PORT ANGELES — Two Port Angeles doctors turned in their scrubs last week after a combined 51 years of service to the community.
Longtime patients of Dr. Dan Hudgings and Dr. Roger Oakes lined up to say farewell to their family physicians in a Tuesday retirement ceremony at Olympic Medical Physicians Primary Care Clinic.
“He is one special doctor,” Barbara Cummings said of Oakes.
Oakes has been a Port Angeles physician for 37 years.
Hudgings has been a local doctor for 14 years.
Both officially retired from the OMP Primary Care Clinic on Wednesday. Both plan to spend their retirement in the Port Angeles area.
“We moved here intending to stay,” said Hudgings, who arrived in Port Angeles with his wife, Nancy, in 1997.
‘Astonished’ by turnout
Hudgings said he was “pretty astonished” by the turnout at the retirement ceremony, which he described as “heart-warming.”
“It was a pretty humbling experience,” Oakes added.
Oakes said he was reminded of the strong connection that patients have with their physicians.
He said he was “extremely privileged” to have been a physician for so many people in Clallam County.
After completing his residency at the University of Washington, Oakes returned to his hometown in 1974 to join his mentors, Drs. Quentin Kintner and John Siemens, as the seventh physician at what was then the Port Angeles Physicians Clinic.
Among the biggest changes to the local health care community in the past 37 years have been the development of specialized care and the fact that nearly all physicians are employed by the hospital now, Oakes said.
Olympic Medical Physicians, a division of Olympic Medical Center, took the helm of the clinic at 433 E. Eighth St. in May 2006.
OMP operates several clinics in Port Angeles and Sequim.
“We’ve been lucky here in Clallam County to have good primary care and good family physicians,” Oakes said. “That’s the backbone of health care.”
Community service
In addition to his practice, Oakes has been heavily involved in the community.
He has served as president of Hurricane Ridge Winter Sports Club, chairman of the United Way Campaign and president of his Rotary Club. He was twice the chief of the medical staff at Olympic Memorial Hospital and has served on numerous hospital committees.
Oakes is also a long-standing volunteer team physician for the Port Angeles High School Roughriders.
He said he is most proud of his service as an infantry battalion surgeon in Vietnam and for raising two sons with his wife, Maura, who became family physicians themselves.
Oakes said he will continue to work on health care projects and volunteer in the area.
Hudgings was a physicist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory before he enrolled in medical school at the age of 38. After his residency at the University of Wyoming, Hudgings and his wife moved their two children to Yellowstone National Park, where they lived for four years.
Hudgings spent six years at Sage Memorial Hospital in tiny Ganado, Ariz., on the Navajo Reservation before moving to Port Angeles.
He and his wife wanted to find a beautiful outdoor location with mountains and water, and Port Angeles fit their requirements, Hudgings said.
He described the Port Angeles medical community as capable, collegial and far more interested in caring for patients than in defending one’s own turf.
Among his other activities, Hudgings said he hopes to continue hiking and backpacking with the newly retired Oakes.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
Photographer Chris Tucker contributed to this report.
