit in the end, and that attitude long has been a priority for Neuer.
He felt a little offended, in fact, when a Johnson County resident hinted that Neuer should be flattered, moving to the highly populated, financially healthy Johnson County.
“One of the things I think is so important, in giving to this community, you always get something back,” Neuer said. “There are just so many good people in this community that were inspirations for us to do well and try to help. I can’t tell you the number of people who made me a better person. You can do that in a small town.
“In Johnson County, you’re going to be a number.”
sandman (anonymous) says...
You and your wife will be so missed. Enjoy those grandbabies!!!!
July 9, 2011 at 7:43 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
netloafer (anonymous) says...
Freddie:
Best wishes. I'll always look back fondly at teaming up with you during Cleansweep.
July 9, 2011 at 9:24 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
reddog (K. B. Thomas Jr.) says...
There seems to be a lot of concern in the community about the hospital and who will exit next.
July 9, 2011 at 12:26 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Denise_Dorcey (anonymous) says...
You will be most certainly missed, Fred and Paula.
July 9, 2011 at 2:07 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
reddog, read the article. Fred is retiring. It's not just an "exit." He is being replaced by Dr. Andy Legaka.
July 9, 2011 at 5:49 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
truelovecharlie (anonymous) says...
WOW!!! reddgog made a comment without posting a link, I'm impressed!!
July 9, 2011 at 5:54 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
sail (anonymous) says...
Fred, going to miss you.KC will gain a good man.
July 10, 2011 at 9:38 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )