R I P Doc Van

[Bruce Day]

Good bye to a fine man, James Van Blaricum, DDS, of Pratt, Kansas. Doc Van was a PGCA life member, Parker collector, longtime president of the Kansas Dental Association, an oral surgeon who was on call in the hospital emergency rooms, a former Miss America state and national board member and judge, and a hell of a shot.

He seemed to be doing fine until a few days ago, on Dec 7 we talked about fixing up one of his 20 Ga Parkers to give to a grandson and the possibility of getting together for one last hunt this pheasant season. On Dec 15, he passed away at home.

He went with us to South Dakota and enjoyed his Scotch whisky with John Dunkle. He told tales of Miss America wardrobe malfunctions. He was with us in Dodge City, and enjoyed knocking down the long shot high flyers, and awed us with a solo performance of Handel's Messiah in the country church of Immaculate Heart of Mary, Windthorst, Kansas.

His forebears in southern Kansas recalled the Comanches and the treaty at Medicine Lodge. They treated the early frontiersmen, buffalo hunters, settlers and rangers.

Doc Van north of Wessington Springs, South Dakota: