Doctor turns adversity into career

Dr. Rex Newton has been overcoming odds all his life and he made it his life's work to help others do the same.

Newton was born with a club foot, and thus spent a good deal of his young life in the hospital. He turned that traumatic time into an interest in and later a passion for, medicine.

"That's what made me so interested in medicine at a young age," Newton said. "I was frequently in the hospital with my foot as a child."

Newton's club foot was amputated in 1991.

All the medical problems that Newton encountered both early and later in life helped him better understand the patients he cared for at the Harmarville Rehabilitation Center.

"With my problems, I really could appreciate the patient's problems at the rehab center," Newton said. "I could sympathize and relate to the patient's plight. And I knew they appreciated me, too."

The 84-year-old doctor retired this summer after 50 years of practice in Harmarville. He's been practicing medicine since graduating from the University of Pittsburgh Medical School in 1945.

Newton also served in the Navy for two years after being drafted, and was in charge of the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Department at the San Diego Naval Hospital, where he lived with his wife and young daughter.

Upon returning to Pittsburgh in 1958, Newton started a residency in physical medicine and rehabilitation at the Veterans Administration facility in Oakland. Two years later, he started his own practice in the same field and began working part time at a number of local hospitals and organizations, including the Harmarville Rehabilitation Center, the D.T. Watson Home for Crippled Children, United Mine Workers Health and Retirement Fund, Presbyterian Hospital, Sewickley Hospital, Westmoreland Hospital and South Side Hospital.

In 1968, he was appointed chief of clinical services and physical medicine and rehabilitation at Harmarville Rehabilitation Center. He then began to work full time at Harmarville.

"The best thing that ever happened was when I went to Harmarville," Newton said.

Throughout the next several decades, Newton received numerous distinguished awards. Among them are the 1991 Outstanding Physician Award from the private sector from the National Association of Rehabilitation Professionals and a 1987 Physician of the Year Award from the Federation of Independent School Alumnae. Newton was also appointed emeritus chief of Clinical Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the Harmarville Center.

However, the doctor said his favorite award came in 1992, when he won a national award.

"I got the American College of Rehabilitation Medicine Edward W. Loman, M.D. award," Newton said. "It was my favorite because it was so important in the field of medicine."

Newton finally retired this summer -- although it was extremely hard for him to leave.

"I just love what I do," Newton said. "I loved working at Harmarville. It was a wonderful place, and I hated to leave."

Physically, however, Newton knew it was time to hang up his doctor's coat. He has mouth cancer, which has caused him to lose most of his tongue. In addition, he is now receiving chemotherapy treatments.

"I thought I better leave, that it was time," Newton said. "I never considered retiring before July. It was so much an important part of my life."

Newton's wife, Alice, describes him as a workaholic who "just plain loved what he was doing, and really felt that he could help people."

Newton and his wife, Alice, celebrated 59 years of marriage on Sept. 5. In addition, Newton and his family will be celebrating his 85th birthday on Oct. 13.

When asked how it felt to be so recognized and loved by people in his community, Newton was characteristically humble.

"Overwhelmingly nice," he said.

Additional Information:

Details

Age: 84.

Hometown: Pittsburgh.

Family: Wife, Alice; twin sister, Molly; children, Nancy and Robert; grandchildren, Christina, Rachel, Elisabeth and Natalie.

Favorite thing about the Valley: My farm in Leechburg, which my wife's grandparents once owned. My son and his family live there now, and we visit every weekend.

Motto for the Valley: There are so many memories here, and I've practiced here for so many years.