- 236 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
About this book
In the dead of night in 1894, a trembling, wide-eyed 13-year-old boy assisted with his first surgery--an experience that changed his life. Robert H. Wright attended medical school, then returned home to Hailey, Idaho, to marry Cynthia Beamer, his childhood sweetheart, and to practice in the frontier west--a choice that required both rugged courage and devoted compassion. Called to risk his own life on multiple occasions, he remained composed during a crisis, and his gentle confidence calmed traumatized victims. At times, he performed operations by lantern light and traveled by buggy, dog sled, or Studebaker to reach remote patients. In 1917, he led the rescue effort at the North Star mine avalanche disaster.
Eventually, the doctor welcomed a grandson, also named Robert Wright, who eagerly absorbed thrilling tales of a pioneer past. Yet despite their close relationship, the younger Wright sensed mysterious secrets and unspoken heartbreak, and he began to probe for the untold stories. In Rugged Mercy, he unravels and celebrates the lives of his beloved grandparents. Alternating between accounts of the doctor's decades of medicine and his own memories of growing up in Hailey, the author provides an intimate glimpse of challenges faced by rural physicians in the first half of the 1900s, of significant events in the history and evolution of the Wood River Valley and Sun Valley resort, and of family life in a small Idaho community.
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Table of contents
- Cover
- Halftitle
- Title
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Preface
- 1. The First Victory: Hailey, Idaho, 1894
- 2. The Old Shyster’s Big Show: Hailey, Idaho, 1894
- 3. Getting the Office Ready: Hailey, Idaho, 1952
- 4. A Powerful Woman: Walker, Missouri, 1906
- 5. Twelve Minutes to Sun Valley: Hailey, Idaho, 1951
- 6. Sunshine Over Baldy: Sun Valley Hospital, 1948
- 7. The Placenta Previa Case: Hailey, Idaho, 1908
- 8. Ol’ Scotty: Hailey, Idaho, 1908
- 9. Trouble Down at Dot Allen’s: Hailey, Idaho, 1911
- 10. The Kilpatrick Ranch Case: Hailey, Idaho, 1912
- 11. A One-Way Ticket: San Antonio, Texas, 1952
- 12. The Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever Epidemic: Squaw Tit Mountain, 1914
- 13. Indians: Hailey, Idaho, 1956
- 14. Rosie Tincup: Hailey, Idaho, 1916
- 15. The Seagull: Hailey, Idaho, 1958
- 16. The North Star Mine Tragedy: Hailey, Idaho, 1917
- 17. The Switch Engine Case and the Ghost of Black Jack Ketchum: Hailey, Idaho, 1918
- 18. At Aunt Lillie’s House: Bellevue, Idaho, 1956
- 19. Our Darling: Hailey, Idaho, 1919
- 20. The Count and the Little Girl: Hailey, Idaho, 1936
- 21. A Barren Wonderland: Hailey, Idaho, 1967
- 22. A Powerful Man: Hailey, Idaho, 1969
- 23. The Doctor’s Final Victory: Shoshone, Idaho, 1980
- Notes