Dr. Raymond J. Scheetz Sr., 94

KINNELON, N.J. – A Mass of Christian Burial was held at the Our Lady of Magnificat for Dr. Raymond J. Scheetz Sr., 94, who spent most of his life in Youngstown, and died Tuesday Sept. 22, 2009, at the home of his daughter in Kinnelon.
Dr. Scheetz was born in Youngstown Sept. 27, 1914, a son of Albert P. Scheetz (Scheetz Lumber Co.) and Ida M. Raub Scheetz.
Following his graduation from The Rayen School in 1932, he attended The Ohio State University, where he earned a B.A. in 1937 and his M.D. in 1940. He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa (national honor society) and Alpha Omega Alpha (national medical honorary society).
After a one-year internship at St. Elizabeth Hospital Medical Center in Youngtown, he entered a Radiology Residency at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. (1941). He was in the program for 3 1/2 years, serving the last nine months as Junior Associate of the Radiology Staff. He was certified as a Diplomat of the American Board of Radiology in October of 1944.
He left The Mayo Clinic in December of 1944 and entered the U.S. Army Medical Corps. He initially served at Army and Navy General Hospital (Hot Springs, Ariz.) and later at William Beaumont General Hospital in El Paso, Texas, where he was Chief of Radiology. Released from the Army as a Captain in September of 1947, Dr. Scheetz returned to Youngstown and practiced the next 30 years in the Radiology Department of St. Elizabeth Hospital Medical Center. He was chief of the Medical Staff for three years and chief of the Radiology Department for 12 years following Dr. Saul Tamarkin’s retirement.
In the late 1940s, technicians who were well-trained in taking x-rays evinced a desire to take the national exam for Registered Technician. They needed instruction in anatomy and x-ray physics, so Dr. Scheetz arranged for departmental classes in those subjects, and the St. Elizabeth Hospital School for Roengenologic Technology was thus born.
Early in the 1950s, radio-isotopes were coming into widespread use in medical practice. Dr. Scheetz attended the Isotope Clinic at Case-Western Reserve University Hospital for a six-month course, passed the National exam in Nuclear Medicine, obtained a license from the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and became the first Youngstown physician to use radio-active isotopes in the diagnosis and treatment of various medical conditions. (The Youngstown Vindicator printed an article about this at the time.)
Dr. Scheetz married Coletta Lyden, a Youngstown schoolteacher, Feb. 7, 1942. Miss Lyden, a former May Queen at Youngstown College, was the daughter of Paul E. Lyden and Mary Cronin Lyden. Mr. Lyden served as Sheriff and Water Commissioner of Mahoning Co. and Police Chief of Youngstown at various times.
Dr. and Mrs. Scheetz had five children, Dr. Raymond Scheetz Jr. (retired from The Cleveland Clinic), Carol Ann Scheetz Borinski and Joanne Scheetz, both of Kinnelon, and Marilyn and Bonita, who both predeceased him.
After his retirement in December of 1977, Dr. Scheetz, an avid golfer, and his wife moved to Carolina Trace in Sanford, N.C.
Mrs. Scheetz died Jan. 2, 1992. Dr. Scheetz then moved to New Jersey to live with his daughter and son-in-law, Carol and Andrew Borinski (of Borinski Bros. Nursery in Lincoln Park).
In addition to his living children, Dr. Scheetz leaves one sister, Arlene Hoover of Sonoma, Calif.
He was predeceased by two sisters, Rosemary Reany of Phoenix and Miriam Wardle.
He had seven grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.
Dr. Scheetz was a member of the Our Lady of Magnificat RC Church in Kinnelon, Mahoning County Medical Society, Ohio State Medical Society, American Medical Association, American College of Radiology, American Roentgen Ray Society, Mayo Alumni Society and “The Hole-in-One Club.”
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Visiting Nurse Association of Northern New Jersey Hospice, 38 Elm St., Morristown, NJ 07960, www.vnonnj.org or the St. Elizabeth Health Center, 727 E. Western Reserve Road, Youngstown, OH 44514.
Friends may call from 9 to 10:30 a.m. Monday at the Fox Funeral Home in Boardman, followed by interment at Calvary Cemetery.
Family and friends may visit www.foxfuneralhome.org to view this obituary and send condolences.