Rives Coleman Chalmers – 50th Reunion Essay

Rives Coleman Chalmers

Date of Death: 16-Nov-2013

College: Pierson

(A longer version of this memorial appeared in the San Jose Mercury News and was republished on the Class Website.)

Rives Coleman Chalmers graduated from Westminster High School in 1965. He attended Yale University where he received a BA in chemistry. He earned a doctorate of medicine from Emory University in 1973. After a year of medical internship at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, he joined the United States Air Force as a flight surgeon. During his time of military service, he and his family were stationed at Brooks Air Force Base, Charleston Air Force Base, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, and Travis Air Force Base, where he flew missions to Vietnam.

After leaving the service with an honorable discharge in 1981, he moved his family to Los Gatos, California, where he practiced orthopedics for 31 years at Los Gatos Community Hospital. During this time, he served multiple times as chief of orthopedic surgery and on the peer review board, and in 1998 was named chief of staff at the hospital.

During his time in California, he participated in the Santa Clara County Medical Association, the largest medical society in California. He was elected president by his peers in 2012, which he deemed the greatest honor of his medical career. He considered the successful care of his patients spanning 40 years to be the greatest testament to his passion and aptitude in his chosen profession.

As a scholar and athlete, he won the Georgia State Decathlon his senior year of high school and was a member of the renowned 1968–1969 Yale track team. He later competed at the Highland Games in Scotland in front of the Queen of England, won many community club tennis championships in Saratoga, California, completed two marathons, and conquered four mountains in the Death Ride bike race in Lake Tahoe, California, at age 62.

He was a passionate aviator and loved flying his Cessna 210 and later his Long-EZ across the United States and Mexico. He owned 31 motorcycles during his lifetime and rode the many backroads of the United States on motorcycle trips with his daughter and good friends. Serving his church and community was another passion. He and his wife Ann taught Sunday school for several years, and he sang in the choir at Saratoga Federated Church. He participated in many missionary trips to Mexico as the “team doctor” to support building houses for the poor. He died November 16, 2013, surrounded by his family for whom he was a beloved husband, adored father, concerned brother, and faithful friend.

He is survived by his wife, Ann Jernigan Chalmers, his children, Alexander Rives Chalmers, John Parker Jernigan Chalmers, and Jennifer Ann Chalmers.