He relieved pain for 60 years. Now 88, Kearney man is passing down his legacy
Chick Messbarger sees nothing but blessings as he looks back on his 88 years.
The certified registered nurse anesthetist received a lifetime achievement award in May from the Nebraska Association of Nurse Anesthetists for his 60 years in the field.
His son and grandson are both doctors. Two granddaughters are nurse anesthetists, and a third is finishing nurse anesthesia school. Another daughter is a nurse practitioner, and still another is in medical school.
Chick and Judy Messbarger visit with their granddaughter Jessica Moten, who, inspired by Chick, is in her final year of nurse anesthesia school at Bryan College of Health Sciences in Lincoln.
On Friday, he will be inducted into the Kearney Catholic High School Hall of Fame.
Messbarger still competes, and wins, in the Nebraska Senior Games. “There’s nobody else in my age group,” he quipped.
He retired at age 80 not because his skills had faded but because he knew patients might be nervous about his age.
“I chose the right career. I could take away people’s pain,” he said.
No to scholarships
Born Charles Messbarger in St. Joseph, Missouri, he had eight siblings and acquired the nickname of “Chick” by the time he was 2 years old.
A self-professed sports nut in high school, he had an appointment to the U.S. Air Force Academy and football scholarship offers from other colleges, but he turned them down.
Instead, inspired by his brother Gerald, an anesthesiologist, he attended the Alexian Brothers Hospitals School of Nursing in Chicago. “I wasn’t sure about anesthesiology, but it turned out I loved it,” he said.
In 1959, a week after he graduated from the nursing school, Messbarger married Judy, whom he had dated since they met at a high school dance five years earlier. She became a speech therapist.
Messbarger did further training at a hospital in Wausau, Wisconsin, and then joined Gerald at Mercy Hospital in Council Bluffs, Iowa. As the only two anesthetists on the staff, one of the two was always on call.
“We did the obstetrical patients, too. Mothers were put to sleep for most deliveries, because there was little regional anesthesia back then,” he said.
Uncle Sam calls
In 1966, he was drafted into the U.S. Army. After basic training at Fort Sam Houston in Texas, he loaded Judy and their five children, ranging in age from 4 weeks to 7 years, and drove to his first assignment in Fort Jackson, South Carolina.
“I was assigned to live in bachelor’s quarters. I went to the commanding officer and said, ‘What do I do with my family?’” he said. Quickly, they found housing for the family.
Because the Army was short of anesthetists, Messbarger became the lead instructor for the anesthetist training program. Many of his trainees were sent to Vietnam for a year, but not Messbarger.
“They liked me as an instructor, so I stayed at Fort Jackson,” he said. He set up a similar training program at Fort Benning.
“Being drafted into the Army with a new baby and all was a stressful time, but it provided a great opportunity for me. I was learning all the time,” he said. He was honorably discharged in 1968.
Coming to Kearney
In 1971, after a stint in Beatrice, he came to Kearney and became one of three anesthetists at what was then Good Samaritan Hospital. He and Judy purchased a home a few blocks away.
“The nurses would call me to come give an epidural to a woman in labor. I’d drive down the street and be there. No, I didn’t like getting called at 2 a.m., but that’s what I signed up for,” he said.
Kristen Day and her grandfather, Chick Messbarger. She's now a nurse anesthetist at CHI Health St. Francis in Grand Island because she saw the joy and satisfaction he received from the profession.
He became part of the new Kearney Anesthesia Associates just as anesthesia was changing dramatically.
Messbarger had earned a pilot’s license before he went into the military, so he and Dr. Ken Kimball, a surgeon, would fly out of town together to places like Cambridge, McCook and Lexington for various procedures.
Sometimes, Messbarger would fly low as he was coming into Lexington in the middle of the night “so they could see me. We had a radio in the airplane, but no communication in the airport, so I’d call them and tell them I was leaving, that I’d be there in a half hour,” he said.
He spent 25 years as the anesthesia supervisor at Good Sam. He also started the hospital’s respiratory therapy department.
“I was busy, but I loved challenges. It’s my competitive spirit. I had never been a supervisor, but it was a new opportunity, making daily decisions,” he said.
Mission work
Mission work was a critical part of his life. In 1968, Messbarger and his family went to Guyana as medical missionaries for Catholic Medical Missions. He was the only anesthetist in a large Catholic hospital.
A few months later, he began working one day a week in a leprosy hospital north of Georgetown, Guyana. “They had no anesthesia machine, so I did a nerve block on patients,” he said. A year later, he returned to the U.S.
“Those poor people in South America needed surgery, but there was no way to do that without an anesthetic. I am very grateful for the opportunity to be helpful to so many people,” he said.
Messbarger has gone on medical missions to Haiti 30 times, including right after the 2010 earthquake, when his son Robert joined him. The hospital had set up Army tents with 40 patients in each tent. Robert was busy taking care of two tents.
“There were paraplegics, quadriplegics, fractures, everything,” Messbarger said. “It was very rewarding.”
Sports, too
Whether in a uniform or a medical coat, he kept playing sports. “When I was in the Army, the hospital would try to get ahold of me when I was on the ballfield. They’d call the police and say, ‘We need Chick in OB,’ and the cop would come to the pitcher’s mound, and I’d walk off with him,” he said.
Messbarger started the Kearney Catholic tennis program shortly after the school opened in 1975 and led the team to two state championships and four runner-up trophies.
Judy helped coach. “If I got called to the hospital while I was coaching, she’d have to step in,” he said.
He not only started the tennis program there, but he and his wife Judy put in a tennis court in their backyard so their kids would have a place to practice.
He also began the KCHS junior high football program and was an assistant varsity football coach.
His legacy
Messbarger has left quite a legacy. His son and grandson are physicians. Three granddaughters are anesthetists.
Jessica Moten, his granddaughter, is in her third and final year of nurse anesthesia school at Bryan College of Health Sciences in Lincoln. “As I was growing up, he’d talk about patients who needed help. Seeing how much he loved his career made me want the same thing,” she said.
Chick Messbarger and his wife Judy are surrounded by granddaughters Michelle Kennedy, left, Kristen Day and Jessica Moten, all of whom are, or are studying to be, nurse anesthetists.
Granddaughter Michelle Kennedy, recently hired by Kearney Anesthesia Associates, calls her grandparents her best friends. “For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to be a nurse anesthetist because that's what my best friend did,” she said.
“Often, people stopped us at the grocery store or a game and thanked Grandpa for taking such good care of them. Seeing how he was able to help others during a vulnerable time was inspiring,” she said.
Another granddaughter, Kristen Day, is a nurse anesthetist in Grand Island. “Grandpa would almost giggle when he talked about his job. There was such joy in the way he talked about anesthesia,” she said. “Being able to work with my sister, Michelle, and then call Grandpa afterward to talk about our experiences, brought everything full circle."
