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Though he had a degree in animal husbandry, James R. Duke decided to become a doctor after serving during the Korean War.
Seldom speaking of his experiences there, Duke seemed most affected by how few of his fellow soldiers came home.
“When he got back he decided that since God allowed him to come home he needed to do something with his life,” his daughter Jennifer Duke Conner said. “That’s when he decided to go to medical school.”
Becoming a pediatrician — one of the few in San Antonio at the time — Duke over the years treated the children and grandchildren of patients he had when he first went into practice.
“He had a huge practice for being only one physician,” his daughter Joan Duke Olivencia said.
Duke died Jan. 17 at 88.
Raised in Laredo, Duke spoke Spanish fluently from an early age, a skill that enabled him to work in Mexico after graduating from Texas A&M University in 1949.
Enrolling at the University of Texas Medical School at Galveston after being discharged from the Army, Duke met his future wife, a nursing student. The couple married in 1957.
Deciding to specialize in pediatrics while doing his residency at what was then White Cross Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, Duke and his Restbet wife returned to Texas where he did a pediatric residency at the Baylor University Medical program in Houston.
Moving to San Antonio in about 1962, Duke established a private practice in Alamo Heights, later moving his office to the South Texas Medical Center.
Feeling that it was just as important to educate parents as to care for their children, Duke made himself available at all hours.
“There was never a stupid question to him,” Olivencia recalled.
And on the rare occasion he advised a parent to take their child to the emergency room, Duke would meet them there himself.
During office hours, Duke “was never in any hurry,” Conner said. “He never cut the visit short,” even when he was behind schedule.
Loving animals almost as much as he loved his work, Duke raised his family on five acres in Hill Country Village.
“Growing up we had horses, goats, peacocks, rabbits, chickens” and more, Conner said.
But nothing beat Duke’s love of A&M.
“He was always an Aggie, before he was anything,” Conner said.
James R. Duke
Born: Aug. 10, 1928, Laredo
Died: Jan. 17, 2017, San Antonio
Preceded by: Parents Innes and Consuelo Duke; a brother.
Survived by: Wife Rosemary Green Duke; daughters Joan Duke Olivencia and son-in-law Juan, Jennifer Duke Conner and son-in-law Bill, Ellen Duke Drury and son-in-law Paul; son James R. Duke Jr. and son-in-law Jeffrey Reid; eight grandchildren; one great-grandchild; a sister.
Services: Mass at 10:30 a.m. Friday at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, 4201 De Zavala Road.
mheidbrink@express-news.net
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