Enid,OK — The funeral for Dr. Peter “Pete” David Casper, 95, was held at 10 a.m. Friday, Oct. 10, 2008, at Church of the Servant, Oklahoma City. Burial was in Arlington Memory Gardens, Oklahoma City. Arrangements were by Smith and Kernke Funeral Directors, Oklahoma City.
He was born Nov. 23, 1912, to Russian-German Mennonites, David and Justina Ediger Casper and died Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2008.
His parents came to the United States as immigrants acquiring land in the Run of 1893. He was raised on the family farm southeast of Fairview and attended Progressive School. He graduated from Fairview High School in 1931. He graduated from Northwestern Oklahoma State University, Alva, with a teaching certificate. He began his teaching career at Garber High School in 1934. He taught English Literature and Latin and coached. He also served as principal before leaving the teaching profession in 1943. He worked as a roughneck in the oil fields of Oklahoma and Texas and in 1935 received his bachelors degree from Northwestern Oklahoma State University and his masters degree in administrative education and English from Oklahoma A&M; in 1942.
In 1943, he left Garber High School to begin medical school at the University of Oklahoma. He enlisted in the Army and in 1947 went through an accelerated program of surgical internship/ residency, reporting for active duty at Fort Belvoir, Va., as base hospital chief of obstetrics. Following his discharge he returned to Oklahoma where he began his medical practice in Del City. He was one of the founders of Midwest Regional Medical Center which opened in October 1962, where he served two terms as Chief of Staff from 1964 to 1984.
He married Arbutus Wright Casper in 1935. She died in 1992. They were charter members of Sunnylane United Methodist Church, Del City. He was among the organizers of the Del City Masonic Lodge, founder and chairman of the board of Del State Bank and Exchange National Bank of Del City, a member of the Del City Booster Club and provided football physicals for athletes. In 1959, he was one of the pioneers in Medicine to administer the first injectable polio vaccine. He was a board member of the Oklahoma County Medical Society and member of the Oklahoma State Medical Association. He held various offices in the American Medical Association for General Practitioners. He was President of the Oklahoma State Academy of General Practice in 1969. He retired in 1990.
He married Dr. Loretta Graham Engles in 1995. They made their home in Epworth Villa, Oklahoma City, in 1999.
Surviving are his wife, Dr. Loretta Graham Engles; one son, Dr. G. David Casper of Oklahoma City; one daughter, Judy Casper Johnson of Oklahoma City; one sister, Elizabeth Huddle of Tulsa; seven grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
In addition to his first wife, Arbutus, he was preceded in death by one son, four brothers, four sisters, and one granddaughter.
