|
|
Faith, Focus and a Passion for Teaching By Dan Knupp
Taussig was born in 1923 near Kremmling, a northern Colorado town high in the Rocky Mountains, where he graduated from high school in 1940. His father Paul was a veterinarian who graduated from the Colorado State University College of Veterinary Medicine in 1921. Family resources were scant but Taussig’s skills with purebred Hereford cattle progressed as he raised a National Grand Champion Hereford Bull whose valuable progeny brought money enough to send Taussig to college. Taussig attended Wheaton College in Illinois for two years and then enrolled in Colorado State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, graduating with his DVM in 1945. Taussig married Mary Marth in 1945 and practiced briefly at a private practice in Kansas City, Mo., before moving to Sioux City, Iowa. There they opened Morningside Veterinary Hospital and from 1946 to 1966 operated the hospital and a food animal practice. The Taussig family, which would eventually include seven children--three daughters and four sons,--35 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren, moved to Manhattan in 1966, starting an academic life with Taussig's new job as instructor with the department of surgery and medicine at the college. In 1970 he was promoted to assistant professor, became director of hospital outpatient services and graduated with a master’s degree in urology. Their early years in Kansas also kindled a shared passion to serve God in the lives of others, a passion that flourishes today. In 1972, Taussig family life took a turn that complimented both Taussig's passion for teaching and the couple’s calling to serve God. He accepted an associate professorship on the faculty of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria. He worked on assignment from K-State through the U.S. Agency for International Development. The agency had contracted with K-State in the mid-'60s to establish a veterinary medical teaching facility in Nigeria. “There was an obvious divine design for us to go to Nigeria,” Taussig said. “At the outset Mary had a chronic kidney problem that was all but cured by a prescribed prophylactic anti-malarial having a component not known at the time to help her condition.” Mary said within a short time after taking the medicine, she felt much better. For Taussig, the work in Nigeria was a combination of classroom instruction and ambulatory clinic with nomadic tribal people. Making friends with the rural Fulani people was as significant as the on-site care for the Zebu cattle herds so dear to their owners. Fulani groups of 40 to 50 usually graze about 200 cattle and live in the remote Sahel, a semi-arid area immediately below the vast Sahara desert. Fulani people are constantly on the move with the seasons to avoid the deadly tsetse fly. The Fulani, at the time, were leery of tax collectors, who from the time of the British Colonial Administration in Nigeria collected taxes based on the number of cattle a family owned. This collective fear was overcome when they learned what the veterinary team in the familiar Land Rover could do for their animals. Successes with Fulani herds were marked with a lessening of loss due to parasites and disease, increased productivity in milk production and a dramatic rise in herd reproduction rates. In one very remote area Taussig was asked to examine a young Fulani woman who was near death from blood loss caused by a difficult childbirth days before. She was transported to the University Hospital in Zaira. Because of tribal prejudices, the people who staffed the hospital wouldn’t let a Fulani patient into their wards. Taussig prevailed by firmly asserting, “I am Dr. Taussig, get two units of blood into this patient, stat!” Earlier he had treated the OBGYN department head’s camel--she owed him a favor. Diverse skills and the team’s compassion lead the chief, or Sarki, of many Fulani groups to ask for medical rounds for people as well as animals. Taussig splinted broken bones, delivered babies, lanced boils and dispensed medications--all a help in building trust with the nomadic groups. Before Taussig left Nigeria, events at the Nigerian Immigration Office would plant the seeds for a project that continues today at K-State. During the '70s, foreign residents either arriving in or leaving a Nigerian state were required to visit the office where the officer would serve a cup of tea and converse at length before stamping their residency permit book. During one visit, Mary Taussig overheard a Nigerian university student returning from America with a doctorate asked, “How did you like America?” He vehemently replied, “I hate America!” The immigration officer turned to Mary and said “I’d like you to meet Mrs. Taussig from America.” Mary had an opportunity to talk at length with this man and found that he “was avoided, did not make friends, was never invited into an American home or church and had practically no experiences with any Americans at all.” Mary was shocked. She conducted research confirming the student’s story, which initiated their plan for a project that was to be a priority upon their return to K-State. The fall semester in1976 saw 150 Nigerian students enrolled at K-State. The Taussig’s goal was to have every one of them visit their home. Their international friendship project embraced all of K-State’s 1,000-plus international students. Mary and Bob brought the project to local church people to be official hosts and friends to the students. Breakthrough after breakthrough in recruiting brought more than 16 area churches with many enthusiastic volunteers into a program known today as the K-State “Helping International Students” program. “Students typically want to feel accepted, be in an American home, to experience family life, and often are eager to learn about Christianity,” Mary said. “In the early years we had 60 students at our home for food, fun and fellowship nearly every weekend, frequently on both Friday and Saturday evenings.” The program now has a staff coordinator and an office in the Ecumenical Center on campus. Taussig continued with teaching at the College of Veterinary Medicine and shortly after returning from Nigeria was promoted to associate professor and became the zoological medicine section head at the teaching hospital, and later became principal veterinarian at the Sunset Zoo in Manhattan. While at K-State, Taussig made important advances in the recognition and treatment in the urinary diseases of cats. The Taussigs continued their international teaching and travel in 1983 to 1984 when Robert, on sabbatical, became a professor of medicine and surgery in the veterinary medicine program at Ross University, Commonwealth of Dominica and St. Kitts in the West Indies. Taussig officially retired from teaching at K-State April 26, 1988. The retirement has been another exciting page turned for the Taussigs. International students and travel have ensued during their “retirement” years, including a two month-long Pacific rim trip in 1994. The journey started in Singapore with a reunion of K-State international students. They then visited reunion attendees in China and several other countries and finished with a three-week speaking tour in New Zealand. The trip agenda also included Mary staying 18 days in Thailand while Robert helped staff a DVM Research Exchange International survey group in Vietnam. At the Cold War’s end, Russia cut financial aid to Vietnam, including all veterinary medical support. The teams assessed Vietnam’s animal and human healthcare to garner international support for rebuilding these critical infrastructures. Upon return Taussig was helpful in sending many vet med textbooks to Vietnamese libraries. This spring, Robert and Mary will be back in Nigeria, attending the 30-year anniversary of the Navigator organization they organized in 1974. They can't wait to return, Robert said. Faith, focus and a passion to teach by example are building blocks of the Taussig’s template for contributions to the college’s living history. Their efforts are alive and well in the hearts of College of Veterinary Medicine graduates, K-State international students and their friends and acquaintances worldwide. The university and college have been doubly blessed with the association of Robert and Mary Taussig.
Photo of Dr. Robert Taussig and wife Mary is courtesy of K-State College of Veterinary Medicine. Fall 2004 |
The
threads of history that connect veterinary skills and quality of character
for many graduates are alive in the emeritus professors of K-State’s
College of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Robert Taussig of Manhattan, Kan.,
is one who embodies this living history. He and his wife Mary continue
to be active in teaching and helping students as they have since coming
to K-State nearly four decades ago.