{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/presentation/3/context.json","id":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/iiif/3j39020k2g/manifest","type":"Manifest","label":{"en":["Dr. Charles Rodgers"]},"logo":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/246/original/CenterForHistoryFamilyMedicine_2c_RGB.png?1773344256","metadata":[{"label":{"en":["Rights Statement"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eThis item is protected by U.S. copyright and related rights. It is being made available by the Center for the History of Family Medicine as its rights-holder for noncommercial use, including sharing and adapting the work. No permission is required for noncommercial use so long as attribution is provided. All other uses require permission from the Center for the History of Family Medicine.  Disclaimer:  The views presented in this broadcast are the speaker’s own and do not represent those of CHFM or the AAFP Foundation. The information presented is for general, educational, or entertainment purposes and should not be considered legal, health, financial, or other advice. \u003c/p\u003e"]}},{"label":{"en":["Date"]},"value":{"en":["2021-04-13 (created)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Format"]},"value":{"en":["video"]}},{"label":{"en":["Keyword"]},"value":{"en":["Arkansas","family doctors","rural family medicine","physicians"]}},{"label":{"en":["Subject"]},"value":{"en":["Arkansas Academy of Family Physicians (corporate name)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Language"]},"value":{"en":["English (primary)"]}}],"requiredStatement":{"label":{"en":["Attribution"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eThis item is protected by U.S. copyright and related rights. It is being made available by the Center for the History of Family Medicine as its rights-holder for noncommercial use, including sharing and adapting the work. No permission is required for noncommercial use so long as attribution is provided. All other uses require permission from the Center for the History of Family Medicine. \u0026nbsp;Disclaimer: \u0026nbsp;The views presented in this broadcast are the speaker\u0026rsquo;s own and do not represent those of CHFM or the AAFP Foundation. The information presented is for general, educational, or entertainment purposes and should not be considered legal, health, financial, or other advice.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e"]}},"provider":[{"id":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/aboutus","type":"Agent","label":{"en":["Center for the History of Family Medicine"]},"homepage":[{"id":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/","type":"Text","label":{"en":["Center for the History of Family Medicine"]},"format":"text/html"}],"logo":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/246/original/CenterForHistoryFamilyMedicine_2c_RGB.png?1773344256","type":"Image"}]}],"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/196/808/small/Rodgers_Charles%284-13-2021%29.mp4_1689096323.jpg?1689096325","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2312/collection_resources/99104/file/196808","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 1 of 1 - Rodgers__Charles_(4-13-2021).mp4"]},"duration":4456.18507,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/196/808/small/Rodgers_Charles%284-13-2021%29.mp4_1689096323.jpg?1689096325","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2312/collection_resources/99104/file/196808/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2312/collection_resources/99104/file/196808/content/1/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/196/808/original/Rodgers__Charles_%284-13-2021%29.mp4?1689096295","type":"Video","format":"video/mp4","duration":4456.18507,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2312/collection_resources/99104/file/196808","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[{"id":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2312/collection_resources/99104/file/196808/transcript/45033","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["Transcript of Dr. Charles Rodgers interview [Transcript]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2312/collection_resources/99104/file/196808/transcript/45033/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Dr. Sam Taggart: \n\nGood afternoon, my name is Sam Taggart: Let’s start at the first; the best place to start is at the beginning: When and where were you were born?  What were the circumstances of your birth? Do you know who delivered you?   \n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nOk, I’ll try the best I can; I think I wrote a few notes here.  My birthday is August 12, 1939; a c-section.  We were living in East St. Louis at the time and I’ll tell you how we got to St. Louis; mom and dad was stuck down in the Hamburg Hill area where I went to school most of my life.  The school was there in Hamburg and I moved there in my first or second grade.  We moved back to there with the family.  My dad….during the war at that time, if you had so many children….we had seven in our family….\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nSo you had 6 brother and sisters?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nSix brothers and sisters...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nWhere did you stand in the group?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nRight in the middle; three on each side…\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nAre they still alive?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: No, that’s kind of a sad situation.  My three younger brothers are all dead and the………I have a hard time thinking and backing up; when I’m backing up, I have to….we may have to put this off until I get to thinking better or you get tired of listening to me.  The one younger than me followed me to Arkansas A\u0026M and my dad had a service station and was also the county clerk, but he would go down on weekends and work the service station. One of my other brothers was in a play one night at Hamburg, so dad asked him to come home early and keep the station open until 8 or 9, what they usually did, so he could go to the play….while there, somebody broke in; they never found out who it was and they robbed him and as he was trying to get out, they stabbed him in the back and it came right in the heart and killed him.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nHow old was your brother?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: He would’ve been 18 or 19.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nSo a young man; a very, very, young man…\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: Yeah.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nWhat about the other two brothers?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nThe other two have died within the last year; one of them…..well, both of them died of cancer of the pancreas.  I don’t know; they were fairly heavy drinkers and/or been drinking and if that had any part in it, I don’t know; so…. \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nAnd you had two sisters?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nOne sister…\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nOne sister and she is still alive?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nShe’s still alive and doing well; her husband died.  She’s doing pretty good and still lives in the Hamburg area.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nSo, let’s go back just a little bit farther with your family; what do you know about your family?  In other words, when did the Rodgers family come to Arkansas or when did they come to the United States?  \n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nI may have to make a note on that; the next thing you have me do, have me do that and I’ll need to talk to my older sibling, a sister, and two little brothers.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nDon’t worry about it too much because I have given this interview process to your daughter and your son and have asked them to fill in the blanks; ok.  So, we’ll just go with what you do remember; ok?  Was your family English, German, Scotch-Irish, or……?  \n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nSome Irish; I don’t know, they’ve been down in Izard country for years and I’m not particularly sure how they settled there.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nHow did your mom and dad end up in East St. Louis for you to be born there?