Page 15 - Senior Link Magazine Fall 2021- Online Magazine

Dr. Robert Salem The Foundation
very story has a back story,
especially the epic ones.
EDr. Robert Salem is one of
Lubbock's most accomplished
and best-loved physicians and a
member of the generation aptly
called “the Builders”. But before he
was born 50 miles away in Sudan,
Texas, his life story had begun over
7000 miles away in Lebanon. His
paternal grandparents emigrated
to the U.S. from the Middle
Eastern country when Dr. Salem's
father, Joe, was a young boy. His
grandfather’s early demise forced
Joe Salem to become a breadwinner
at the age of 12. By the time he
was 21, he was working as a
traveling salesman, occasionally
staying at the hotel in Spur, where
he fell for the young lady whose
grandparents, the Hyatts, owned
the inn. Not long after the couple
married in 1931, they moved to
air force
of the "Builder"
by Jane Bromley
Sudan, opened a little Paris. When President Eisenhower
dry goods store, and came to Paris to meet with
moved into the back of European VIPs, Dr. Salem was
it. They had two young on the team assigned to care for
children before Joe was him in case Ike suffered another
able to afford a house, medical emergency during his
which he bought for visit. (He didn’t.)
$25 and two pairs of
overalls. Joe and Beth During his two years in France,
laid a hefty foundation Dr. Salem used his free time to
for their son that has travel around Europe. WWII had
supported his enormous only been over for a decade, and
accomplishments for he saw the devastation of war
nearly nine decades. firsthand. “There were bombed
out buildings everywhere.” The
Robert and his sister concentration camp at Auschwitz
Betty grew up working made a tremendous impact on the
in the store and hoeing young doctor. “That stayed with
and pulling cotton in me. It shaped me as a person.”
the summers. Despite His mother’s uncle Hub Hyatt had
the meager lifestyle, been killed in action, and Dr. Salem
Dr. Salem describes paid a poignant visit to Hyatt’s
his childhood and grave at Henri-Chapelle American
parents as wonderful. Cemetery in Belgium. Seeing the
He graduated from 9000 graves there instilled a deep
Sudan High School in 1946 and and fervent patriotism in the
Texas Technological College in young man.
1950. The Korean War started, The medical profession was an
but Robert was given a deferment easy choice for Robert Salem. He
until after he completed medical watched his parents regularly
school at Southwestern in Dallas. help people and observed their
In 1955, the young intern was satisfaction and fulfillment in
commissioned in the Air Force and doing it. He also had an innate
assigned to Fitzsimmons Army love of science and an insatiable
Hospital in Denver. The young
man from West Texas found
himself in close proximity
to then-President Dwight
Eisenhower when he was
brought to Fitzsimmons
after suffering a heart attack.
Fortunately, “Ike” was able
to run the country for a few
weeks from Fitzsimmons
while he recuperated.
The USAF sent Lt. Salem
overseas to Orly Airfield in
Lubbock Senior Link 15