Harold Battenfield retires from practice

On the long list of Northeastern State alumni, the name Harold Battenfield is often recognized by orthopedic surgeons.

But Battenfield, who received his Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from NSU in 1959, is moving out of the profession in which he built such a luminous reputation.

"He recently announced his retirement as an orthopedic surgeon," said John Gyllin, director of Development for the NSU Foundation. "He'd been in practice for 42 years and he is well-known and well-revered throughout Tulsa and Oklahoma."

It may be difficult to picture Battenfield detached from the field of orthopedic surgery.

In 2001, he won the Physician of the Year award from the Osteopathic Founders Foundation at Tulsa Regional Medical Center and was named Alumnus of the Year by the University of Health Sciences College in Kansas City. In 1994 he received the American Osteopathic Academy of Orthopedics Award for outstanding contributions to the field.

He chaired the Department of Orthopedics, a department he helped create, at Tulsa Regional for 17 years. He established the Orthopedic Resident Endowment Fund to help fledgling doctors meet expenses. He started post-grad training programs in orthopedic surgery. He holds four medical patents.

"I liked what I was doing and I liked the people I worked with in the office," he said. "I'd worked with many of them for more than 20 years. I enjoyed training the orthopedic residents, because they were so full of fire. I'm going to miss it, big-time."

Battenfield doesn't see retiring from practice as some sort of wrap-up, but simply a changing of horses for life's stagecoach.

"A surgeon is what I did but not who I was," he said. "I'm closing that chapter of my life and moving on. Lately, I've been taking classes and learning to write. I've been in a writing group for five years now."

His family is paramount, and he calls his six grandchildren his hobby.

"They always have been," he said. "I've never been a golfer, despite what the perception of doctors may be. One of my great objectives was to be a fun, educational grandfather."

He met his wife, the former Mary Munn, at NSU. Today, she sits on the Alumni Association Board as Past President. Both are active in the Nifty Fifties alumni group. Harold serves as a trustee on the NSU Foundation Board and he assumes the chair next year. The generosity of Battenfield and his friend, Dr. John Carletti, permanently endowed the Battenfield-Carletti Entrepreneurial Lecture Series.

While his family will get to see the most of Battenfield in his retirement, NSU will also see him more often.

"I will have time to be more active and to make meetings, and therefore get more involved," he said.

Gyllin said the university is grateful for Battenfield's service.

"He has such a passion for life and a passion for Northeastern, and anybody who comes to know Harold Battenfield is better for it," Gyllin said. "We appreciate all he has done and continues to do for Northeastern State University."

9/22/2009

Published: 2009-09-22 00:00:00