Champion for Children

Dr. Meade O’Boyle, well-known and highly respected pediatrician, absolutely loves children. She always has, and always will. Her career has involved helping children in a variety of ways – working with the sick, protecting the abused, encouraging the disabled, and protecting the unborn. Because of her stellar work among the youngest among us, Dr. Meade O’Boyle is January’s Bayou Icon.

ARTICLE BY GEORGIANN POTTS | PHOTOGRAPHY BY KELLY MOORE CLARK

I believe that pediatrics chooses the person and not the other way around,” Dr. Meade O’Boyle said recently, “It is a calling.” Indeed, it is. For Dr. O’Boyle, loving children was the first step toward what has been by all measures an immensely rewarding career. Just being around her for a few hours makes one realize just how special she is, and how lucky those thousands of children are who have come under her care. “I have always loved being with children, talking to them, listening to their dreams, and helping them whenever I could,” Dr. O’Boyle says.

A Childhood of Her Own . . .
O’Boyle remembers her own childhood as one filled with family, adventure, and fun. She was one of 5 children (4 girls and 1 boy) and was the third girl born before their brother finally came along. Her father, Dr. Meade Phelps, was a successful physician, and her mother Frances Phelps, was a gifted musician who enjoyed teaching children piano lessons. Her parents were both native Louisianans — her father grew up in Clinton and her mother grew up in Natchitoches. They made their home together in the house Dr. O’Boyle’s grandfather had built in the early 1900’s.

When Dr. O’Boyle was born, she was named after her father – Meade Hubbard Phelps. When her little brother was born three years later, he was given their father’s name as well. From that time on, the two shared the same name. Interestingly, her brother became a physician, too. Today, in the family, they are known as “Brother” and “Sister.”

When Meade was 4, her father died. The siblings and their mother continued living in the family home, growing up in a childhood that speaks to family love in the south. There were 3 aunts and lots of cousins who added to the mix, and many of their favorite recipes are still recreated for family gatherings. “We always make Aunt Bertie Rolls for holidays and special occasions,” Meade says with a smile.

One of Meade’s favorite childhood memories at first sounds horrifying, but it ends well. When her brother was 5, he went across the street and bought a CocaCola with his nickel. As he was walking back home, drinking his Coke, a French teacher at Northwestern State University hit him with her car. “He flew through the air and despite the terror of the situation, did not spill a drop of his prized Coke,” Meade remembers with a laugh. “He jumped up and ran off while Ms. Mouton proceeded to a neighbor’s house to drink a hot toddy to settle her clearly rattled nerves.”

A raffle ticket changed Meade’s life when she was 10, when she won a horse! This was a dream come true for her, even though her mother’s reaction to the “win” was far less enthusiastic. She kept the horse (she named her “Old Gal”) at the fairgrounds through her junior year in college. Her sister Lucile got a saddle and bridle for her and Meade was set. She also remembers Lucile making her and her siblings iron clothes for the privilege of sleeping in her bedroom (which happened to be the only air-conditioned room in the home).

Early Education . . .
Meade attended St. Mary’s School for elementary and high school where she participated in softball, basketball, and volleyball. That love of sports was extended to tennis when she began college, a passion that she continues today by playing several times each week.

When Meade was 13 or 14, she decided that she wanted to follow in her father’s footsteps and become a physician. At 14, she went to the local public high school to take a biology class during that summer. Mr. Johnny Manning, the teacher, became her mentor throughout high school and helped her start to realize her career aspirations.

During high school, Meade also began working with Dr. Alan Crosby, head of Northwestern’s Chemistry department. They received a National Science Foundation Grant and she worked for 2 summers with Dr. Crosby, and continued working with him once she entered college.

Like all her siblings, Meade chose Northwestern State to begin her college education. Because of Dr. Crosby’s encouragement and her own love for the subject – specifically organic chemistry, she majored in chemistry and applied to medical school in her third year.

Medical School and Marriage . . .
Meade began her medical school education at St. Louis University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, and was one of 6 women to graduate in her class. Her pediatric internship was at the University of Rochester in New York. In 1969, Meade moved to Washington D.C. to finish her pediatrics residency. It was there that she found an area of childcare that was to remain a major part of both her professional and private life – working with child abuse victims. And she found something else — or rather someone else — who would also remain a major part of her life.

