Dr. Paul Reed Reeb Jr., 87

Sadly, on Saturday, March 30, 2024, Paul R. Reeb Jr., M.D. gently passed away in his 87th year at his Whitefish home due to heart failure, with his faithful springer by his side. Beloved husband of Pamela (Naibert) Reeb. He is survived by his children: Paul R. Reeb III (Kathy Sugar), Peter R. Reeb (Alexa Toney), Rebecca J. Reeb (Marc Weinberger), Penelope and Christian Reeb; his grandchildren Paul R. Reeb IV (Fernando Quevedo), Stephen V. Reeb (Jamie Mesenburg), Remy and Rory Reeb; and great-grandchildren Fox and Lucia Reeb. Fondly missed by cousin Susie Dallam. 

Paul is preceded in death by his parents, Paul Sr., and “Billie” Reeb and his favorite aunt Ruth Reeb Dallam. 

Paul viewed obituaries as notes to the future. What follows is a curation from his personal notes on the life he loved and lived. Paul was born on May 17, 1937, in Bellevue, Pennsylvania; the only child of Paul Reid Reeb and Dorothy Hannah “Billie” Reeb (Baumgardner). Billie was one of seven surviving children and Paul Sr. was one of 10 children; Paul grew up surrounded by aunts, uncles and so many cousins. He was baptized, confirmed, and served as an acolyte at Grace Lutheran.

Paul loved being an only child. He grew up beside the Beaver and Ohio Rivers in East Rochester, Pennsylvania. His touchstones growing up included toy soldier campaigns, rambling along creek beds with his spaniel, Capt. Midnight, listening to radio shows, reading countless comic books, walking to school with his best friend, Gary Bogolea, Hank’s Frozen Custard, summer trips to Lake Erie and snow sledding with his buddies. Paul and his dad ran Lionel trains, visited greenhouses and tended their vegetable garden together. Trains and gardening were two passions he carried forward every place he lived. 

Paul attended grades first through eighth at Lacock Elementary (aka the Pickle School), a four-room schoolhouse where two grades were taught by one teacher. From age 9 to 14 he was a newspaper boy, delivering daily newspapers for the Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph and the Beaver Valley Times and Saturday nights on the corner near the movie theater in Rochester. He won newspaper contests for trips to New York City, Niagara Falls and Washington D.C. He finished his “paper career” to play football in high school. From his newspaper days, he gained an “I can do it!” confidence and most importantly, his “equanimity.” 

Paul had pneumonia in '47. Family physician, Dr. Glenn Camp, made a week’s worth of house calls to give Paul injections of a new type of medicine, penicillin. This deeply influenced Paul’s future in medicine.  

In high school, Paul lettered in football as a Rochester Ram. They played under Friday night lights in front of 8,000 paying fans! In senior year, Paul was instrumental in organizing golf for Rochester. The team was Paul, Sam Parris, Gary Bogolea and Bradley Guinn. Fred A. Perotta summed up Paul’s senior year: “As Vice President, Sophomore, Junior and Senior years; member of Honor Society; and Varsity Football player with the Rochester Rams, Paul was the energy force that depicted the Rochester High School, Class of 1955.”

Paul began premed studies at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania. Freshman year, he resided in Baldwin Hall, made the Gator football team, joined Phi Delta Theta fraternity, worked in the dining hall as part of his scholarship obligation, was recruited to teach biology and chemistry labs, and was elected class president. In the college library, Paul discovered a quiet oasis for study and there perfected his “how to study” habits that served him well his whole life. 

The week of Thanksgiving 1955, Paul’s dad underwent emergency surgery for a brain tumor but did not survive. Forty years later, Paul learned his dad’s cancer was not genetic but grew from radiation exposure while an inspector for Curtiss-Wright Electric Propellers, from 1941 to 45 during World War II. Without lead shielding, inspectors viewed airplane propeller blades for metal defects using X-rays. 

Paul’s student status changed to “married student” at college when he and Barbara Batchelor married in June of 1957. In 1958 Paul III was born and was at his parent’s graduation from Allegheny in 1959.

Paul applied to medical school in September of 1958. Out of 10,000 applications to the School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Paul was one of 100 accepted for the class of 1959. 

Paul loved medical school at Penn! He joined the Pepper Medical Society, Strecker Psychiatric Society, Payne Obstetrics and Gynecology Society and Osler Historical Society. In pathology, he was honored to serve as the Osler prosector, assisting the pathologist in the anatomy dissection lab. 

Paul and Barbara welcomed two more children, Peter Ross Reeb, born in 1961 and Rebecca Joan Reeb, born in 1963. Graduating from the School of Medicine in 1963.

While at Penn, Paul entered the Navy’s 1915 Ensign Medical School Program in 1961, working as an Ensign Extern at the Naval Hospital in Philadelphia. He took and passed the third and final test for his Medical Boards. The young family’s first duty station began at the Naval Hospital in Newport, Rhode Island, for Paul’s internship.  As chief medical officer, he served on the USS Grand Canyon, followed by Naval assignments in Monterey, California, Oakland, California, and Ream Helicopter Field, in Imperial Beach, California. receiving an honorable discharge in August 1968. 

In his final year in the Navy, Paul worked evenings and weekends for Drs. Hermanson and Wonger in Pacific Beach. They soon retired and sold their general and family practice to the young, energetic physician. Paul drove his black VW Bug between Ream Field, Pacific Beach, and his home in Point Loma. Relocating the practice to Point Loma, he was embraced by the community as a physician and friend. In 1984, Richard L. Fassett, M.D., F.A.S.C. retiring from the Navy, joined Paul in partnership. Joseph Allen M.D. joined the practice in 2002. In 1971, he was recruited by Coach Bennie Edens to be team physician for the Point Loma High School Pointers Football program. Standing on the sidelines from 1971 through 2002, he proudly watched his sons Paul and Pete play football followed by grandsons Paul IV and Steven Reeb.     

Paul served as chief of staff at Sharp Cabrillo Hospital (88-89), board member on the Sharp Hospital Board (89-99) and president and CEO of Sharp Community Medical Group (89-99). He was editor of “The First 30 Years” Anniversary Book 1958-1988 for Doctor’s Hospital. 

For his love of genealogy, he assisted John V. Reeb (of San Francisco) in looking for Reeb ancestors in Europe. They traveled to Alsace-Lorraine, digging around in village churches, cemeteries, and birth/baptism/death archives. The result was John’s book, Reeb Roots.  

Paul and Pamela married in 2002 at home in Whitefish and retired there in 2003. In 2008, two more Reebs joined the ranks, Penelope and Christian were born at NorthValley Hospital in Whitefish. Happiest practicing medicine, in 2005 he filled in for a practice in Eureka followed by Glacier Medical Associates in Whitefish and ending with Flathead Community Health Center in Kalispell, hanging up his stethoscope in 2012. And in the mix, he owned Columbia Falls Mini Storage from 2005 to 2021 with Pamela.

In retirement, Paul stayed engaged, curious and devoted. He was a dedicated gardener, traveled to Germany, built a permanent MTH and Lionel Train layout, enjoyed all that fatherhood brings, attended Rochester High School, Allegheny and Penn Medical School reunions, was an avid Audible listener, loved walking with his dogs, continued his genealogy research and was finishing his autobiography at the end. His was a life wonderful!    

Private interment was held at Glacier Memorial Gardens in April with Austin Funeral & Cremation Services caring for the family. To send online condolences please visit Paul’s tribute page at www.austinfh.com.