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Dr. (Colonel) Donald D. Corlett (1898-1991) was not Seattle's first
resident urolgist he was said to be near the head of the list, and
considered one of the most accomplished medical specialists of his day.
At the age of 15, his interest in medicine was sparked by working for a
country doctor in a small Iowa community earning $5 a month. That, said
family members, was the start of a career that spanned eight decades.
Dr. Corlett, who was in private practice in Seattle and Port Angeles
from the mid 1920's to the 1970's, died here Tuesday, May 28, 1991 at
the age of 93. He was not ready to retire when he did, and probably
wouldn't have, had it not been for a stroke, said his daughter-in-law,
Joyce Corlett of Renton. Besides his medical career, Dr. Corlett was
also proud of his military service. At the age of 17, he enlisted in the
Army and served as an infantryman in the Rainbow Division during WWI. He
was severely wounded by machine gun crossfire during the battle of
Chalons-sur-Marne in France. "He was told he would lost the use of his
arm from that", Joyce Corlett said, "but he began a self-imposed
exercise regimen, worked at it for five months, and regained nearly all
the movement in his arm."
Upon his discharge from service and
return to his home state, he attended Iowa's Cornell College to earn
undergraduate degrees in chemistry and physics. He attended the
University of Iowa's medical school and graduated with honors in 1926.
The following year, he moved to Seattle to complete residency training
at Seattle General Hospital. In 1931, he established his private
practice, specializing in the urinary system and its diseases. Among Dr.
Corlett's patients were some of Seattle's most prominent citizens, said
Margaret McCammon, a now-retired anesthetist who worked with the doctor
at Seattle General. "They read like a list of Who's Who in Seattle," she
said.
"He was a caring man, and he was highly respected as a
urologist," said McCammon, of Mercer Island. "He was excellent with
surgical procedures, and he was very fussy when it came to his patients.
There was nothing too good for them," she added.
Dr. Corlett was
credited with pioneering many of the surgical techniques in his field.
During World War II, Dr. Corlett returned to active military duty as a
flight surgeon, (3160) assigned to the 13th Army Air Force air/sea rescue
squadron stationed on the tropical Indonesian island of Morotai. Aboard
amphibious planes, he and others in his crew rescued more than 800
downed aviators during the war, Joyce Corlett said.
Dr. Corlett
also established a budding medical practice among the Morotai Island
residents, his daughter-in-law said. For his military service, Dr.
Corlett, who retired as a Colonel, was awarded the Purple Heart, a
Selective Service medal, Bronze and Silver Stars, and other honors. When
he completed his military duty in 1945, he returned to Seattle and
resumed his private practice.
It was his intention to retire,
when in 1961, he moved to Port Angeles where he had purchased some
acreage. "But when he got there, he opened up a full-time medical
practice," she said. "He was just too active. He just couldn't stand to
be idle." Dr. Corlett also raised cattle and alfalfa on his ranch there.
In the community, he served as chairman of the local school board, vice
chairman of the Clallam County Medical Service Bureau, and a member of
the Republican Central Committee. He also was a member of the Rotary
Club and the Chamber of Commerce.
His stroke in 1971 forced him
into retirement from his medical practice, and in 1975 he and his wife,
Helen Virginia, returned to the Seattle area to live. The stroke left
him impaired but active - he was a supporter of the local arts
activities, and painted and wrote poetry himself. "One of the things he
did to keep his mind sharp in his spare time was calculus," she said.
Dr. Corlett was affiliated with several medical organizations,
including the Northwest Urological Society and the International College
of Surgeons. He was a member of the Nile Temple and Veterans of Foreign
Wars.
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