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North High Hall of Fame Inductee - 1991
Dr. Richard Curtis Wooters
Class of June, 1942

Prominent Des Moines family medical practioner at Iowa Lutheran Hospital and Polk county Medical Examiner from 1966 top present (1991). (Later note: Retiring in 1995 as medical examiner of Polk County after more than 30 years and investigating 20,000 deaths. Dick combined professional competence and sincere personal compassion.)

Taken from the Spring 1989 issue of The Alumni Oracle. This is an interview recorded by Melanie Lewis, Register Staff Writer

Describing him as "a gentle man in a world of grief and violence," the Sertoma Club of Des Moines honored Dr. R.C. Wooters, Polk county medical examiner, with its Service to Mankind award Tuesday.
The Sertoma Club is a community-service organization that annually recognizes an area resident for his or her work in the community. Wooters, 63, was cited for his compassion and work with grief-stricken relatives, said Will Canine, chairman of the group's selection committee.
An expert on grief, Wooters finds himself spending a majority of his time counseling and consoling relatives of those who have died accidentally or by violence.
The task of telling someone a person close to them has died in those circumstances isn't an easy one. "the toughest thing that can happen is to lose a loved one," he said.
Wooters notifies the next of kin in person rather than letting police do it. Armed not only with kind words and a sympathetic ear, Wooters also carries literature from support groups designed to help the bereaved.
Become Familiar
In the early days, he would have a neighbor with him while he told the family, but now he's such a well-known person, he doesn't need that familiar face with him. "Many people say, "I'm glad it's you because I've heard about you," said Wooters.
That familiarity can also strike terror into a person's heart just as did an officer coming to the door in war time. "It's bad if I'm only asking for directions," Wooters joked.
A sense of humor and his strong faith in God helps him get through the day and night when he routinely faces death, Wooters said. "I believe there is more to life than we see here, and death is not the worst thing that can happen to you," he said.
Wooters is an active member of the Windsor Heights Lutheran Church.
Still he is not immune to the pain a person experiences when told about a death. "The hardest ones are suicides and infant and children's deaths," Wooters said.
Wooters is responsible for investigating and certifying deaths in Polk County. He goes to homicides, suicides, accidents, sudden deaths, and the deaths of those who were terminally ill but not under a doctor's care.
Wooters has about 800 to 900 cases a year and is paid $75. per case by the county.
Editor's note: Dr. Wooters is from the North High Class of 1942.

Dr. Richard Curtis Wooters, 85, the long-time Polk County medical examiner who broke news of the deaths of loved ones with uncommon compassion to thousands of families, died Friday after a brief illness.

Once called a "gentle man in a world of grief and violence," Wooters investigated murders, suicides, accidental deaths, unattended and unexpected deaths - more than 20,000 altogether during his career. "I hope I am remembered for being caring,' he said in an interview. Wooters retired in 1995. He became deputy medical examiner for Polk County in 1966 and chief medical examiner in 1973.

Wooters, who died at Bishop Drumm Home in Johnston, did not fear death but confessed that he hoped to die "easily."

"I see death two or three times a day, day in and day out," he once said. "If I didn't have a solid faith I couldn't handle that. I think there is more to life than what we see here."

A member of Windsor Heights Lutheran Church since 1952, Wooters said he always tried to tell survivors that their loved ones died easily, "if I could say it honestly."

Visitation will be from 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesday at Westover Funeral Home, 6337 Hickman Road. The funeral will be Thursday at 3 p.m. at Windsor Heights Lutheran Church, 1240 66th St.

Polk County Sheriff Bill McCarthy worked with Wooters on hundreds of cases when McCarthy was a Des Moines police detective. McCarthy recalled his friend and colleague's decency and humanity. "Before we had victim advocacy and resources, we had Dr. Wooters," McCarthy said Saturday. "He truly, absolutely and deeply cared about people he met through usually terrible circumstances." McCarthy added: "I've seen him walk outside of a homicide scene and put his arms around somebody and just hold them and say nothing. I've seen him sit down and explain calmly what happened. He was just a kind, kind person."

Former television news reporter Rick Swalwell said of Wooters, "He was probably the most compassionate human being I've ever met in my life." Once when Swalwell was introducing Wooters during a television program, Swalwell explained that he could not be objective about Wooters. "I said something like, 'He's a great guy. And how can you not have strong personal feelings for the person who whacked you on the fanny when you were born?' "

As a private practice doctor, Wooters not only delivered Swalwell, but several years later sewed his leg up after a serious sledding accident. And later, when Swalwell was an adult and learned that his father had died unexpectedly, Wooters helped him break the news to his mother.

"He was very gentle, very kind and always knew just what to say," Swalwell said. "He got along well with the families, rescue workers, the police and the news media in some high stress, very uncomfortable situations."

One of the worst kept secrets about Wooters was that he slept in his clothes in a living room easy chair most nights so he wouldn't have to dress and undress when called out on a death. The Des Moines Tribune newspaper published a photograph of Wooters napping in his chair with his shoes off. A hole was evident in his sock in the foreground of the picture.

The late Lee Williams, former Des Moines fire chief, enjoyed the photo so much that he had it enlarged into a poster and gave it to Wooters as a gift. Wooters made the poster a focal point of his Windsor Heights home, assigning it to a prominent spot above a living room window.

The Des Moines native was in the halls of fame at North High School and Harding Middle School.

He completed undergraduate and graduate degrees at the University of Iowa.

He was fond of saying he went through school "by the sweat of my frau," which meant his wife, Lucille, a nurse, worked while he studied. They married in 1944 when he was 19.

Easily identified around Polk County by his Cadillacs and Lincoln Towncars with the license plate MED EX or MEDXMNR, Wooters was an uncommon mix of a humble man in a high profile job.

His interest in the news was not accidental. His father, Leland Wooters, was a Des Moines newspaper reporter who met his mother, Hope Harris Wooters, while she was employed at the Polk County Courthouse.

At North High School, where Wooters "either graduated 19th in a class of 320 or 20th in a class of 319," he served as a photographer for the school newspaper.

Informed several years ago that he was being interviewed for his obituary, he said, "I'm flattered." Then he mentioned his morphine addiction, which he kicked in the mid-1970s after more than 20 years. Wooters, a man who paid attention to detail, said even that dark secret, which didn't come to light until 1977, was a part of his life and could not be ignored.

Wooters found pleasure in professional memberships and seminars, in travel and dining at restaurants. But following a mild stroke from complications of diabetes in March 1994, he was placed on a strict diet.

He is survived by his wife, and their children, Joan Fumetti of Dubuque, David of Rochester, N.Y., and Patti Verlengia of Johnston; four grandchildren, two great-grandchildren and his brother, James L. Wooters.

Residing in Windsor Heights, IA 50311. Died 12/31/10.

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