Lenora
1/20/1899 – 1964
Dr. Walter Ervin Reckling, formerly of Quinter has taken the office of Dr. C. W. Ward and is now prepared to accept a general practice in medicine and surgery.
Dr. Reckling is a graduate of the Colorado School of Medicine and holds licenses to practice in both Colorado and Kansas. He acquired his hospital experience in Denver and has for the past six months been practicing at Quinter.
He is an ex-service man, having served with the 3rd Division of the Illinois National Guard, during his service he was in the Medical Corps. Since leaving the service he has married and has an infant daughter. Before her marriage to Walter, Daisy Jean Brower was a professional nurse.—Lenora News, 11/23/1927
In 1931 Dr. Reckling surprised everyone by selling his practice to Dr. E F. Steichen. He went to Lusk, Wyoming. While at Lusk he was recognized as a specialist in surgery. In 1941 he opened the Spencer Hospital, the last privately owned hospital in the state. His son Dr. Fred Reckling gave Dr. Walter’s memorabilia to the American Heritage Center.
Dr Reckling was born Jan. 20, 1899 at West Salem, Illinois to William and Clara Kuntz Reckling. He is survived by wife Kitty, sons, Dr. Walter and Dr. Fred Reckling and daughter Mrs. Velma Jean Bales.
*added by Ardie Grimes
Dr. Reckling Dies In Cheyenne Hospital, Tues.
Dr. Walter E. Reckling, 65, Lusk physician and surgeon for 33 years died in the Veteran Administration Hospital in Cheyenne Tuesday afternoon of a heart condition.
At the Herald’s press time Wednesday afternoon it appeared certain that Dr. Reckling’s remains would be placed in a casket at Cheyenne and taken to a Denver Crematory. From Denver the ashes would be taken to Illinois for interment. No services in Lusk are planned.
Mrs. Reckling has requested that no flowers be sent. Friends are setting up a memorial fund, possibly to be used for a medical scholarship. Those who wish to remember Dr. Reckling may send contributions for the memorial fund to Mrs. Blanche Schaefer or George Earl Peet.
Dr. Reckling, usually called “Doc”, was a graduate of the Colorado School of Medicine. He first went to Kansas to practice, but said he couldn’t take the dust of those drought years and came to Wyoming where the winds blew but it blew clean. He arrived in Lusk in 1931 and except for a few rare occasions never left, even for a vacation.
Community Service
While Dr. Reckling was completely devoted to his practice of medicine, he was a promoter of community events. In recognition of this he was presented the A.S. Robin Drug Company award for outstanding community service, at the Wyoming Medical Society Convention in 1962. At the 1963 Niobrara County Fair a special “Doc Reckling Day” program was held in order that local people might have an opportunity to show their appreciation for his years of service.
Dr. Reckling was a constant promoter of “The Legend of Rawhide” Pageant. While his two sons, Dr, Walter E. Reckling, Jr. and Dr. Fred Reckling and daughter Mrs. Velma Jean Bales, were in the Lusk schools he worked especially hard at promoting school activities and improvements. He was a member of the Niobrara County Fair Board for 22 years and during World War I was a member of the Selective Service Board. He had served as Red Cross drive and first aid chairman. Dr. Reckling was the driving force behind the building of the two large buildings at the Niobrara Fairgrounds and loved to help promote parades.
In 1941 he opened the Spencer Hospital and has operated it ever since. In 1959 Dr. Reckling and his wife Kitty, built an addition.
Dr. Reckling had been in ill health for some time, but only last month had he announced his official retirement.
In addition to Mrs. Reckling and his three children previously mentioned, he is survived by an adopted family of Candice, Jeffrey, Scarlet and Rhett.
source: The Lusk Herald (Lusk, Wyoming), October 1, 1964
Mrs. Daisy Jean Reckling, 55, resident of Lusk since 1931, died Thursday afternoon. Her death was due to Kidney failure following surgery for cancer. Her son, Dr. Walter E. Reckling Jr. flew with her to Denver to place her on the artificial kidney at Colorado General Hospital but she died enroute.
Funeral services were held Tuesday afternoon from the Peet Chapel and, at her request , her body was shipped to West Salem, Ill., for burial. Rev. Jacob Nein, pastor of the First Congregational Church presided over simple services. Mrs. Gerald Bardo, organist provided the music.
She was the daughter of Jessie W. and Caldona Browder, born September 24, 1903 at Hazel Valley, Ark, one of ten children. The family moved soon thereafter to Oklahoma for a brief period and then to Colorado in 1915 where they homesteaded at Great Divide near Craig. She graduated from Craig High School in 1923 and entered nurses training in Mercy Hospital in Denver where she graduated in 1926.
Shortly after marrying Dr. Walter E. Reckling , Sr. November 18, 1926, the couple moved to Lenora, Kan. Their daughter was born there. In 1931 they came to Lusk where their two sons were born. In her younger years Mrs. Reckling became a member of the Baptist Church. In Lusk her activities outside the home included working on Red Cross drives, an activity in which she was involved at the time of her illness. At other periods she served as school nurse, secretary of the Lusk Woman’s Club, and in the American Legion Auxiliary. She was a woman of much artistic ability, and her art in needle-point won many awards at the Niobrara County and State Fairs.
Surviving are her three children, Dr. Walter E. Reckling, Jr., Denver; Mrs. William Bales, Cheyenne; Frederick W. Reckling, who graduates in medicine this spring from Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry ; and two grandchildren, Jamie Jean and Nancy Jill Bales.
Also surviving are her mother of Denver; four brothers, John and Marvin Browder, Denver; and Walter and Oran Browder of Pueblo, Colo.; four sisters, Mrs. Tom Pembridge, and Mrs. J. M. Wright , Denver, Mrs. N. M. Hunt of Louisville, Ky.; and Kitty Reckling of Lusk. She and Dr. Reckling were divorced in 1956. Her father died in 1956 and another brother in 1942. [death date assumed to be 26 March 1959]