Dr. Paul F. Schoen, Jr., a physician in Ortonville for 32 years, resident of Brandon Township for more than 50 years, and co-founder of Pontiac Osteopathic Hospital, died Feb. 12.
He was 85.
‘He was one of my favorite people in the world,? said Linda Duman, who called herself a patient, friend, and admirer of Schoen. ‘I can’t imagine Ortonville without him. He saved a lot of people and helped a lot just by being there to listen. If you went to him feeling bad, you always left feeling better.?
Duman said Schoen assisted with her mother’s last pregnancy and saved her father’s life when he had an allergic reaction to penicillin. Schoen, she recalls, made a lot of housecalls and had an excellent bedside manner.
‘He would sit on the edge of your bed and talk about whatever,? Duman said. ‘He was almost omnipotent in the community. When you needed a doctor, he was there.?
Schoen was born May 2, 1922 in Bellfont, Pa., the only child of Paul and Grayce Schoen. When he was 3-years-old, the family moved to Redford Township. He graduated from the University of Detroit High School and attended the University of Michigan for a year before joining the Navy. He was stationed with the Marine Corps and served as a Corpsman in World War II in the South Pacific arena, including Iwo Jima. He was awarded a Purple Heart for wounds he sustained in Okinawa.
After the service, he attended the University of Detroit on the GI Bill for pre-medicine and went to medical school at the Chicago School of Osteopathic Medicine.
He met June Virginia Taskila at the University of Detroit and they wed on June 23, 1948. They had three children, Grayce, Paul III, and Eric.
The family moved to Ortonville in 1955 and Schoen opened his medical practice in an office on Mill Street (next door to the Mill Street Market). That same year, he and two other doctors started POH out of a house in Pontiac.
Daughter Grayce Cruden recalls that her father was a general physician and surgeon who did his own x-rays, delivered more than 900 babies, and was trained to do minor surgeries.
‘I had to learn how to spell osteopathic before I learned to spell my own name,? she laughs. ‘Dad’s main concern was to be low profile and do the best you can do in your profession.?
Cruden said that when her father was a little boy, he and his father used to drive through Ortonville on their way to go fishing in the Upper Peninsula, and that is how he remembered the town and Kearsley Creek and decided to move here as an adult.
‘My dad loved Ortonville and the people, and I never heard him say an unkind word about the town,? she said. ‘He always felt proud.?
Schoen served on the Brandon School Board from 1961-63, was a 32nd degree Mason and member of the Ortonville Masonic Lodge, and was also a Shriner.
He was fond of saying that all the farmers called him a doctor, but his colleagues called him a farmer.
Schoen sold his practice in 1987 to Dr. Linda Lowenstein and went to work for the POH-owned Oxford Community Health Care Center until he retired in December 2000.
‘When he died, I not only lost a good father, but I really lost a good friend,? said Cruden.
Schoen is survived by his children, Grayce Cruden of Covina, Calif., Paul (Susan) Schoen III, and Eric Schoen; five grandchildren, Christian, Meredith, Andrea, Kristina, and Ellison; and long-time partner Carol Hodge. He was preceded in death by wife June in 1991.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Groveland Township Fire Department or the Brandon Fire Department.