Pattie W. Van Hook
Pattie Warren Van Hook (1927 - December 8, 1992) was a professor of family medicine at the Louisiana State University Medical School in Shreveport and the first woman president of the Louisiana State Medical Society, concluding her term shortly before her sudden death in Nashville, Tennessee.
Van Hook was born in Shreveport, graduated from C.E. Byrd High School in 1945 and was admitted to the Byrd Hall of Fame. At the time of her death, she was associate professor of family medicine, assistant dean for student affairs and director of the occupational health clinic at LSU Medical School. She was locally known for her earlier work at the Caddo/Shreveport Health Department. She was also a former associate medical director for AT&T in Shreveport. Her expertise reached into some half-dozen areas: medical education, public health, minority-group health care, drug abuse intervention, occupational medicine, and awareness of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.
Dr. Van Hook was ecumenical in her faith. Though a member of the Noel Memorial United Methodist Church in Shreveport, she taught a Sunday school class at the First Baptist Church, once pastored by the legendary Monroe E. Dodd. In 1989, she received the "Brotherhood and Humanity Award" from the National Conference of Christians and Jews. Her memorial services in the Noel Methodist Church were conducted by clergy from Protestant, Catholic and Jewish faiths.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Shreveport dentist, Dr. Robert Eugene Van Hook (born 1929). Survivors included her daughter and son-in-law, Drs. Susan V. Williams (born 1953) and R. Bruce Williams of Shreveport; her son and daughter-in-law, Drs. James W. Van Hook (born 1957) and Catherine L. Van Hook of Harrisburg, Illinois, and three grandchildren. She is interred in the section "Daughters of the Cross" at Forest Park Cemetery in Shreveport.
Dr. Van Hook's papers were deposited in the archives of Louisiana State University in Shreveport.
[edit] References
Van Hook obituary, The Shreveport Times, December 10, 1992, p. 16A
