Stokes, Walter
From GWUEncyc
Alumni
The following was written in 1985:
Well into his 87th year, Dr. Walter R. Stokes is still a pioneer - although he admits "I'm not going to be a damn fool and think I'm as good as I was." He may not be as good as he was, but considering everything he's done, it's hardly surprising that he's slowed down a little. Trained at GW in both the law (LL.B. '24) and medicine (M.D. '28), Stokes also has been a national, world and Olympic champion rifle shooter, an intercollegiate marksmanship coach, a distinguished officer in the U.S. Army Air Corps, a foresighted practitioner of psychiatry, a pioneer in family planning and counseling - and today, in "retirement" in his native Florida, an activist in the fight to conserve the state's natural resources.
Born in central Florida in 1898, Stokes spent his childhood there, in the wilderness area where his parents operated a hunting and fishing resort. He acquired an early appreciation of nature from his parents and many of the guests at their resort. In his teens Stokes moved with his family to Washington, D.C. By 1920 he was a national leader in rifle shooting, and in 1921 he swept every event in the International Shooting Union World Championship competition. He capped his career in 1924, as a member of the gold medal winning U.S. Olympic rifle team. He also won an individual bronze in the 1924 Olympics. In all, Stokes has won nearly 300 marksmanship medals, an accomplishment in which he takes considerable pride. His cousin by marriage, Washington attorney Marcus Hollabaugh (LL.B. '39), recalls that when he first met Stokes in 1970, he thought the doctor might just be exaggerating a bit in talking about his medals. Later, however, Hollabaugh visited Stokes' home and examined the medals. "Then I understood that clearly he wasn't a braggart; he had every right to be proud," says Hollabaugh.
Upon entering medical school at GW in 1924, Stokes was granted a full scholarship in exchange for coaching the GW men's and women's rifle teams. Under his direction, those teams became intercollegiate champions. Commenting on those days, Stokes is characteristically direct: "I earned my scholarship, but I am none the less grateful for it." While still in medical school, Stokes became interested in one of the topics that was to dominate his career-family planning. Margaret Sanger had an office next door to the medical school, and Stokes wholeheartedly joined her efforts in opposition to the Comstock Act - 1873 legislation which, says Stokes, "lumped birth control procedures with pornography, prostitution and criminal abortion." Though the subject of birth control was then strictly ignored in the medical curriculum, Stokes continued disseminating birth control information - and was almost expelled as a result. He recalls that, at his medical school graduation ceremony, he distributed birth control information to his classmates "as soon as I had my diploma in hand."
Stokes soon also became intrigued with the newly developing medical specialty, psychiatry. In 1931 he began training in psychoanalysis and in 1935 became a practicing psychiatrist. From then until his 1963 retirement (with time out for three years' service in World War II), Stokes was an active practitioner, focusing on sexual dysfunction and the problems of marital and parent-child relationships. The list of his professional affiliations, publications and honors is too vast to enumerate, but there can be no doubt that Stokes is a nationally respected authority in his field. In 1963 Stokes retired to Stuart, Florida, to enjoy the out-of-doors he had always loved. But almost immediately he became concerned about the damage that was being inflicted upon his county by reckless developers and others. He also was concerned over the lack of mental health facilities in the area. Stokes soon took a leading role in establishing a local mental health center, and he spearheaded a movement to secure the Jensen Savannas as a wildlife refuge with state-park status.
Currently he serves as chairman of the Citizens Advisory Beach Committee of Martin County's Board of Commissioners. This committee has led the way in obtaining $13.5 million for the purchase and management of public beaches. Stokes also is president of a not-for-profit corporation which is seeking to establish a million dollar trust fund in support of a unique educational project: the Environmental Studies Center of the local public schools. One of Stokes' unrealized ambitions was to teach at GW a major course in marriage and family. Eventually, such a course was incorporated into GW's medical curriculum, but only after Stokes' retirement, to Florida. Nevertheless, Stokes has chosen to show his regard for GW in a very tangible way. University officials have received notice that Stokes' will includes a substantial bequest to GW, in the form of a memorial trust in the names of Stokes and his late wife, Florence Grady Stokes, who received BA and MD degrees from GW: The trust specifically is for use "in support of clinical services, teaching and research regarding marriage and family life and human sexual behavior, or any combination of the foregoing." Thus, through his bequest, Stokes is ensuring future work at his alma mater in areas which most engaged Stokes' professional interest and enthusiasm.
Stokes received a Distinguished Alumni Achievement award in 1989.
Document Information
Images: 2
Photographic Credit: RG0031; MS0625/Betty Clark papers
Author or Source: GW Times, Summer 1985
Document Location: University Archives
Date Added to Encyclopedia: December 21, 2006
Prepared by: Lyle Slovick, Assistant University Archivist
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