AUSTIN, RICHARD C

Richard C. Austin, M.D. died peacefully at this home at Wake Robin in Shelburne, VT on August 20, 2021 . He was 99, having been born on March 4, 1922. His father, Cleland Austin and mother Mabel Black Austin died in the 1960’s. He was married to Marcia Walfield in 1954. They lived in Lincoln, MA until 1994 when they moved to Wake Robin in Shelburne, VT Marcia died in 1997.

He is survived by his daughters Nancy Austin of Springfield, OR and Betsy Austin of Granville, MA, and many nieces and nephews.

He was born and raised in New Jersey attending High School in Montclair. He enrolled in college at St. Lawrence University as a freshman in 1939, but left at the end of his junior year to join the Naval Aviation Cadet Program. He received his Navy wings in 1943 and was ultimately assigned as a torpedo bomber pilot to Torpedo Squadron 3. His service included 5 months in the Fast Carrier Task Force in the western Pacific aboard the aircraft carrier Yorktown. He was awarded two distinguished Flying Crosses and several Air Medals.

After the war he returned to St. Lawrence and though graduating in 1946, he still considered 1943 his class. Thereafter he enrolled at Cornell University Medical School, graduating in 1950. After graduation he was accepted in a General Surgical Residency at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. After his sixth year as Chief Surgical Resident, he started a surgical practice in Concord MA at Emerson Hospital lasting 29 years. In 1995 he began work with the Raytheon Company as an Industrial Physician which led to several interesting overseas assignments in military bases. He continued to work for Raytheon until the early 2000’s.

While at Wake Robin he volunteered at the University of Vermont College of Medicine in the Anatomy Department for many years. He enjoyed travel for several years after his wife’s death. He was joined by dear friend Janet Crowell on many camping and overseas river and land trips.

His social and academic fraternity memberships included Beta Theta Pi, Phi Beta Kappa and Alpha Omega Alpha. He was a member of the New England Surgical Society and American College of Surgeons and was accredited by the American Board of Surgery.