Captain Stanley Richter
U.S Army Reserves
Physician
United States
1971 - 1977
U.S Army Reserves
Physician
United States
1971 - 1977
Stanley Richter was born on August 12, 1944, in Philadelphia. He grew up in a neighborhood of row homes in the West Oak Lane section of Philadelphia. Stan attended the public school system and in the 11th grade the family moved to a larger home in the Philadelphia suburbs. Stan developed an interest in medicine at a young age. He had a distant cousin who was the family doctor and Stan was captivated by what he did. In Stan’s senior year of high school he became a pre-med volunteer. This allowed him help out in the Emergency Room of a local hospital. This gave him exposure to medicine in a real life setting and helped him decide if medicine was really the path he would like to pursue. Stan decided it was.
Stan graduated from Abbington High School in 1962 and headed off to Muhlenberg College just outside of Allentown where he majored in Natural Science. The school had only 1,200 students and although Stan is a modest 5’7” he was selected for the freshman basketball team. After graduating in 1966 he moved home to live with his parents while he attended Hahnemann Medical College in Center City Philadelphia. He did both his residency and internship in internal medicine at Hahnemann. Stan decided he wanted to specialize, and he chose cardiology. Hahnemann had a world-famous cardiologist, William Likoff on its staff who influenced “hundreds of medical students to go into cardiology because he was a very dynamic speaker and wonderful clinician.”
Another benefit of attending Mulhenberg was meeting Marilyn Magdule at a fraternity party. Marilyn was also from the Philadelphia area. Stan asked Marilyn for her phone number and soon the couple were an item. It turned out that Marilyn was a regular dancing on a famous television program of the era known as American Bandstand, hosted by the legendary Dick Clark. The couple tied the knot in the middle of Stan’s sophomore year of medical school. They were married on Thanksgiving weekend in 1967 and drove to New York City for a weekend honeymoon. On Monday they were back in Philadelphia and Stan return to medical school and Marily return to Temple University.
In 1970 the Vietnam War was nearing its peak and Stan began his internship at Hahnemann. “The government policy was every doctor was drafted because they needed doctors in the service. I knew I was going to be drafted into the service.” One option available to Stan was a program where the government allowed physicians to complete one year residency in return for a two-year commitment in the armed forces. In this case a doctor could practice his specialty immediately but would have to wait two years to go into private practice. Another option was the Reserves.
Joining the Reserves would allow Stan to go into practice immediately which was most important to him. In return Stan would owe the military 6 years, but that commitment would consist of one weekend each month and two weeks of active duty every summer. “In medicine, training is a long time. 13 years of education and training after high school. The last thing you want to do when you’re going to do 13 years of training, is give up two more years of your life and serve in the Army.”
Stan completed the paperwork to join the Reserves and went back to completing his residency. Stan intended to follow-up, but he was busy with his training and forgot. One day Marilyn called and told Stan he had received a letter in the mail from President Nixon advising him he had been drafted by the Army. The letter gave him several options to choose from. Stan fully expected to be deployed to Vietnam and wanted to stay away from the front lines if possible. He thought the Air Force would be his best bet. He applied to the Air Force, was accepted and was sworn in as a First Lieutenant.
Subsequently Stan received a letter from The Surgeon General of the United States advising him the Army medical reserve units were undermanned and in need of doctors. The Reserves were appealing because it would keep him in the states and allow him to go into private practice immediately, which was his main goal. Now Stan had to find a way to move from the Air Force into the Army Reserves. It turned out to be quite easy and next thing he knew, he was honorably discharged from the Air Force and was inducted into the Army Reserves in July 1971.
Stan was in his first year of residency at Hahnemann when he attended his first summer training at Fort Dix in New Jersey. There he worked in the medical clinics where he provided general medical care for the soldiers and their families. On the weekends the emergency room was packed because the dependents of the soldiers chose to see a doctor on the weekend rather than miss a day of work or pull their children out of school. This was a short-lived phenomenon because the government instituted a $1.00 fee paid out of the patients pocket for anyone visiting the ER on the weekend. Suddenly the weekend traffic dropped by 66% proving behavior modification is possible.
Stan recalls his time in the Reserves as being heavy on the medical practice and light on the military training other than one assignment where the commanding office believed doctors needed to learn to march. The doctors turned that into exercise in futility and soon the marching was cancelled.
Stan decided he wanted exposure to cardiologists in other areas of the country. He wanted to learn what physicians were doing in other parts of the United States. Stan and Marilyn moved to southern Florida where Stan received a cardiology fellowship at Jackson Memorial Hospital. He also joined a private practice in nearby Plantation, FL. When Stan moved to Florida in 1973, he was transferred to an Army medical reserve unit in South Miami. There he provided general medical care and worked in the emergency room. Stan recalled many of the cases he saw in the ER related to substance abuse developed in Vietnam.
In 1978 Stan decided to venture out and start his own practice. Stan began a practice further north in Tamarc, FL. where he set up his own cardiology practice and saw patients at four different hospitals until he retired in 2021.
I asked Stan if recalled where he was when President Kennedy was assassinated. This was a very seminal moment for Americans of his generation and is comparable to Pearl Harbor and 9/11 for other generations. Stan was in a zoology lab at Muhlenberg when a professor came into the lab to advise them of what had happened to the President. The students found themselves distracted and one by one left the lab. The following Monday school was cancelled. “It was a horrible, horrible weekend.”
