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Biography of
Dr. William Robert Kueffner
On March 14, 1920, in St Paul MN, Helen & Bill Kueffner became the proud parents of a baby boy, William Robert Kueffner. Bill had two sisters, one older, Mary Hill, and one younger, Joan. The family lived in St Paul where the senior William worked as an attorney. Young Bill and the girls enjoyed a long series of summer trips to a cottage the family owned in Marine on St Croix, a place full of memories for all of them.
Bill attended Creighton High School where he was a good student and a strong member of the swim team. He also was a Boy Scout and earned the honor of Eagle Scout. In fact, in 2006, Bill was invited to attend a local Eagle Scout award ceremony. He attended, proudly wearing his own Eagle Scout pin, the one he earned some 70 years earlier. Not only was his the oldest pin there, he was the oldest Eagle Scout as well.
He went on to Carleton College (Class of 1941). Over the summer he worked at Glacier National Park Hotel. During his time off, Bill would go hiking in the park's mountains, often with the hotel photographer who was diabetic. Not yet trained in medicine, Bill enjoys remembering how the photographer would eat raisins when he "needed a boost." At one point he had considered studying engineering, but after two years at Carleton, he transferred to the University of Minnesota where he went into a premed program on a full scholarship and graduated in 1943.
With his medical training, Bill joined the Army as a Captain in the 10th Mountain Division. Bill remembers it being a long flight to Italy aboard a DC-3 via the Azores. He had been destined to be part of the invasion on Japan until the surrender after Hiroshima changed those orders.
Bill returned to the States where he met and married his wife Elizabeth. Their first son, Bruce, was born in October 1945. They moved to Brighton in Boston where Bill gained pediatric training at Boston Children's Hospital & Harvard Medical School. It was a wonderful opportunity to meet renowned doctors in pediatric surgery & orthopedics.
But driving was another story. Bill remembers how, after one snow storm, the roads weren't plowed & he was driving their recently acquired second-hand car. Loosing control and having no traction, he piloted the couple's very first car on a memorable slide down a hill and into a truck. …The kind of event that is much funnier when retold than relived. In June of 1946, Bill and Elizabeth moved to New York City and Bill studied at Cornell & NY Children's Hospital. They lived in a fifth floor walk-up on 75th Street.
They later moved out to Fairfield, closer to Elizabeth's parents, where he started his practice in 1949, the same year their second son, John, was born. His office was on the corner of the Post Road & Reef Road, on the second floor above Clampet's Drug Store. Today that location is occupied by perhaps a more eye catching establishment - Victoria's Secret.
As a young pediatrician, he volunteered his services to be the team doctor for the Roger Ludlowe High School football squad. He was amazed how, despite their injuries, the players always wanted to get back on the field. The practice grew and moved down the Post Road to a brick building across from the post office and next to a diner. The offices, along with the diner, have since been replaced by the Brick Walk.
In 1951, Bill's wife Elizabeth was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 32. She died the following year. With two young sons and a fledgling practice, Bill was a busy man. He met Nancy during a ski weekend with friends and they were married in 1954. In the years to follow, the family grew from two to six, Paul, Eric, Carl, and Chris - all boys!! In October 2004, Bill and Nancy celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.
In 1957, Bill and his partner, Frank Scholan, moved their office to the Tide Mill Building, in Southport. In 1974, Bill took a deep breath and bought the building from the Wakeman Boys Club and proceeded to renovate it toward its earlier look by removing the Tudor façade and adding cedar siding. With retirement in mind, he and Nancy turned what was long ago the restaurant chef's apartment into a compact but airy home where he and Nancy have lived since about 1980.
Bill has long been active in both Fairfield and in the local medical community. He served on Fairfield's Board of Health for a number of years. He has been a member of the staff at Bridgeport, St. Vincent's, and Norwalk Hospitals. He headed the pediatric department at Bridgeport Hospital. He also worked at Yale medical school.
A doctor from the old school, or at least one from an earlier time, , Bill made house calls all over town carrying his familiar Dr's Bag. As a result, he still knows Fairfield's streets as well as any Firefighter. Patients also came to the house on Old Academy Road to be checked or examined - that is if they hadn't been cured over the phone while he sat at the table during family meals. Pediatrics is a 24 hour job!
Finally, in 1985, Bill retired. But he didn't slow down. Fulfilling a long-held goal, he volunteered at the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Haiti, contributing fully his career-long experience and expertise. He and Nancy made several subsequent trips to Haiti where they both volunteered their services. Between visits, he helped raise funds, and he located sources of medicine and supplies for the hospital. He continues to be very active in supporting the hospital - as Rotary members know.
On the local front, Bill oversaw the reconstruction of the two bridges that cross on either side of the Tide Mill. He played a significant part in aspects of its design, most notably, the wooden guardrails. Learning that the design called for steel guardrails, he scoured Connecticut, finding examples of appealing wooden ones, photographing them, and forwarding his research to the DOT. Through perseverance, general staying power, and his Minnesota-brand of earnestness, we were all rewarded with bridges that are far more complementary to the area than those called for in the original plans. After years of construction under Bill's watchful eye - and sometimes his cane - the bridge was completed in 2006, an event he celebrated by hosting a Bridge Party. It was a wonderful outdoor event with great friends, neighbors, and food. And Music! A long-time fan of steel-drum music, he brought in a talented reggae band, and topped the whole thing off by letting every one enjoy his - and their - childhood fantasy: all you can eat ice cream goodies, served up from a Good Humor truck that he had had stocked.
Bill never loses his enthusiasm to be involved with people and projects - from his dedicated efforts in Haiti to attracting purple martins to the Tide Mill martin house … from helping research and shepherd the design and construction of handicap ramps at the Pequot Yacht Club and at the Fairfield Beach Club, to tending to his plants at the Tide Mill in front or up on his deck or in the greenhouse. It's hard for him to go anywhere without someone saying "Hi, Dr. Kueffner, I was one of your patients" - often there are generations of patients - children and their parents. Arthritis & glaucoma don't slow him down. To him, these are inconveniences, not impediments.
Bill is an example to many - to patients, to Rotarians, to friends, and to his sons. He is a caring and loving man who lives honestly and generously. He is humble, true to his word as a matter of course, manages to be both frank and polite, and is respectful to people of all ages. While managing to stay quite active in the community, he has spent the last several years caring for Nancy, who has Alzheimer's. Though he might quip that this turn has helped him to become a better chef, to his family and friends it is this patience, devotion, and love for her that exemplifies the way he leads his life. Bill Kueffner is a quite inspiration and a truly great example to us all.
Submitted by Bruce Kueffner, October 2007
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