While in Washington D.C., Meade met Ed O’Boyle, who was there working on his dissertation in economics. Her first impression of him was that he was extremely bright, and she says that her first impression has never changed. In 1970, they married. “We are actually totally incompatible which provides the perfect fit for us,” she explains. “We have supported each other’s dreams and purpose in life. We have always remained faithful to one another, trusted each other, and had a mutual respect for each other. These have been the foundation of our marriage.”

Building Careers and Family . . .
After their marriage, the couple moved to Columbus, Ohio, where Ed joined the faculty at Ohio State University and Meade began her career working at Children’s Hospital in Columbus as a Child Abuse Specialist. Seven years later, they moved to Ruston, Louisiana, when Ed accepted a post as associate professor at Louisiana Tech. Meade took a position working with Dr. Terry King at St. Francis Medical Center (SFMC) in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). Two years later they moved to West Monroe so that Meade would not have to drive in a hurry from Ruston to Monroe to respond to an emergency call.

In 1981, Meade went into private practice and continued that until 2004. After her retirement from private practice, she began working solely in the PICU at SFMC until 2014. She continued to work with child abuse victims until the end of 2018. “I felt like we — Dr. King and I — made a difference in children’s lives – both those critically ill and those who were victims of abuse,” she says.

Although Ed and Meade wanted to have children soon after their marriage, an incurable infertility problem changed their plans. Instead of creating children together, they created a family together – adopting four beautiful newborn babies – Michael (1973), Deirdre (1974), Ann (1976), and Meghan (1983). “Over the years I realized that it was not a tragedy, but a blessing, to be infertile,” she says. “One day, when the teacher in Michael’s first grade classroom asked how they should address a doctor, he answered ‘Momma’.”

When their children were quite young, Ed and Meade began a pregnancy help organization that is now known as w. They worked with the organization for 25 years, helping countless babies have a chance for life. During 15 of those years, the couple provided a home within their own family for 5 pregnant girls who needed that security while awaiting their babies’ births. “We shared a loving environment for them while providing medical care and supporting each of their needs,” Meade explains. “This is the essence of being pro-life for me.”

Meade is quick to admit that balancing her career with rearing her children has been the biggest challenge in her life. Her pediatrics work and her parenting duties each could have completely consumed her time, so she had to become an excellent time-manager. Finding just the right balance wasn’t always the easiest thing to do, but it was always the right thing to do. With careful planning, support from her colleagues and Ed, and with a strong willed determination, Meade managed to meet the daily challenge of finding balance between the two.

A Father’s Legacy . . .

Because Meade’s father died when she was only four, she has – as she puts it – too few memories of him, but each of those is a treasure. There are two in particular that stand out in her mind.

The first concerned a patient of her father’s who needed an appendectomy but had no cash to pay for the surgery. Instead, he paid Meade’s father with 80 acres of timberland near Natchitoches. “Today, my siblings and I still own that land together, a reminder of him,” she recalls.

The second is a more personal memory that says much about the closeness of their all too brief father-daughter relationship. She remembers that her father wore a 3-piece suit to work every day. Each night, he would hang his vest up in the same place. In the vest pockets, he would leave coins. Meade would sneak in and pick his pockets, confident every night that the coins would be there for her. They always were.

Today her father’s name is on one of the iron benches along Front Street in Natchitoches on the Cane River. It gives her pleasure to see it there and to know that he is remembered by the community as well as by his family.

A Golden Anniversary . . .
In May 2018, Dr. O’Boyle celebrated her fiftieth year as a physician at a gathering of family and friends in Lake Charles. Part of the celebration centered on something that Dr. O’Boyle had accomplished 5 years earlier.
In 2009 the American Board of Pediatrics approved a sub-specialty board certification in child abuse pediatrics. Although Dr. O’Boyle had spent almost her entire medical career working with child abuse victims, until 2009 there wasn’t a recognized sub-specialty for this particular medical work.

On November 12, 2013, Dr. O’Boyle took the board exam and passed it. At 71 years old, she became a board certified Child Abuse Specialist. For her, it was affirmation of her life’s work dedicated to protecting children from conception onward.