Now that Stan is retired, he fills his time playing tennis, golf, pickleball, canasta, reading novels “and trying to enjoy life”. Stan and Marily have three daughters who have given them 6 grandchildren. This year they are looking forward to celebrating their 57th wedding anniversary.
Thank you, Stan, for serving your country at a time of war.
Here’s to your 57th and looking forward to 67!!!
Stan graduated from Abbington High School in 1962 and headed off to Muhlenberg College just outside of Allentown where he majored in Natural Science. The school had only 1,200 students and although Stan is a modest 5’7” he was selected for the freshman basketball team. After graduating in 1966 he moved home to live with his parents while he attended Hahnemann Medical College in Center City Philadelphia. He did both his residency and internship in internal medicine at Hahnemann. Stan decided he wanted to specialize, and he chose cardiology. Hahnemann had a world-famous cardiologist, William Likoff on its staff who influenced “hundreds of medical students to go into cardiology because he was a very dynamic speaker and wonderful clinician.”
Another benefit of attending Mulhenberg was meeting Marilyn Magdule at a fraternity party. Marilyn was also from the Philadelphia area. Stan asked Marilyn for her phone number and soon the couple were an item. It turned out that Marilyn was a regular dancing on a famous television program of the era known as American Bandstand, hosted by the legendary Dick Clark. The couple tied the knot in the middle of Stan’s sophomore year of medical school. They were married on Thanksgiving weekend in 1967 and drove to New York City for a weekend honeymoon. On Monday they were back in Philadelphia and Stan return to medical school and Marily return to Temple University.
In 1970 the Vietnam War was nearing its peak and Stan began his internship at Hahnemann. “The government policy was every doctor was drafted because they needed doctors in the service. I knew I was going to be drafted into the service.” One option available to Stan was a program where the government allowed physicians to complete one year residency in return for a two-year commitment in the armed forces. In this case a doctor could practice his specialty immediately but would have to wait two years to go into private practice. Another option was the Reserves.
Joining the Reserves would allow Stan to go into practice immediately which was most important to him. In return Stan would owe the military 6 years, but that commitment would consist of one weekend each month and two weeks of active duty every summer. “In medicine, training is a long time. 13 years of education and training after high school. The last thing you want to do when you’re going to do 13 years of training, is give up two more years of your life and serve in the Army.”
Stan completed the paperwork to join the Reserves and went back to completing his residency. Stan intended to follow-up, but he was busy with his training and forgot. One day Marilyn called and told Stan he had received a letter in the mail from President Nixon advising him he had been drafted by the Army. The letter gave him several options to choose from. Stan fully expected to be deployed to Vietnam and wanted to stay away from the front lines if possible. He thought the Air Force would be his best bet. He applied to the Air Force, was accepted and was sworn in as a First Lieutenant.
Subsequently Stan received a letter from The Surgeon General of the United States advising him the Army medical reserve units were undermanned and in need of doctors. The Reserves were appealing because it would keep him in the states and allow him to go into private practice immediately, which was his main goal. Now Stan had to find a way to move from the Air Force into the Army Reserves. It turned out to be quite easy and next thing he knew, he was honorably discharged from the Air Force and was inducted into the Army Reserves in July 1971.
Stan was in his first year of residency at Hahnemann when he attended his first summer training at Fort Dix in New Jersey. There he worked in the medical clinics where he provided general medical care for the soldiers and their families. On the weekends the emergency room was packed because the dependents of the soldiers chose to see a doctor on the weekend rather than miss a day of work or pull their children out of school. This was a short-lived phenomenon because the government instituted a $1.00 fee paid out of the patients pocket for anyone visiting the ER on the weekend. Suddenly the weekend traffic dropped by 66% proving behavior modification is possible.
Stan recalls his time in the Reserves as being heavy on the medical practice and light on the military training other than one assignment where the commanding office believed doctors needed to learn to march. The doctors turned that into exercise in futility and soon the marching was cancelled.
Stan decided he wanted exposure to cardiologists in other areas of the country. He wanted to learn what physicians were doing in other parts of the United States. Stan and Marilyn moved to southern Florida where Stan received a cardiology fellowship at Jackson Memorial Hospital. He also joined a private practice in nearby Plantation, FL. When Stan moved to Florida in 1973, he was transferred to an Army medical reserve unit in South Miami. There he provided general medical care and worked in the emergency room. Stan recalled many of the cases he saw in the ER related to substance abuse developed in Vietnam.
In 1978 Stan decided to venture out and start his own practice. Stan began a practice further north in Tamarc, FL. where he set up his own cardiology practice and saw patients at four different hospitals until he retired in 2021.
I asked Stan if recalled where he was when President Kennedy was assassinated. This was a very seminal moment for Americans of his generation and is comparable to Pearl Harbor and 9/11 for other generations. Stan was in a zoology lab at Muhlenberg when a professor came into the lab to advise them of what had happened to the President. The students found themselves distracted and one by one left the lab. The following Monday school was cancelled. “It was a horrible, horrible weekend.”
Now that Stan is retired, he fills his time playing tennis, golf, pickleball, canasta, reading novels “and trying to enjoy life”. Stan and Marily have three daughters who have given them 6 grandchildren. This year they are looking forward to celebrating their 57th wedding anniversary.
Thank you, Stan, for serving your country at a time of war.
Here’s to your 57th and looking forward to 67!!!