Dr Willard S. Krabill

Dr. Willard S. Krabill, 82, died peacefully at home on Tuesday, January 6, surrounded by his family after a six month struggle with cancer.  He was married to his wife of 53 years, Grace (Hershberger) Krabill, on July 31, 1955.  She survives along with four children, Merrill Krabill and Jeannie (Phil) Miller, both of Goshen, Karen (Scot Yoder) Krabill of Mason, Michigan, and Ron (Nancy Chupp) Krabill of Seattle, Washington; 9 grandchildren; and two sisters, Anne (Abner) Hershberger and Ina Ruth (Willis) Breckbill, both of Goshen. Dr. Krabill was a leading figure in health care in the Goshen area and nationally, advocating for the importance of medical ethics, innovative family practice medicine, wellness and wholistic health care, human sexuality education,  and universal health care.  During his long career, he led efforts to allow fathers into the delivery room at Goshen General Hospital, delivered more than 2700 babies to local residents, instituted the popular course in human sexuality at Goshen College, and served on numerous boards and ethics committees. Dr. Krabill was born in Louisville, Ohio, on April 25, 1926, to Mahlon and Ella (Conrad) Krabill.  After graduating from Louisville High School in 1944, he became a conscientious objector and served in hospitals and as a smokejumper, fighting forest fires in the Pacific Northwest.  He then attended Goshen College, graduating in 1949, and received his medical degree from Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia in 1953.  After completing medical training, he began practice in North Liberty, Indiana,  It was during this time that he began attending College Mennonite Church (of which he remained a member until his death) where he met Grace Ellen Hershberger.  After a six month courtship, the two married and embarked on a three-year Mennonite Central Committee term working with leprosy patients in Ban-me-thout, Vietnam. After returning from Vietnam, Dr. Krabill bought the family practice of Dr. H. Clair Amstutz in Goshen.  He later co-founded the High Park Physicians.  In 1973, he acquired a Masters of Public Health from the University of California Berkeley.  Upon return to the Goshen area, he became the physician for Goshen College, a role in which he served until retirement in 1991.   Dr. Krabill served as the Executive Secretary of the Mennonite Medical Association from 1992-1996.  He also served on the boards of Goshen General Hospital and the Anabaptist Center for Healthcare Ethics, ethics committees of Goshen General Hospital, Greencroft Retirement Communities and College Mennonite Church, and the American Medical Association's committee on religion and medicine. The family will receive friends 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m., Thursday, January 8, at Yoder-Culp Funeral Home. An 11:00 a.m., Friday, January 9, 2009, memorial service will be conducted at College Mennonite Church, Goshen, with Pastor Rose Widmer and brother-in-law, Rev. Willis Breckbill officiating. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be given to Goshen College or Goshen Care at Home Hospice.