As a general-practice physician in Arlington for 35 years, Dr. Norman Zook saw his profession evolve from the time of house calls to an era of big clinics.
Through all the changes, Zook served not only his own community, but patients in far-flung locales. Working with the Free Methodist Church as a missionary doctor, he made long trips to South Africa, the Republic of Burundi, countries in Central and South America, and Haiti.
Always, Zook returned to Arlington, where he and his wife, Laurine, raised four children in the home they built on Burn Hill, overlooking the Stillaguamish River. He practiced in Arlington with Dr. Ben Burgoyne, who brought Zook into his practice after an older partner’s death.
“He was a great guy, a very great Christian man,” said Burgoyne, who is now retired.
Norman Wilbur Zook died Aug. 26. He was 81. For several years, he had suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. Even as his illness progressed, his children said he stuck to a lifelong routine of physical activity.
“That was so important to him,” said Debora Gudgeon, one of Zook’s three daughters. Gudgeon recalled going with her parents to Lake Chelan’s Wapato Point. “I went swimming with him every morning.”
Zook is survived by his wife, Laurine; his sisters Georgia Anderson and Nellie Fenwick; his daughters Tamara Tuller, Debora Gudgeon and Tonya Sanders; his son Norman Gregory Zook; and also by nine grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
He was born at home in Tabor, Iowa, Oct. 13, 1926 to the Rev. Leroy and Hazel Zook. He enlisted in the Army Air Forces in 1945, near the end of World War II. He wrote and drew comics for a shipboard newspaper. Stationed at Okinawa, he oversaw prisoner care.
After the war, he went to Seattle Pacific College and began his major in art. Convinced by a professor to switch to pre-med studies, he graduated and went on to medical school at the University of Oregon.
It was Burgoyne who convinced his future medical partner to come join him in Arlington.
Now 91, Burgoyne met Zook at a church youth meeting in Portland, Ore. “They had an easel there, and he drew the head of Christ, a beautiful drawing, with colored chalk,” Burgoyne recalled. Zook’s wife-to-be was the daughter of Free Methodist pastor in Portland.
“I attended church there,” Burgoyne said. “Later, when Dr. Zook was an intern and my partner died in Arlington, I went and sought him out.”
It was a good match. More than professional partners, they took up flying together. They covered the Arlington medical practice for each other during periods when they worked as mission doctors.
Burgoyne knew an earlier era of medicine in Arlington. “We didn’t have an emergency room,” he said. “If one of your patients came to the hospital with a broken arm, they would call you. If you took your phone off the hook, the police would come to your door,” Burgoyne said.
Zook balanced hard work with hard play, and included his family in his adventures.
“My most distinct memories are adventures I went on with him. He’d push me to the limits sometimes, bike-riding, canoeing, sailing and hiking,” said Greg Zook, now pastor of Arlington Free Methodist Church.
As a high school sophomore, Greg Zook accompanied his parents on a yearlong mission trip to the Transkei region in South Africa. His father delivered babies, treated wounds caused by tribal strife, and shared his faith with patients willing to hear his Christian message.
Through the years, Zook had several sailboats. The family cruised to the San Juan Islands and the Gulf Islands of British Columbia. The first boat was called “Renie,” his wife’s nickname. Later, he had the “Sea Fever,” which had an enclosed pilot house so he could steer from inside.
Daughter Tonya Sanders, of Stanwood, said her father had a constant thirst for knowledge. “He continued to further his education at every opportunity, and went to all the medical meetings. We grew up listening to medical tapes at the breakfast table,” Sanders said. “He was very driven that way, and very driven athletically. On the boat, he’d get up at the crack of dawn and go all over an island jogging, then wake us up for breakfast. He was exhausting, but fun.”
“He was reserved in some ways. It was hard for him to speak in public, he didn’t like to stand out in a crowd,” daughter Debora Gudgeon said. “But around his friends, he was very comfortable and outgoing. I remember his laugh, just a wonderful laugh.”
Reporter Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460 or muhlstein@heraldnet.com.
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