David William Minard

MINARD, David W., M.D., age 78, May 13, 2008. His life was a dedication to the practice of medicine as an orthopedic surgeon, and as a medical missionary and humanitarian. He graduated from the University of Nebraska College of Medicine in 1956. While in undergraduate school he met Pat Gilbreath and they were married in 1952. He completed his residency in pathology at Wesley Medical Center in Wichita, Kansas, then served two years in the U. S. Army before entering an orthopedic residency program at Charlotte (N.C.) Memorial Hospital, graduating in 1964. That same year he began a 30-year career with Physicians Clinic in Omaha which included several years as a volunteer Associate Clinical Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. In 1978 he began a long commitment to serving the needy of the world by working for six weeks at Wanless Hospital in Miraj, India, taking his wife and two children with him to help with the needs of patients. Returning home, he initiated a campaign to collect excess equipment and supplies from Omaha area hospitals and arranging to have them shipped to third world countries. After India, he next worked for two weeks at Evangelico Hospital in Londrina, Brazil. From these experiences he decided to take early retirement in 1992 so he could devote more time to missionary work. The following year he made the first of four trips of four-to-six weeks each to Kikuyu, Kenya, doing mostly children orthopedics. This was followed by two trips to Quang Ngai Provincial Hospital in Vietnam. During this period he successfully helped raise funds to build an orthopedic Rehabilitation Hospital at Kikuyu. He also had a great love for growing things on their acreage in west Omaha. He planted hundreds of trees, many of them not native to Nebraska, as well as crops of both vegetables and fruit, most of which he shared with others. He befriended and provided financial support to both Mexican-American and Sudanese young men and also employed them to help maintain the property. While he was devoted to world missions, he was also involved in humanitarian projects in Omaha. These included being on the Board of Directors of Habitat For Humanity Omaha; various committees at First United Methodist Church and cooking and helping serve meals at Siena/Francis House and the Nebraska Aids Project. He attended Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, and in April, 2007, received the school's Alumni Achievement Award for his humanitarian efforts. Beginning in the mid-l990s, he began a journey down a spiritual path, completing a Masters in Theology from Sancta Sophia Seminary in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, in 2004. At the time of his death he has been working on his dissertation for a Doctor of Philosophy in Spiritual Studies and had hoped to complete it by September of this year. David is survived by his wife, Pat; son, Todd Minard and his wife Alma, and their daughter, Gabriela of Oak Lawn, Il.; daughter, Jesse Adair, Mexico City, and granddaughter, Ramona Adair, New York City.

David William Minard

December 30, 1929 - May 13, 2008