Wheaton College Alumni Magazine Spring 2013 | Page 45

alumni news

The painting on
the wall behind
Dr. Robert
Weeldreyer
’56 was
commissioned
and given to
him by his wife,

Photo: Grand raPids Press/Landov

profile

Carolyn Comfort
Weeldreyer ’56.

8,000 Miracles
A Grand Rapids Press story about
two very similar births, decades
apart, prompted Wheaton to research
and highlight this obstetrician’s
long and life-giving career.
by Angelo Campos ’12
Her life was at its end. But
before she took her last breath, she gave life to
a child she would never cradle, or rejoice over
for even a moment.
It happened forty years ago, but obstetrician
Dr. Robert Weeldreyer ’56 has not forgotten
this young woman who suffered a brain
aneurysm and was placed on life support
until he could safely deliver her little one. The
memory came flooding back recently when he
read about a similar birth close to his Holland,
Michigan, home last year.
“What a bittersweet moment it was for that
family,” he remembers, noting that even though
medical practices have changed—thanks to
new technologies, medicines, and research—
there are still those unforgettably heartbreaking
moments, and thankfully, also the blessing and
hope of new birth.
During Bob’s time as an obstetrician, he delivered more than 8,000 babies, and also served
as chief of staff and chairman on hospital
boards and was involved with Focus on the
Family’s Physicians Group and Michigan Family Forum.
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But Bob did not start out with the aim of
becoming a doctor. In fact, he began at
Wheaton as a physics major with the hope
of becoming an engineer. Restless about the
choice, Bob spoke with his future wife, Carolyn
Comfort ’56, and with the head of the biology
department, and he realized God was leading
him toward the medical field.
Changing majors in his junior year proved to
be difficult. “It was pretty complex getting all
my courses arranged at Wheaton,” he says. “In
the week after graduation, I got married on Friday, and early in the next week I was back at
Wheaton taking a summer course in comparative anatomy.”
A member of Wheaton’s ROTC battalion, Bob
went on to medical school and then spent eight
years on active duty in the U.S. Army. It was
meeting Dr. Jay McCully ’52, who became a
friend and mentor, that convinced Bob to follow
in his footsteps and enter obstetrics and gynecology. Later, Jay would deliver Bob’s first child.
After Bob completed his specialty training, he
worked at hospitals in the U.S. and studied
at hospitals in Vienna, Austria; Frankfurt,

Germany; and London, England. While assigned
to the U.S. Army Hospital in Frankfurt, he once
delivered 25 babies in one day.
During his travels, Bob saw the need for educated obstetricians. In countries that were
less developed, had different societal levels, or lacked a strong Christian influence, he
noted that patients were often treated with little
noticeable care or concern for the individual.
After many years of practicing, he appreciates
the relationships he has built with both Christian
associates and with his patients.
Bob says, “When you follow patients for several
months, you develop a close relationship with
them.” He says he always felt blessed when he
had the opportunity to pray with his patients, but
also just in being present at such an important
moment in people’s lives.
“For me, standing at the delivery table,” Bob
says, “and delivering a baby who nine months
ago had not been living in any way, but had
developed and was now crying—a human being
with a soul—that was an astounding thing. The
wonder of this miracle has never left me.”