Dr. Walter "Doc" Ervin Reckling Sr.

Dr. Reckling Dies In Cheyenne Hospital, Tues.

Dr. Walter E. Reckling, 65, Lusk physician and surgeon for 33 years died in the Veteran Administration Hospital in Cheyenne Tuesday afternoon of a heart condition.

At the Herald's press time Wednesday afternoon it appeared certain that Dr. Reckling's remains would be placed in a casket at Cheyenne and taken to a Denver Crematory. From Denver the ashes would be taken to Illinois for interment. No services in Lusk are planned.

Mrs. Reckling has requested that no flowers be sent. Friends are setting up a memorial fund, possibly to be used for a medical scholarship. Those who wish to remember Dr. Reckling may send contributions for the memorial fund to Mrs. Blanche Schaefer or George Earl Peet.

Dr. Reckling, usually called "Doc", was a graduate of the Colorado School of Medicine. He first went to Kansas to practice, but said he couldn't take the dust of those drought years and came to Wyoming where the winds blew but it blew clean. He arrived in Lusk in 1931 and except for a few rare occasions never left, even for a vacation.

Community Service
While Dr. Reckling was completely devoted to his practice of medicine, he was a promoter of community events. In recognition of this he was presented the A.S. Robin Drug Company award for outstanding community service, at the Wyoming Medical Society Convention in 1962. At the 1963 Niobrara County Fair a special "Doc Reckling Day" program was held in order that local people might have an opportunity to show their appreciation for his years of service.

Dr. Reckling was a constant promoter of "The Legend of Rawhide" Pageant. While his two sons, Dr, Walter E. Reckling, Jr. and Dr. Fred Reckling and daughter Mrs. Velma Jean Bales, were in the Lusk schools he worked especially hard at promoting school activities and improvements. He was a member of the Niobrara County Fair Board for 22 years and during World War I was a member of the Selective Service Board. He had served as Red Cross drive and first aid chairman. Dr. Reckling was the driving force behind the building of the two large buildings at the Niobrara Fairgrounds and loved to help promote parades.

In 1941 he opened the Spencer Hospital and has operated it ever since. In 1959 Dr. Reckling and his wife Kitty, built an addition.

Dr. Reckling had been in ill health for some time, but only last month had he announced his official retirement.

In addition to Mrs. Reckling and his three children previously mentioned, he is survived by an adopted family of Candice, Jeffrey, Scarlet and Rhett.

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