Dr. Dow came to Waco after his Air Force service to join Dr. Jim Scruggs in his ophthalmology practice in 1964, where he practiced until retiring in 1997. During his long, successful practice, he found time for leadership in the community — in medicine, in the arts, and in politics. Dave served as Hillcrest Chief of Staff, County Medical Society President, and President of the Texas Ophthalmological Association. In arts, he chaired 3 major arts organizations in Waco, and performed on stage or in the orchestra pit for about 20 various musical theater productions.
He also served on the Waco City Council for 4 years, and was appointed mayor in October 1980. After moving to Woodway, he was also elected to the Woodway City Council for 5 years. One of his greatest contributions to Waco medicine was as chair of the Sub-Committee on Continuing Medical Education, which set up the Family Practice Clinic (now Family Health Center) in 1970. There were many involved in this dream, but his leadership was vital to bringing it about.
Dave and his wife Gail raised four successful children. After his wife Gail passed away in 2000, he remarried and he and his wife Figes love to travel about the United States in an RV, visiting all the National Parks they can find, and have spent the last several summers in northern Michigan, where they are today when they read this newsletter, making us all a bit jealous. At 82 now, Dave has lots of insight about what it means to be a patient, and challenges us all to work at accessibility for patients in a very complicated medical service world.
Bill McCunniff, M.D.
Bill is one of our great collection of up and coming young physicians of Waco medicine, and joined the Hillcrest Midway Clinic summer 2015 (after being recruited by me and everyone else). He was elected to Secretary-Treasurer of the County Medical Society Board this year and will be a medical leader in Waco for years to come. Last year, he was chief resident of the Family Medicine Residency Program, and received an American Academy of Family Physicians award as one of the top resident leaders in the country.
Bill came from Lubbock to Waco in 2003 to play football for Baylor, met local girl Kate Bailey the next year. After a business degree, he and Kate went to Lubbock, where Bill got a medical degree and MBA at Texas Tech before coming back to Waco for his residency in family medicine. Bill and Kate have two children, love to hike, hunt and fish, and attend First Baptist Woodway.
What do you hope to see happen in the future?
As a recent graduate from the residency program, I feel that I have had the unique opportunity to work with the majority of the wide variety of specialists currently in our city. There is no question that Wacoans are blessed to have some of the finest specialists and primary care doctors around. My dream would be to have the more recent generation of physicians follow in the footsteps of those doctors who have come before us to unite and be involved in the medical society, civic and philanthropic opportunities while supporting the medical needs of our city.
If there is one message you’d give to today’s physician, what would it be?
Healthcare is always going to be changing, and depending on your perspective, in some ways better and some ways worse. Let’s be creative, collegial, and a part of the solution to provide the best possible care for those in our communities and beyond for generations to come.
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