\n\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nBecause he had seven kids, he was exempted from active duty during the war and they put him to work in the aluminum oil plant in St. Louis.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nSure, it was a big deal.\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nIt was really good for us and we had some other relatives there.  We moved back when I was like in the second grade.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nYou know the connection with that and me…..I’m from Saline county; well, I practiced in Saline county and a lot of those people who ended up coming to Saline county came to us from East St. Louis….a lot, a lot of them did.  Especially the managers and the technical people who came because a lot of the laborers were just from Arkansas, but a lot of the technical people and managers came from East St. Louis…..that’s interesting.    \n\nDo you remember much about your childhood; being a little kid in Hamburg or East St. Louis running around playing?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nUh, I don’t remember a whole lot; except last night I was trying to do this and I started putting question marks on the…..let’s see….I guess I don’t remember much until I was 2, 3, or 4.  Of course, we always had somebody to play with; 5 brothers and a sister and we had some other relatives there.  The church we went to was right across the street; the Baptist Church.  Mom and dad sang in the choir and ….  \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nWas your family religious?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nPretty religious; uh huh.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nMore-so your mother or more-so your father or…….?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nProbably more-so my mother; but, both of them.  Dad had a good voice and he sang in the choir all the years that we were in Hamburg.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nAre you a singer?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\n(Laughing)…..Well, sometimes I think I am…when I’m away from everybody; not great, I never did…….oh, I think junior high stuff and in our church class, we had a choir, but I never was big in the solos or anything.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nDo you remember much about your early years in grade school; going to school in Hamburg?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nUh… yeah, I don’t know how much is much and it would probably come back if I had somebody to set me up for it…but, I started school in St. Louis and when we moved to Hamburg, I was in the second grade.  It was just a good rural thing with a lot of good people; the teachers were good people.  We had a _______ time, a routine for what would become five or six years; anyway.     \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nElementary school….\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nYeah and we…..I’m trying to think…..anyway, it was probably just routine with nothing unusual.  I was always a good student and made good grades.   \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nThat was going to be my next question; so, you were a pretty good student.  Was there any particular area in school that you either really enjoyed or excelled at?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nUh…..I always liked biology.  We didn’t have a lot of advanced stuff, like chemistry and things; just little things and they added on biology.  But, I lost my train of thought.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nWere there any men or women: teachers, preachers, doctors or anybody who had a major impact on you as a child who you looked up to and thought, “Oh, I really want to do that when I get to be an adult”…..? \n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nUh….well, I’ll start with the doctor, the family doctor; Delaney, I don’t know if you ever knew him.  He was up here for a while and he and his wife were both doctors; he kind of took me under his wing.  What I remember, a lot about him, he said “with 6-7 kids, there is always something” and he did house calls on us all the time.  He’d come sit and talk and we’d have a good time; he involved us in the care.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nBy the time you were 10 or 11 years old, Penicillin all of the sudden made its entry into the market; I mean, it was there.  Do you remember the doctor coming and giving you penicillin shot or any particular health problems that you might have had?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nI didn’t have any significant health problems.  Penicillin was the drug during that time; you know, he’d come out sometime when we had a bad cold or something; come out to the house, give us a shot, and then he would…at that time, daddy was in the gravel business and he graveled some roads for him for payment.  Then when he had the station, we always kind of gave him stuff, favors and things; but….Delaney…Mary was his wife and she was a doctor…..Mary Delaney and what was his first name…….but anyway, Dr. Delaney.  That is the reason I want to maybe start all over; I would have a sheet, get a new one, tried to scratch right through it while taking my time trying to remember things. But anyway, he was a good doctor and I started to _______.  I asked to go to college about the time he left and so, I’m not familiar with who the other doctor was.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nSo you left to go to college in the late ‘50s; ’56, ‘57, or somewhere along there; is that right?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nYeah; about that…..I graduated in ’57.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nDo you remember what informed your decision on where you were going to go to college or that you even were going to go to college because at that point in time, not everybody automatically went to college……\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nRight….\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nDo you remember what informed your decision? Was education a big deal with your mom and dad? \n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nWell, yeah; they kind of pushed it.  Both of them were just high school graduates; but, they pushed all of us into going…us kids.  My only sister didn’t, because she wanted to get married and have kids.  She married a preacher and he died unfortunately last year, but they had very good kids.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nWhat prompted you to go to A\u0026M?  That was the local school and obviously very close for you…..\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nI started walking north and that was the first college; it was about that much… (Laughing) Sometimes I could hitch-hike up there, but usually somebody would loan me their car; because, I would usually come home on the weekend and help run the service station and….\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nBy that time, was A\u0026M a 4-year school or was it still a 2-year school?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nNo, it was four years.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nIt was four; did you enjoy college?\n\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nOh yeah...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nNow, we’ve got to go through this story again in a minute on how you got the name; we’ll go through it right now…… “Shot Rodgers” and not “Charles Rodgers”…….I know your name is Charles Rodgers….\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nI don’t know….there was a; I was courting Katie, a girlfriend I had that didn’t mind shared, with another named Scott and so, somehow “Shot” got in there; but Shot got ______ actual years.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nI think you said you were originally “Hot Shot”…..\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nI was “Hot Shot” at one time; that was mainly just for kind of being a show off and mouthy; maybe.  \n\n(Laughing)….\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nDid you like to have a good time?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nYeah, I mean I enjoyed life and had a lot of friends.  I played football and I was fair; I wasn’t big enough or fast enough to be outstanding.  \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nIf Hamburg was anything like Augusta, there weren’t a whole lot of kids to make up the team; so you end up playing whether you were any good or not. Was that true with Hamburg?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nEverybody played some; yeah…\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nWhat did you play in football?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nI played quarterback some and believe it or not, I played center some and guard; I think that was the three main positions I played.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nIn high school….you already mentioned back earlier……where there any people, teachers or anybody, who really had an impact on you to where you said, “I’d really like to be like that person” or “I really appreciate what that person does”…..?  \n\n\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nI did, because we had some really good teachers; that may be something that you might want to write down the question for me to think about when my mind is working.  I always got along with teachers and I made good grades in high school; junior and senior.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nAt what point did you start to think, “This is what I want to do when I grow up” or “This is what I want to be when I get out of “…..not get out of Hamburg necessarily ….”But when I get grown up”…… \n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nI was probably thinking about that some in junior high school because the doctor in town kind of…I respected him and they were always nice to me and my family.  I don’t know, they just kind of drawn me to their personalities.  None of them were great surgeons or OB; all of them were family doctors; you know general practice.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nSo, if you thought……do you remember ever thinking about that… “Ok, I want to be a doctor and I want to be this kind of doctor”….?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nProbably most of the time, I just wanted to get out and go back into the family practice.  I thought about other things, but not seriously. I knew when I got out of high school I needed to go to work.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nDid you work during high school?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nMainly at father’s service station….\n\n \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nYou’re the second physician in a row that I interviewed where his father ran a service station when he was a kid. \n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nOh really; maybe that gas wasn’t poisonous.  \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nBruce Schratz talked about the fact that his father ran a service station.\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nI didn’t know that.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nWhen you were in school and in Hamburg, maybe not just necessarily in school, did you have an extended group of friends; people that you kept up with over the years? \n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nYeah and they had; you know, I graduated pretty good….there were, I think, 50 in my class….   \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nThat’s pretty big.\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nI went out to the Army for six months…\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nAfter high school?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nFor six months and they had six months and… uh…..\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nNow the town the size of Hamburg, that’s a pretty big class; were you in a consolidated school by this time?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nIt was…….\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nBecause I was from Augusta and that’s about the same size as Hamburg and we had at the most 32 or 33 in a class…..I’m a little bit younger than you are, but not a whole lot. \n\nWhen you were a kid, did you ever write down your impressions or your thoughts about life and what you wanted to be or what you wanted to do and if so, did you keep any of those?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nI didn’t keep any that I remember. Yeah, sometimes I’d write things down; but, I didn’t keep any.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nTalk about going to A\u0026M.  It’s in Monticello; is that right?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nYeah, Monticello; like I said, it was just the first closest school…about 20 miles from Hamburg to Monticello.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nMonticello, even then, was a pretty good size town wasn’t it?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nYeah and I’d usually hitchhike or catch other people in the community crossing into Hamburg.  I only stayed on campus, I think, my last year….now, what are you asking me again?\n\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nI’m just asking you to remember and think about those kinds of things…what you thought about college….did you have any teachers in college who again, I keep going back to this, had impressed you or had an impact on you….did you end up taking organic chemistry in college?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nYes and always; Dr. McGinnis, he did organic chemistry.  He was kind of good and I liked him; I mean he wasn’t the kind that the students would just love as he was all business. I was trying to think…..chemistry…..we didn’t haves a whole lot of big time classes in math in _______ county like calculus or anything. I was short on that when I went to college and it took a little while catching up.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nWhere you active socially in college?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nYeah, I belonged to a fraternity; even though I needed a fraternity, I wasn’t involved in their affairs and things.  \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nSo everybody who watches this will know in the long term that you are by nature a political analyst; have you always been a political analyst?  I mean that in a very positive sense….\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nOh, let me think…a lot of the guys that I worked part time with working at the service station for dad...the substation…Murphy bought the Ford place….I worked at the service station and I \n\nworked at the Ford place, and he was a congressman for the state for several years; Murphy. I remember when that happened and I used to help him politicking; I’d driving him all over and he had this loud speaker and would talk to people on the streets with it.  He’d throw barbecues, practically for the black people around there; they loved it.  \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nDid you enjoy that?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nYeah; I really enjoyed it.  A little bit, ______ran a little later, but he was more my sister’s age and he kind of liked my sister….made me then, I don’t know why, not like him… (Laughing)…\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nThis was in late ‘50s and early ‘60s…..Faubus was still a big deal.\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nUh, I’m trying to think…\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nOr was he a big deal down in that part of the state?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nI was not really a fan, but I didn’t really dislike him.  I guess only the legislature like Murphy and George Luxin back in the ________.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nNow was the Murphy guy any kin to the Murphy’s in El Dorado?  That’s not that far away….\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nDistant.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nI know the Oil \u0026 Bryan Industry was a fairly big deal around Monticello right around Hamburg. \n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nWho?\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nThe Oil \u0026 Bryan Industry, oil industry; there were wells everywhere….\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nNo, Hamburg was kinds of skipped over.  There were no foreman and lumber and stuff.  They had a paper mill in Crossett, which was 13, 14, 15 miles away.  \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nNow when you finished college; did you go for four years in college? Did you graduate……?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nI went about 3 ½ years.  