He helped men and women get into orbit and back again, but Dr. Donald E. Kilgore will be remembered by friends and family as a down-to-earth physician, father and husband who stuck to his word.
Kilgore, former chief executive officer of Lovelace Medical Center, died Tuesday after a long illness. He was 89.
“He lived a big life,” said his son, Deke Kilgore, “But I think he was a pretty simple guy, really. Like a lot of people who accomplish a great deal, he did it just ’cause.”
Born in Asheville, N.C., in 1922, Kilgore moved around during the Depression and eventually graduated from high school in Detroit.
He married his high school sweetheart, Lillian Dodge, in 1944. During World War II, he flew 81 combat missions and afterward earned a medical degree at the University of Michigan. He was called up during the Korean War, as a domestic medical officer.
After the war, he became friends with William Randolph “Randy” Lovelace II, nephew of William Randolph Lovelace, who founded what would become Lovelace Health System. Randy Lovelace took Kilgore to the Albuquerque airport to talk about planes, which they both loved.
The family didn’t stay long, but it was during that time that Kilgore volunteered for a project with Randy Lovelace to help test pilots in a top-secret U-2 program.
The pair went on to do similar work with the Mercury Seven NASA missions. Lovelace and Kilgore are known for working with female pilots to test the idea that women are more physiologically capable of handling extreme altitude.
Kilgore, with other physicians, started a family medical practice that was innovative and soon saw its models absorbed by the Lovelace system. He took the family to Minnesota for a residency in ear, nose and throat surgery.
The family returned to Albuquerque in 1959, and in 1961, wife Lillian died unexpectedly. Kilgore continued to provide care for her mother, his own parents and four children.
In 1962, he met Julie Elizabeth, who was suspiciously eyeing a plate of oysters, at a Christmas party. He convinced her to try one, and then one thing led to another and they were married in 1963.
“They were devoted to each other,” said Charlotte Mary Toulouse, who grew up next door. “They were inseparable, such a good match.”
In 1965, after Randy Lovelace died in a plane crash, Kilgore began assuming more leadership responsibility in Lovelace Medical Center. He became chief executive officer in 1969 and held the job until 1975. He also served as board chairman of Lovelace Foundation.
Still, he made every effort to stay involved in his kids’ lives, said “Little Julie” Kilgore, his daughter with his second wife. She said he would meet the family for lunch in the hospital cafeteria and then head to a board meeting.
He and Julie showed a lot of love for colleagues, students and neighbors. “We used to have Christmas dinners that were 32 big,” his daughter said.
After a few years, he returned to medical practice. He officially retired in 1987, but continued seeing patients for many years. “He had such a beautiful way about him with his patients,” said Fabian Gagnon, chaplaincy program director for Lovelace. “He was a doctor of compassion and a doctor of empathy.”
Kilgore was also a mentor to medical professionals of all stripes. “That’s one of the things I admire most about dad,” Julie Kilgore said.
In his retirement, Kilgore logged more than 1,300 hours as a docent at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science and collected Apple computers.
He was preceded in death by first wife, Lillian, and son David. He is survived by wife Julie, sons John and Deke, daughters Julie and Susan, and their families.
Services will be at 3 p.m. Sunday at St. Marks on the Mesa Episcopal Church, 431 Richmond SE in Albuquerque.
— This article appeared on page C3 of the Albuquerque Journal
Reprint story -- Email the reporter at mandazola@abqjournal.com. Call the reporter at 505-823-3881
