In Memoriam

Dr. Wilkins graduated from Colorado State University in 1958 with both an undergraduate degree and a degree in Veterinary Medicine (DVM). After practicing veterinary medicine for 4 years, Dr. Wilkins entered UT Southwestern Medical School in 1962. During graduation in 1966, Dr. Wilkins received the Ho Din Award as the graduate who exemplified the unique personal qualities embodied in all great physicians—knowledge, understanding, and, most of all, compassion. Those qualities would remain the hallmark of the man through a very distinguished orthopaedic career.

Following an internship at Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Dr. Wilkins served in the United States Air Force in Iraklion (Crete), Greece, for 2 years before returning to Dallas to complete his orthopaedic training at UT Southwestern in 1972. He then took his family to Canada and The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto where he completed a 1-year fellowship in pediatric orthopaedics.

The Wilkins family returned to Texas following his fellowship year, accepting a position in the Department of Orthopaedics at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center at San Antonio, a position he proudly held for over 44 years. During his early years in practice, he extended himself in the community by providing fracture care for children at multiple hospitals.

Dr. Wilkins was a founding member of the Pediatric Orthopaedic Study Group, one of the predecessors of POSNA. He played a major role in bringing the POSG and the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society together to form POSNA and subsequently became president of the combined organization in 1987-1988. From 1980-2002, he was chair of COUR (Committee on Orthopaedics in Underdeveloped Regions). This committee, through his leadership, helped organize pediatric orthopaedic outreach education courses throughout the world. Dr. Wilkins was a force to be reckoned with when it came to outreach education, both organizing and participating in courses in Mexico, Haiti, Central and South America as well as Southeast Asia.

At a time when few surgeons were traveling to Haiti, he took a particular interest in developing connections with the Haitian orthopaedic community. For over 20 years, he visited Haiti two to three times each year for a week at a time to teach and assist the local surgeons in complex surgical procedures. He recruited other North American pediatric orthopaedic surgeons to join him in this endeavor and helped develop a Ponseti clubfoot program for the country, which exists to this day despite the challenges facing Haiti.

He became the co-editor of Rockwood and Green’s Fractures in Children in 1984. This textbook became a classic and subsequently was renamed Rockwood and Wilkins’ Fractures in Children in 1994. Dr. Wilkins became a much sought-after speaker with his incredible knowledge and experience in children’s fractures. As a result, he lectured in 58 countries and on every continent except Africa.

Dr. Wilkins was traveling internationally at such a rate that he was nominated for a special American Airlines award consisting of a donation of 1 million air miles. With the help of POSNA members, he was the recipient of the miles, and in true Kaye Wilkins fashion, he donated the miles to POSNA with a specific plan in mind. He persuaded the POSNA board to support a COUR scholarship program where two or three worthy individuals from the developing world would receive scholarships to attend the POSNA Annual Meeting, and the miles were used to defray their air and hotel expenses.

His love of education and teaching became legendary, and he has assisted in the knowledge given to many foreign pediatric orthopaedic surgeons by hosting surgeons in San Antonio through a program sponsored by the American Orthopaedic Association. As a result of these endeavors, Dr. Wilkins was also instrumental in helping surgeons from around the globe initiate pediatric orthopaedic societies in their countries, where he was often an invited guest lecturer. One of Dr. Wilkins' favorite sayings in the establishment of outreach education was to "Leave skills, not scars." He believed it preferable to teach the local surgeons how to do certain procedures rather than have the visiting team do the surgery. In this way, the surgeons of a developing country soon acquired the skills necessary to provide management for the children in their area.

He was the impetus for so many of us to adopt his philosophy of outreach education. Specifically, he encouraged us to pay our way to the destination and have the local hosts only be responsible for our accommodations. Dr. Wilkins was a powerful mentor to those in POSNA who embraced this concept.

Dr. Wilkins was a humble giant in pediatric orthopaedics. He received numerous notable awards and accolades, including the Humanitarian Awards of both the AAOS (2008) and POSNA (2011) as well as the POSNA Distinguished Achievement Award in 2001 (interview here). Despite his many accomplishments, he remained a thoughtful, unassuming gentle man, always interested in others and with a keen sense of humor. For those of us who knew him as a friend and colleague, it was a privilege to be in his presence.

The members of POSNA extend their sincere condolences to his wife, Sidney, to his sons and daughters-in-law, and to his grandchildren.
 
R. Baxter Willis, MD
Perry Schoenecker, MD