I had…..I was right out of high school and went into the Army. It was when they had the six months active duty and then, I think three and a half inactive and uh…..about three or four years of….\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nNow, this was about the time of the Berlin Crisis; wasn’t it? .... Somewhere along that range…..\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nNo, I don’t think I did that..\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nYou were after that….\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nI think I was before that; I’m pretty sure.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nDid you ever think that you were going to be activated and go on for a full 2, 3, or 4 years?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nNo, everything was pretty calm during that period of time when I did my active duty and then, I started college and worked at dad’s station.  I worked some in a couple of labs, chemistry and biology labs.  Our pre-med guy was a biologist and he wouldn’t let anybody…a Mr. “I’ll get it.”  But, he kind of took me under his wing and he was always involving me in things.  Every once in a while he’d say, “How about you teaching this thing….this so and so biology”…..(laughing)…you know, he’d kind of outline it for me…but, I worked in the lab some.   \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nFrom A\u0026M, you went to the Med Center but not to Med school…..right? Is that correct?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nI went to the Med Center to work on a degree in anatomy.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nNow, that’s interesting; what triggered that?  Was there anything in particular …..\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nI don’t know unless it’s that I liked biology so much; the….I can’t think of any other reason and I think in the back of my mind I was hoping to be…..I always started early, about that time, thinking I could go pre-med someday; but, I never did do it because I knew the family didn’t have the money and all.  But after I got out……  \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nHow did you get your way through college money-wise?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nUh….working; I worked in the lab at the ________ department and I worked on weekends when I could go home at the service station with dad.  I ran it; that is what my younger brother was doing, the same thing, when he got killed.  But, it just kind of evolved out of that and I got accepted into graduate school.  \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nTalk a little bit about your graduate school experience; a graduate in anatomy.  Was there a particular reason you chose that.....well, I think you just said that….you liked the thought or idea that it may lead to getting into medical school…. \n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nYes and working the way up there; the….. but, I just liked anatomy and biology and I taught some of the courses ahead of  time_______________.  I started working part time at Baptist in the pathology department and I even got to wear that….like they do when they do autopsies…..a straight pathologist and ______; they weren’t recommended, but I could always do that.  \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nHow long did that process last?  You were four years up there and that’s got to be ’61; so, ‘61 and how long did you stay in the graduate program?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nUh, let’s see…….from ’61-’66 in the anatomy department and also worked doing the pathology department at Baptist.  I wound up doing some of their routine autopsies and pathologies.  They found out I knew about anatomy and knew pathology pretty good….they might come down and \n\nget me started or say, “ I’ll be down in an hour or two” and then say, “Well, how’s things going? Are you overloaded?”………..what did that have to do with what we are talking about? \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nWe were just talking about the process after you left college and then when you ended up going to medical school.\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nYeah…mainly in graduate school and the side deal in pathology; they gave me some lectures to my classmates in pathology, in particular neuro-anatomy….. \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nAre you talking about being in anatomy school or when you got to med school?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nWhen I got to med school...”\n\n(Laughing)…..\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nAll of them thought it was something; my classmates that I sat up there anatomy test……. “Rodgers, you’re not going to give us some hard stuff are you?” and then come back to me and say, “you haven’t told anybody what you got me in there marked at?”….”No”…”Well, a lot of them are getting it right” and I said, “Well then, I’ve been teaching them good”…. (laughing)….  but yeah….I kind of got off again…. \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nThat’s alright.  Were there any crises, during this time frame….obviously later, that changed what you did ….changed the way you went about things or changed the way you wanted to pursue things? ………Folks in the family passing away, financial difficulties, or those types of things…. \n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nNo, I was able to always get funds; they had some scholarships and worked part time in there and ______ the whole thing; I never did lay out any.  \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nWhen did you and Rita start becoming attached; start dating and that kind of thing?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nLet’s see…when did I meet that little school teacher? …….She…I don’t know, she and some of her friends…..some of them were darting med students; but she and another were just meeting in one of the rooms; she was a school teacher and I met her through that…then, after we left there….it’s a shame I’m having a hard time remembering that…….anyway, by the time I was in biology until I finished up med school, we were mainly darting; but I think I got married sometime in there…..it just disappeared….\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nRight after med school maybe?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nUh…..no, I got married right after graduate school.  Because I remember in one of my old med school classes, me and some buddies all went fishing out at Maumelle and I caught this 8-lb bass and brought it and gave it to the guy, “Well________” …It’s called something else, but he didn’t tolerate being with all of us talking and he left, fish and all, and said, “I’m going to take it and have it mounted for you.”  So, I went back and everybody said, “Rodgers and I was…”  I was getting some coffee or something and they said, “Did y’all do any good fishing?”….no, I went in there and I was bragging to just anybody near that I had been fishing…6lbs 12oz and when they get that _______ everybody started clapping.  Rita and I had been married about a year and somebody said something about next time…..and I said, “yeah, I’m going to have him mounted, the guy that”…..medical arts family…and he said, “He’d mount it for me”…then, I had to turn around and explain it to her.\n\n           \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nHe was talking about fish… (Laughing)…..\n\nIn your first two years of medical school, it sounded like you had a slightly different experience than a lot of people do because you had been there for awhile and you were actually already teaching some classes.  Did you find any of it difficult?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nIt was….What I’d do….they require that you go a certain amount of time; so when I took gross anatomy, I took it completely and microanatomy, I’d already been assisting in some of that and in the labs and my anatomy and pathology, working at Baptist part time.  So, what was the main question?\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nThose first two years of medical school, for most people who have not been there, it’s a fairly hard process; just the volume of things that you have to do.  \n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nWell, I probably had all my anatomy by the time….and my micro and gross….I had the stash of pathology; I taught seven courses of anatomy……some of the guys said, “Why the hell?”