A number of awards have come to Dr. O’Boyle over the years. Among these are the Trees for Life (Children’s Advocacy Center) Champion for Children of Child Abuse in Louisiana in 2006, numerous Med-Camp certificates of appreciation for her tireless work on their behalf, Twin Cities Mayors’ Committee on Disabilities’ Compassionate Heart Award, and Once Upon a Time – New Stories for Pediatrics Award for her dedication and devotion to the advocacy and care of children. Dr. O’Boyle was also named one of America’s Top Pediatricians for Pediatrics/Child Abuse and Neglect. In 1993, she received the distinguished medical school graduate award from St. Louis University. She was the first in her graduating class of 1968 to receive that award.

When you get to know Dr. O’Boyle, you realize that she has never been in this for personal recognition. Her life, her career, her family, her values — these have been where her heart has been. Her real rewards have come one at a time, with each child she has helped.

Once years ago when she was working with Dr. King in NICU, a baby was born in kidney and respiratory failure. They did everything they could to help the infant survive, and he did. Later, when she went into private practice, his family and Dr. O’Boyle became very close friends. Today that infant is grown with a child of his own. “To watch that cycle continue has been one of the highlights of my work,” she says. “I love to run into my patients who years before were ill, faced obstacles, but turned out so well. I love running into the parents of my patients who can tell me all about their grown children. In many ways, they are my children, too.”

“A Person’s A Person” . . .
In the Dr. Seuss 1954 classic, Horton Hears a Who!, Horton the Elephant defends those who are much weaker. According to Horton, “A person’s a person, no matter how small.” One of Dr. O’Boyle’s earliest medical mentors, Dr. Felix Heald in Washington D.C., either knowingly or unknowingly shared Horton’s view and instilled it in the young physician.

Dr. O’Boyle clearly remembers Dr. Heald’s first lecture in which he told the class that they should always ask permission from their child patients before they began any examination of them. “I thought that was the stupidest thing anyone had ever said, but I incorporated it into my practice,” Dr. O’Boyle recalls. “I have found through the years that Dr. Heald was exactly right. It is vital to have the child’s permission before any physical contact or questions. This gives the child a choice and control over difficult situations.”

Life Outside of Medicine . . .
When one looks at the volume of Dr. O’Boyle’s medical work, it would be easy to assume that there was little time left for play. Such is not the case. This lady knows how to have a good time!

Travel has been part of her fun, including a backpacking trip through Europe with her brother when he was 17 and she was 20. The trip was budgeted for $5 per day, and they slept in youth hostels. Her favorite memory? Eating cherries and cheese on the Eiffel Tower and spitting the seeds on the ground below!

One of Meade’s “escapes” is camping. Yellowstone National Park is a special favorite where she has enjoyed sharing the natural beauty and geology with first her children and then her grandchildren. A trip to Bryce Canyon one year was “amended” when heavy snowfall in early July collapsed the family tents. A hotel was quickly located.

Even though vacations were supposed to be a break from medicine, at least one trip was not. While camping, her nephew Mark (now an ENT surgeon) caught a fishbone in his throat. Meade grabbed her needle nose pliers and removed the offending bone – ignoring the fact that those same pliers had also removed many fishhooks from wiggling fish not so long before.

A love for horses that began in childhood and was confirmed with a raffle prize, Old Gal, led to Meade owning horses nearly all of her life. Today two — Grey and Sweet — greet her early every morning, joined by her 9 barn kitties, and her dog, Puff. Retirement – No Way!

As a healthy, active 76-year-old who years ago battled breast cancer and had triple bypass heart surgery, Dr. O’Boyle refuses to consider a total retirement from the work that she loves. Although she has conceded to time’s passing by reducing her work load, her every intention is, as she puts it, “ . . . to continue to work with children in some capacity.”

At present, she is serving as medical director of Helping Hands Daycare, a facility that provides medical daycare for ill and disabled children. She also works some at SFMC sedating children for medical tests that require them to remain still and comfortable during those tests.

Garrison Keillor wrote, “Nothing you do for children is ever wasted.” Meade has a similar motto: “Every child is a blessing.” Her life and career are testaments to both beliefs. So are the lives of the thousands of children – and parents – she has touched along the way.