Dr. Charles Rehm Gave The Gift Of Time To His Family, Patients

Dr. Charles D. Rehm used to say the greatest gift one person could give to another was something that didn't cost anything: time.

"He told us there should always be time for other people," said his daughter Patricia Richards of Plano, Texas.

As a doctor who reached out to those in need and paid house calls throughout his career, Dr. Rehm lived out his motto every day.

Dr. Rehm died Tuesday (July 2) of lung cancer. He was 76.

Born and raised in Seattle, Dr. Rehm attended John B. Allen Elementary School. From the time he was 12 years old, he knew he wanted to be a doctor. He clung to his goal even as the Depression robbed his family of its financial holdings. Dr. Rehm's father, Charles J. Rehm, a former cattle rancher from Montana, moved to Seattle in 1912 and built houses in the Phinney Ridge neighborhood.

Dr. Rehm graduated from Ballard High School in 1938 and enrolled at the University of Washington. He earned his tuition in Alaska over the summers, living alone in a remote shack to guard a floating fish trap from thieves.

In 1945, he graduated from Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago. When he returned to Seattle in 1948 after marrying Margaret Anderson of Petersburg, Alaska, he opened a private practice at the Roosevelt Clinic on First Hill and began living out his dream.

His practice was molded in the fashion of a country clinic, with nearly unlimited office hours. Telephone calls and house calls

often stretched well into the night. His four children often accompanied him on the house calls or waited in hospital lobbies while he visited patients.

To Dr. Rehm, there was no such thing as a stranger. Everyone he met became at least an acquaintance and, more often, a friend.

He volunteered his services at the Lutheran Compass Center in Pioneer Square. In the 1950s, he and his wife opened their home to pregnant unwed women who had nowhere else to turn.

Holiday gatherings rarely included just his immediate family. Patients without families of their own or people he met who were down on their luck were always welcome at the Rehm home, where children entertained the guests by singing, dancing and playing piano.

Dr. Rehm greeted it all with a contagious spirit of good will.

"He had a way of being very easy to approach," Richards said. "He met every challenge with a ready smile."

In 1973, Dr. Rehm retired from private practice. He worked as medical director for Northern Life Insurance Co. until 1985, implementing programs to ban smoking in the workplace. He was an original member of the board of trustees of the Casey Family Program, a private foster-care program with 23 offices in 13 states. He held the position through 1994.

Dr. Rehm also was an avid sports fan and fisherman. After his retirement, he regularly attended his grandchildren's sporting events and made time to help out at their baseball games or other events, taping injuries or stitching cuts.

In addition to his wife and his daughter Patricia Richards, Dr. Rehm is survived by his daughters Marsha Nemitz of Seattle and Donna Frazier of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho; his son, Bill Rehm of Seattle; and seven grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. at Sand Point Community United Methodist Church, 4710 N.E. 70th St. Contributions may be made to the church or to Hospice Northwest, 1550 N. 115th St., Seattle 98133.