…Oh, I just do a good job doing it……. (Laughing)…..   \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nWere there any of those teachers that stand out to you, either in your grad school experience or those first two years of medical school experience?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nWell, I found my wife in college; but in grad and med school, uh…..let’s see…..I should have worked on all this….. \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nOh, it’s ok; I think you are doing great……you are doing great.\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nWell, Hopkins was a pathologist; he was a pathologist at Baptist and he and two more…a Dr. Young and there was another one who would teach part time over at the med school….so, they already knew me and would say, “Rodgers, we got to go; why don’t you dissect out that brain over there, take that and discuss that, and then come back…”…..\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nThat gave you a great background….obviously that gave you a great background!\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nOh yeah; yeah….\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nWhat about your second two years of medical school?  \n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nWell, I was…I don’t think I did as much work in/or outside because mainly I had a lot….yeah, I got married in my junior or senior year and so, I had to work a little bit part time and I was working in the labs and still did some autopsies, but I didn’t do as much those last two years because I was busy.\n\n   \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nSo, where did you do your internship? \n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nBaptist...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nBaptist Hospital, ok…the old Baptist on 12th Street….\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nYeah….\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nWere they any doctors over there who had a particular….there were a lot of outsized characters over there about that time…?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nUh, I’m sure there were; of course, Dr. Hartville was there…\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nDr. Chairs and Winger…..\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nI’d have to go back and look at my list…. \n\n \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nJoe Buckman….I’m just jogging your memory because we share many of the same characters….. \n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nHow far behind me were you?\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nI started medical school in ’69; so, I was 4-5 years behind you. \n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nWe probably knew most of the same ….\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nYeah, we knew most of the same time…..\n\nAt some point during this process, 4 years of medical school, you had to start thinking: “Ok, what is it that I want to do?”  …. “Do I want to go back to Hamburg and replace Dr. DeLaney?”…..”Do I want to be a surgeon?”…”Do I want to be an internist?”…..What informed your decision on what you were going to ultimately do?  Do you remember?   \n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nUh…probably early on, I had my eyes set on family practice or general practice mostly and so most of my dealing with that and working with them and working with some of the doctors and working on weekends….\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nDid you ever go out and moonlight in any small towns, like during your internship? \n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nLet me think; no, because I did so much work. I was still working some on the weekends and stuff.”  \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nYou had a built-in occupation in the things that you could do…. (Laughing)….\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nPathology and a family; I think by the time I got to my senior year, most of those pathologists I worked with had retired or died.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nDid you ever think about going into pathology?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nYeah and they tried to talk me into it; I would’ve liked it, but the reason….I just really like people and they don’t talk much to you.\n\n\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\n(Laughing)….the old joke….surgeons don’t know anything, but do everything…..internists know everything, but don’t do anything…..pathologists know everything and do everything, but it’s always too late…….. (Laughing)….\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nYeah….well, that could be true. \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nSo, here you are 4-5 years in anatomy, 4 years of med school, and an internship…that’s 9 years and you are up to 1966 or ’67…..  Vietnam was going great guns about this time….were you ever threatened to be pulled out and into the service?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nNot really, I was…I don’t know if I was still going to the reserve; I think I was in it by the time I went to med school.  The old unit I had at Hamburg was never threatened for some reason. So, I was probably an idiot and probably in jail for saying, “I wasn’t going.” \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nNow, that’s a good point…has there been anything in your adult life that you set your mind to do that you didn’t enjoy? Did you enjoy your anatomy work that you did in 4-5 years of that?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nOh yeah.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nI’m putting words in your mouth and don’t mean to be; but it’s clear as a contemporary of you that you enjoyed family practice….\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nOh yeah. \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nSo, when it came time that your internship was finished at Baptist and it was time for you to decide where you were going to go, did you ever consider going back to Hamburg or to some other small town? \n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nWell, I mean it crossed my mind that I would like to, but I had so many contacts with the pathologists here in Little Rock and then, of course, I got involved with a family practice group because they worked at the rotating ER and they used me a lot…”will you cover my shift tomorrow night?”…’”Oh yeah, man.”    \n\n  \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nThat was Bill Riley, Julian Foster….\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nJulian Foster, Forrest Miller…..\n\n \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nWere there any others at that time?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nI think I was next in line….there was the three.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nThis was when the group was right across from UALR in the Cloverdale Center?....Was it Cloverdale….was  that what it was called or some other name?  It was right across the street from UALR….. \n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nYeah, it was Town and Country; then later moved across Asher by K-Mart.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nHow long after you started the practice with Dr. Riley and Dr. Foster did it take for you to get busy?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nIt didn’t take long.  \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nI was about to say don’t tell me it took long, because I know it didn’t.  I know it couldn’t with your personality and as smart as you are.  \n\nAt that point in time, did medicine turn out to be what you thought it would be?   \n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nYeah, I think I always did know. I did a lot of gynecology and I delivered babies the first couple of years and I kind of wanted to do more OB/GYN……I did quite a bit; of course, OB stopped.  I delivered babies because Foster, Riley, and Miller all had for 2-3 years and then, they wanted to stop doing it and so, I kind of stopped doing it. \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nIt would’ve been awfully hard, I think, for you to continue delivering babies if none of your partners did; because then you are on call every night.