Roger E. Wehrs, M.D. died in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Dec. 28, 2021, at age 96.
Roger was born March 26, 1925, in Seward, and grew up on the family farm near Milford. After attending a one-room country schoolhouse, which he rode to on horseback, he graduated from Milford High School in 1943, the University of Nebraska at Lincoln in 1948 and the University of Nebraska Medical School at Omaha in 1952. After a year’s internship in Oakland, California, he served as a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army in West Germany from 1953 to 1955, before becoming a resident specializing in ear-nose-and throat medicine under the mentorship of Dr. Gunnar Proud at the University of Kansas Medical School, Kansas City, Kansas, between 1955 and 1957.
In 1957, Roger opened a medical practice in Tulsa, which he soon limited to treating ear disease, injury, hearing loss and related matters. One of the first physicians trained in using the microscope in ear surgery, he performed operations at Hillcrest, St. John’s and then for many years exclusively at St. Francis. He had an office at 21st and Harvard until 1967, and then at the Warren Profession Building on Yale, until he retired in 1997.
In addition to his private practice, Roger published some 25 articles on ear surgery in major medical journals as well as book chapters in medical textbooks. He was for many decades a featured speaker at medical conferences. He served as president and vice-president of the ear-nose-and throat professional organization, the Trilogical Society. He developed two innovative surgical procedures, one involving eardrum transplants to replace damaged eardrums, the other using knee cartilage to repair damaged ear canals.
He helped develop commercially marketed artificial eardrum products, on which he held patents. He was invited to give guest lectures and perform guest surgery at major universities around the country, among them Harvard, Johns Hopkins, the University of Cincinnati and the University of Alabama at Birmingham. For many years, he served as a clinical professor with the University of Oklahoma Medical School. For all his professional accomplishments, what he cared about most were his patients, many of whose hearing he was able to improve dramatically, and in some cases bring from a condition of near complete deafness to one of near normal hearing.
Roger was a devoted husband, father and grandfather. A longtime member of All Souls Unitarian Church, he was a man of wide-ranging interests and aptitudes, whether perfecting a lens-less camera to record his surgeries, restoring to mint condition a Model A once owned by his aunt, or building his own TVs and radios. With his wife, he was a tireless traveler, visiting every continent, including Antarctica. He shared his love of adventure and new experiences with his wife, children, and grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his wife of 68 years, Mary Ann Wehrs (Pettee), as well as by his parents, Edward and Maurine Wehrs; his parents-in-law, Warren and Mary Pettee; his brothers, Richard and James Wehrs; sisters-in-law, Ruth Wehrs and Joan Pettee; brothers-in-law, Richard and Warren Pettee; and his granddaughter, Jennifer Kreitzberg. Among his survivors are son, Donald R. Wehrs and daughter-in-law Lorna Wood, of Auburn, Alabama; daughter, Suzanne Kreitzberg and son-in-law, Brian Kreitzberg, of Portland, Oregon; grandchildren, Sylvia Wehrs, William Wehrs, Paul Kreitzberg, and Joseph Kreitzberg; great-grandson, John Kreitzberg; sisters-in-law, Beverly Wehrs and Kay Pettee, and cousin Mary Tipton.
A memorial service will be at All Souls Unitarian Church, 2952 South Peoria Ave, Tulsa, on March 11 at 4 p.m.
