After the Kennedy assassination, Duke went on to become a prominent Houston trauma surgeon and familiar television doctor.
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Duke was affiliated with both the UT Health Science Center and Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston.
On November 22, 1963, Duke was working in Dallas when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated during a motorcade.
To countless colleagues, friends and patients, he was a skilled physician, innovative healthcare provider, exceptional communicator and dedicated conservationist. After graduation from Texas A&M University, he served a two-year stint in the U.S. Army and earned a divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1955. He was the first surgeon to receive the president before taking leadership of the treatment of Connally, who made a point of thanking Duke publicly until he died in 1993. He was also instrumental in starting the Life Flight program at Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston.
During the 1980s, Duke had a nationally syndicated medical segment in which he appeared in cowboy garb and with a bushy red mustache and spoke with a thick Texas drawl. Five years later, he received his medical degree from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.
The hospital statement said Duke is survived by sister Helen Patricia Hipps; children Hank, Rebecca, Sara and Hallie; mother of the children Betty C. Kent; son-in-law Charles King; seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
Born in Ennis in 1928 and raised in Hillsboro, Duke acquired his life-long nickname as a youngster due to his long red curly locks.
The University of Texas Medical School at Houston Department of Surgery sponsored a scholarship fund in honor of Duke, aimed at students who wanted to study in the field of trauma.
We’ll never know how many lives he saved.
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“I love being a doctor”, Duke said.