\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nRight. \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nI forgot to ask you about this earlier and I don’t mean to hit on real emotional issues; but would you give me Rita’s full name, when she was born, where she was from, and all that kind of data about her?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nYeah, I can do that…Rita Lynn Taylor was her name and she was born in 1940, after I was. I believe she was born…I know, I just can’t think of the county….it was …...  \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nWas it a small town like Hamburg?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nIt was ….it’ll come to me some day later\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nThat’s ok….Tom Bruce said to me one time; he said, “If you want me to show you how to get doctors into small towns; let me find the woman for them to marry.”…..(Laughing)….I thought that was a great line and he was right…..a lot of times even the doctors were not born in small towns themselves, if their wives were oftentimes they would go back to small town.\n\n Did you guys ever think about that…….I think I may have already asked you this question…..\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nNot really; because I really worked on school, of course that didn’t matter those last two years, and then, the intern was kind of automatically tied to that.  I worked in the pathology department at Baptist and worked in the….I told you my mind is going….. \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nHow long did it take for you to get comfortable in the practice of medicine; comfortable with yourself as a doctor and the patients that you saw coming in and out the doors?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nNot much, I thought I knew too much.  I mean, I was lucky and I loved them…I had biology, chemistry, physiology, and I got to work with other doctors and working at the ER part time….I worked at pathology…..see, I didn’t have to do much class work my freshman and sophomore years because I had most of that and so, I might be teaching the lab or something, occasional lab lectures and stuff I knew about, certain things,…and like in neuro-anatomy, I always an “A” in it. \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nWhere they any scary moments when you first went out in practice or scary moments in the ER?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nI’m sure there were, but I don’t think I was in any major crisis…anyway, the ER was just so interesting because you had…in Baptist where you came down in their old place and the ambulances were dropping off people in there, the people who were getting admitted were coming thought there; so, I really enjoyed the work.     \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nIn the first few years of practice, obviously you had a busy office practice; did you have a busy hospital practice as well?\n\n\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nYeah, fairly big; I didn’t’ have to round every day of the week.  I think I only delivered babies the first couple of years that I was with them and then, they were wanting to get out….”Why don’t you give that up?” I think they didn’t want to be bothered anymore and so…..\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nNow you came along right about the time that the Arkansas Academy of General Practice became the Arkansas Academy of Family Physicians and that is about the same time that the certification as being board certified in family practice started; do you remember much about that process?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nWell, I probably need to go back and review some stuff; but….    \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nDid you have any question that you would be board certified in family practice?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nUh, no….\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nAll three of the partners that you described, as I remember it, everybody but Julian Foster for sure was involved in the academy weren’t they; to some extent?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nUh, Bill and Burney were some…not a whole lot, but they were involved some and we dealt with them some as we had some students and residents that come out and worked some with us; followed us in the clinic or helped us on rounds….they didn’t see patients except with us. Did I answer your question?\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nYeah, you are getting close….on all my questions, you’re getting close….so, at some point you made the decision to get involved in more than just causally with the academy.  I believe that I am correct in saying this; by 1983, you were president of the organization and that means that you had been on the board of the organization since 1980, which is about 10 years after you got into practice.  Do you remember much about that and the committees?  I can refresh your memory about the committees that you were on…you were on the finance committee,  you were on….by the way when I’m looking at the history of this, this is the very fist that I’ve seen mention of this and I wanted to ask you about it….in 1982, you began working on something called “The Arkansas Political Action of Political Contribution Committee”…..do you remember that?  \n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nYeah.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nIn fact, you started it.\n\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nYeah, I think I used the word “pact.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nYeah, that’s the first time I ever heard; that’s the earliest state I’ve heard people use the word “pact” involved…….do you remember what triggered that or what was going on then?  It was big Reagan years; that was politically the Reagan years….\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nI think it was more just a….most of the involvement we had going and the company that I was interested in…..most of the interest that I had in it was just meeting with the legislatures and stayed in the local…..I helped set up the…….rotations through the legislature and we ha ________...I forgot what it’s called……     \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nThe doctor or the day type thing……?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nThe doctor of the day and the well around, and the high _______; mainly me.  We’d stock a clinic with medicine and stuff that we could give to them and we had a ________steady string of legislators in and out of there; I mean, it was a good way to get friends with them….but also, you know, they’d want to stop and ask you….”you’re a doctor” and I said, “Well, kind of” …..\n\n(Laughing)….\n\nAnd they’d say, “What do you think about this and that….” and I’d even sometime be in the legislature taking some medicine down and “Dr. Rodgers, tell us what the medical society is thinking”…well, I was just getting started with them; but anyway, I wound up being the Head of Medical Affairs for the Medical Society after a few years; me and Lenzino were down there lot.       \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nDid you enjoy that process? \n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nYeah.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nI always got the impression that you did.  You and I worked on a project in the early ‘90s on Tricare or something and I remember watching you, for the lack of better words, “work the crowd.”…… (Laughing)….   \n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nYeah, I enjoyed it and I had a group of friends who were legislators and you know, I went to Washington D.C. for some things.  I was trying to think if I ever got involved in any….the main thing was just to work with the physicians from other areas than Arkansas and tell them what our feelings were about the legislation or something like this… \n\n\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nIn that day, did you feel that you were adequately able to communicate to the legislatures what the broadest body of doctors out there were thinking about?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nNo….\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nWho else; I know Jim Weber was for a while and Elton Sheffield had been before you, I think……\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nJim, of course, was probably the most active; he and I. In fact, he got me in the National Academy; (Laughing)….I thought I was listed in the…I may have to get you to make questions later after we do this when my mind is working…   \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nWhat did you enjoy most about at that particular time while you were in there in the legislature working?  