In Memoriam

Lionel DeMontigny, M.D. (B.S. Med. ’59), a retired US Assistant Surgeon General who spent 22 years serving Native Americans and Alaska Natives as a commissioned Officer of the United States Public Health Service, died on September 2, 2007 in Warfordsburg, PA. He was 72.

     Dr. DeMontigny, who attained the rank of rear admiral in the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, was an American Indian of the Chippewa-Cree tribe and one of the first American Indian physicians to serve in the Indian Health Service as a commissioned officer.

     He received many awards for his work in elevating the health status of the American Indian and Alaska Native but none he treasured more than his 2006 recognition by UND and the "Indians into Medicine Program" for his lifetime of effort to encourage American Indians to enter medicine and to serve in areas where they could bring "Healing to Fellow First Americans."

     He attended UND and the University of Wisconsin for his pre-med and medical degrees. In 1962, he joined the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service and soon after completed a residency in preventive medicine at the University of Oklahoma where he also earned the additional degree, Master of Public Health.

     His service took him to a variety of reservations throughout the West and subsequently to the headquarters of the Indian Health Service in Rockville, MD, where he served in a variety of leadership posts.

     After his retirement from the Corps in 1984, he served as public health director of the Monongalia County in Morgantown, WV. He later settled on a farm in West Virginia where, in addition to his continued work with the Association of American Indian Physicians and the "Indians into Medicine Program," he taught at the University of West Virginia.

     He is survived by his wife Shirley Favilla DeMontigny; a son, Alexander DeMontigny, NY; three daughters, Suzanne Tucker of Beltsville, MD, Cynthia Whitehorn of Tulsa, OK, and Cheri Orellana of Independence, WV; three brothers, Armond DeMontigny of Helena, MT, Charles DeMontigny of Kent, WA, and William DeMontigny of Belcourt, ND; four stepchildren, Jacqueline McQuen of Washington, DC, John Favilla of Canton, OH, Dennis Favilla of Adamstown, MD, and Terry Favilla of Lititz, PA; as well as five grandchildren and eleven step-grandchildren.

     Donations in his name may be made to:

     INMED --University of North Dakota School of Medicine and  

     Health Sciences        

     501 North Columbus Rd Stop 9037, Room 2101

     Grand Forks, ND 58202-9037

John Kerr, M.D. (B.S. Med. ’46), a Mesa, AZ, pediatrician who cared for thousands of youngsters, their children and grandchildren, and helped create organizations that would nurture thousands more, died on May 20, 2007.  He was 84.

     Dr. Kerr opened Mesa Pediatrics in 1954 and began treating kids at Sunshine Acres Children’s Home when it opened the following year. For the next 50 years, he cared for the Sunshine Acres kids free of charge, then took on the children at the East Valley Child Crisis Center when it opened in 1981.

     Much of Dr. Kerr’s community service came alongside his wife of 59 years, Betty Kerr, who was the crisis center’s founding board president. The Kerrs were named Mesa’s man and woman of the year in 1967, the only time a couple has been so honored.

     During his years as one of the first pediatricians in town, Kerr saw the need for mental health treatment and alternative schools for troubled children.

     He went on to help found the community’s primary social service agencies, including PREHAB, the MARC Center and the East Valley Behavioral Health Association. He also served on the governing board of the Mesa Unified School District for a decade.

     After retiring in 2003, Dr. Kerr continued to provide free medical care to the crisis center, Sunshine Acres, St. Vincent de Paul in Phoenix and a Mesa clinic.

     Among his many awards and accolades, Dr. Kerr’s family said he was most proud of John K. Kerr Elementary School in Mesa. He visited the school regularly, attending band performances, field days and other special events. He asked that the school band play at his funeral.

     In addition to his wife, Dr. Kerr is survived by four children, six grandchildren and two greatgrandsons.

Leslie Lundsten, M.D. (B.S. Med. ’43), Bemidji, MN, died August 21, 2007.                        

     He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at UND in 1942.  After completing two years of medical education at UND, he went on to earn the Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Chicago Health Science Center. He practiced internal medicine.