B.B. Trotter

In December of 2017, we lost a pioneer in the development of laboratory and pathology medicine in West Texas. Dr. B.B. Trotter died at the age of 89 after a brief illness.

He was born in 1928 in Denton, Texas, and graduated from the University of Texas at Galveston. His educational forays included a stint in the Navy in cybersecurity, a brief experience as tackle for North Texas University (the other players - mature veterans of World War II were way too formidable!), and residencies as a physician in the Air Force and at Southwestern University. He was offered an academic position there, but chose to practice with Jarrett Williams, MD, as one of the very few pathologists in West Texas. For decades he built Clinical Pathology Associates into a practice serving Abilene and north central Texas.

For years as a private pilot, he rose at 5 a.m. and flew a wide circle that included rural hospitals as far away as Alpine, Texas, performing frozen sections and consultations. He returned to Abilene in the evening and read slides into the night.

The private pathologists served their community as surgical pathologists, developers of medical laboratories, and in performing medical/legal autopsies. For decades they worked with law enforcement in Abilene and surrounding communities as medical examiners.

Dr. Trotter was committed to the community. As president of the school board, he was deeply interested in education and a promoter of progressive innovations in education. He was also a Ham radio operator and a lover of history. He enjoyed many other community activities including being a member of the original board of directors of the Abilene Zoo.

As a promoter of laboratory science, he and other pathologists donated the clinical laboratory they had developed to what was then Hendrick Hospital, as well as property around what is now the medical center

Dr. Trotter retired a couple of decades ago. He will be missed.