Did you ever think about running for office yourself?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nNo, I don’t think I was ever…I always would help people and helped with their campaign and helped to try to get contributions; but, I never did think……medicine; you know, it wasn’t going to take medicine’s place…so, I never did.\n\n  \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nBy 1983, you were president of the Arkansas Academy of Family Physicians and you served there for a year.   From what I understand, I think this is true with you as well, most everybody who got involved and became president stayed involved for about 10 years.  There were a few exceptions like Amail Chudy, but they stayed involved to that extent and I get the impression that that was what was going on with you about this same time; you were involved in that process. This was just before ____________ became the executive vice president and Honeycutt….Tom Honeycutt was a big deal.  Did you have much interaction with Tom?     \n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nYeah, oh yeah; he and I used to fuss and fight over things, but, I mean, I liked him.  He meant well, he loved family practice, and he loved working.  He was a guy I could always count on to do something and the……were you just wanting to know about him? \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nI was just interested to hear what your memories about Tom were.\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nMe and Tom and there was a few; we had words before and I can’t remember anything to speak of; he was very one minded and I was too. \n\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\n(Laughing)….. now I may be speaking out of school here, but I don’t think so…….I have always thought of you and most people have thought of you as being pretty even handed in your dealings, politically and otherwise,…..\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nI always tried to.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nRight and I heard enough people say that Tom was kind of “My way or the highway”….\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nYeah…..\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nI never saw you in that light……\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nI had a few famous fights in the meetings, but everybody understood when it was over….. \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nAfter your time was over being president of the board and being on the board for about 10 years or so, did you stay active in the political arena?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nWell, it decreased some.  I think as long as I was on the board with family practice, that was of course my most active time and then, it started decreasing some over time with practice and…..I can’t remember if I had any….oh, I changed more the year after the medical society.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nTalk about that a little bit.\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nI started or I was in charge of getting the balance ______and getting people to work it; we did fund raisers and everything else for legislators.  You had to work a lot when you followed Lenzino around; he was working like that all the time.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nIs he still around?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nI don’t….no, I don’t think he is because I just don’t see; he’s not associated with the medical society anymore.\n\n\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nNow by 1983, ’84, or ’85, you are now 50 years old; at what point did you start thinking about retiring or do you remember ever  even thinking about it?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nI don’t ever remember thinking about it.  I enjoyed working and probably would work as long as I could. \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nYeah; Bill worked until he was…..what 90?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nRight at it……no, he wasn’t that old.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nHe wasn’t quite that old?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nHe did work up to pretty much the time he got ill and then________.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nHow about Gene?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nGene probably worked until about 80 or so.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nAnd y’all had a whole series of young partners join y’all after you did; ___________, the Josephs…..who else?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nI’m not processing….let’s see……me, Joseph Ralph and…the other Ralph….there were two Joseph Ralphs…\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nYeah….\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nDillard and ……I can see their faces, I just can’t recall their names right now.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nOver the years, you ultimately did retire.  Do you remember about how old you were when you did retire?\n\n(Laughing)….You are 81 now…..\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nUh……\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nWas it 14-15 years ago? Or has it been that long?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nI don’t think it’s been that long.  I just….the years are going because I guess I was _______ and done working again.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nYeah…..When did Rita start getting sick?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nUh…..about the…..I went into ______ when Rita died.”   \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nl don’t think so; it was somewhere about ‘17 or ’18……wasn’t it?  I know I called you one day about trying to interview you and this was back in ’15 or ’16 and you said that she was real sick and that you were spending most of your time with her at that time. \n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nRita had heart problems and she wound up…let’s see, she had a problem when we moved.  We were out at Scott then for several years and she did pretty good; she started getting sick when we moved back into Little Rock.  What was your question…..\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nI was just saying when did she start getting sick; I think it was obviously in the mid teens wasn’t it?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nOh yeah….\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nSo you retired….a couple of other questions that always occur to me and again if you don’t want to answer these questions, just say “Next question” and I’ll take the question and the answer out; ok…..\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nI probably want to answer all of them…..if I can remember…\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nDo you believe in God and if you do believe in God, do you believe in a God that is a personal God or a God that is like the watch maker who just wound it up and let it go?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nYes…..uh, I don’t know how to frame….I believe in God, but it was just a strong family upbringing. I went to Sunday school all the time and went to prayer meetings on Wednesday nights.  I was pretty much religious until I got in college; in college, you kind of get away from it. So, I still believed…...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nSo in the time and you and I have been alive, technology has pretty well changed the basics of a lot of life period.  What piece of technology has changed things the most in your estimation in what you do and how you live your life?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nRelated to medicine?\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nIn anything; I don’t care.\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nUh, I’m not sure what the question…\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nTelephones, computers, airplanes…I asked my father that question a year or so before he died; he was a rice farmer and he said, “The combine.”   He said the combine change his life…\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nYeah, big time for farmers….\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nElectronic medical records, computers….\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nI had my doubts about electronic medical records because I was thinking that people were driving stuff and pumping stuff up; I quickly adapted to that and enjoyed it. For one thing, people started reading my writing; my writing was so terrible.\n\n(Laughing)…You know, it had a different program and stuff and there was access to a lot of information.  I think it was good for medicine.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nWhen you were born, there were probably 3 ½ billion people in the world and there are now about 8 billion; is that sustainable?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nTo go from 3 ½ ….  \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nTo 8 billion people in the world….\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nI don’t know that I ever gave that a lot of thought.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nIf you were king of things and you could change anything, what would you change about life right now?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nAre you talking about related to our lives….?\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nAnything thing you want it related to; yes sir…..anything you want it to be related to….are you still a political ___________?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nI’m not as much, no.  I mean I’m still involved and still contribute to things, but not like I used to.  I used to go to Washington several times a year with the legislature about the whole time they were in there and went down there 2-3 times a week.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nDo you have any good friends that you made in the legislature who are still your friends?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nYeah, but I think most of them are up and gone by now. I had 2-3 from Hamburg that I helped them with their campaigns.  We had a weenie roast for the people and helped them give a speech.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nI have two other questions for you; ok….50 years from now, you’re going to be a picture on the wall.   \n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nRight…\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nAnd your grandkids are going to look up and it and say “Who was that old man?” ….what do you want them to know about you?   \n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nWell, I hope that I have more grandkids.  I thank the Lord more than anything that they _______  It’s been hard without her……and I enjoy family.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nWhat do you want for them; those great, great, great, grandkids in their lives? \n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nWell, I….as I already said, I would like for them to have as many opportunities as I had, but I mean, I made my opportunities and they will probably have more of those handed to them down the line.  Of course, I’m not involved in that….Chad and Eric have two step kids and we’ve visited with them often; of course, not now dealing with Laura and I leave it up to her.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nWhere does Laura live?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nBatesville...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nBatesville, ok; how did she end up in Batesville?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nHer; well my niece, my brothers daughter….they were in ________ then and married a….I want to say…._________________. Well, I can’t believe I can’t remember the town name; I was just up there the weekend before last.  They are building a lovely church downtown based on a old….\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nHe’s a preacher….\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nA Baptist preacher and Laura got involved because she’s the youth minister; she enjoys it and she works there and with the college kids. They always got something going.\n\n  \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nAt Lion College….\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nLion…I mean it’s not an official job; it’s just…her students from the church…they got to going there and they involve her in things at the church and she helped out at the school and she’d go to all the ball games.  We were up there this weekend and their big ole church is just not big enough downtown. So, they are building a big beautiful church out there on a mountain that overlooks the river and the wild things; a beautiful setting.  They have all the landscape and ready to start building; they are still money raising and anyway, they had an outdoor thing and everybody came in their cars and they had people parking them…they had rows of cars 6ft…..like something a football game has.  My nephew, the preacher there married to my niece of my older brother; he preached up on a stand and it was really a nice thing. I’m not a real big church going fellow, but it involved my family and Laura is the youth minister there……”There’s ole Laura’s daddy; let’s get him”……she gave me Flash ….and Flash was just …anytime he’s anywhere, he goes around and gets me to everybody in the church.  We walk around to everybody and everybody around here knows him…..”Here comes Flash”…. “No, his name isn’t Flash”…”No, it’s Flash”….  \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nAnd the daughter just loves it….\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nHe thought pulling and I just go over and visit with them a little bit, I walk around in a circle, and then come back and join them again.\n\n(Laughing)….\n\nHe really gets to me (laughing) and I really hate to take it from her; but, she is so busy.  She says that she, of course, would rather me have the company because I was by myself there for a while….. \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nThat’s how I would feel if Annette wasn’t here; exactly how I would feel.\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nHe is a good partner; even sitting around doing nothing, he’ll grab your sock or a shoe or shoestring or pull on something or get into something….you can just see him over there looking “he don’t see me” and then, he’ll come running.  He’s really been good.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nDo you have any other questions or any other information that you would like to put in the record……because this is going to be a record…..\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nUh; well, I can’t think of any….let’s see…we covered my family and Rita’s family.  Her son is married to a nice young lady and they moved back to Little Rock.  They have two or three kids and they are really nice kids. We do things with them. I’m probably forgetting all kinds of things…. \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nThere is no such thing as rambling.\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nI used to not ramble so much, but rambling is a way to try to get something to come up in my head.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nYeah….\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nBut now a days with her up there, me and Flash are about the only….most of my friends here…..I mean,  we sold my boat; Lake Ouachita, we used to go there on the weekend. I used to go hunting with my hunting folks; me and Jim Webber would go…. \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nI was about to ask if you and Jim Webber were close.\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nYeah, we were real close.  He was active in politics and he was active in the national academy; he got me active in the national academy.  He and I were involved in a lot of things together.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nWas he in his 50s when he died?\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nI think he was a little older.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nI just remember that he was a very happy-go-lucky, hardworking guy.\n\nDr. Charles Rodgers: \n\nYeah.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nHard working guy…..\n\nWell, Dr. Rodgers, Dr. Shot Rodgers; I fell a little uncomfortable calling you Shot Rogers…..\n\n(Laughing)…Shot\n\nI really appreciate you sitting for this interview and I think it just went splendid.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2312/collection_resources/99104/file/196808#t=0.0,4456.18507"}]}]}]}