The history of Loma Linda and the life story of Dr. Harold Shryock are intriguingly intermingled. By age 97, Shryock had been an eyewitness to every class in the School of Medicine. In both his story and that of Loma Linda, challenges, frustration, questionable potential, human interest, and amazing accomplishments spotlight the work of divine intervention.
Harold Shryock had to overcome youthful handicaps that easily could have held him back for his entire life. After making courageous adjustments to his life’s early challenges, after tolerating unprecedented delays in beginning his medical career, after almost being killed in an accidental electrocution, and after making daring decisions regarding his own destiny, Shryock matured, and eventually accepted enormous professional responsibilities, including chair of the Department of Anatomy and dean of the School of Medicine.
His life's achievements are noteworthy not only because of their numbers and valuable contributions, but (even more incredibly) because of limitations he had to overcome in order to achieve them.
Although Harold Shryock wore many professional hats during his lifetime, he's best known internationally as an author. During his career, he became the most prolific Adventist physician-writer for lay readers in the denomination since John Harvey Kellogg, MD, penning a vast array of books, magazine articles, advice columns, and reports for The Alumni Journal.
Courses in public speaking at Pacific Union College had little to do with writing, but did involve translating thoughts into words. These classes, in a way, helped develop Harold’s future journalistic skills. As a teacher, he produced syllabus books on various topics for his classes. This effort challenged him to create stimulating learning experiences for his students.
Then, one day, while teaching freshman medical students, he discovered he was in fact holding down two jobs: lecturer as well as counselor, encouraging students in their adjustments to medical school and transitions to professional life. His one-on-one conversations with them in the quiet of his office provided real-world insights into some of the difficulties they endured. Harold's ongoing attempts to help his students untangle their personal problems drove him to a deeper study of human relations, mental health, personality problems, and human psychology.
Becoming an author combined Harold’s interests in counseling, medicine, psychology, and teaching. Harold Shryock’s reputation as an accomplished author, with his faculty position, and his experiences as a student of psychology, made him a much sought after counselor and public speaker, with audiences numbering up to 10,000.
Harold Shryock retired as Professor of Anatomy on August 31, 1975, after 41 years of service. Being active in the production of book manuscripts cushioned Harold’s adjustment to retirement. He and his wife Daisy worked together as a team. He considered her to be a favorably prejudiced critic. She was his life partner in everything.
In 1910, when very young Harold Shryock disembarked with his parents from the train at the Loma Linda Depot, the boy could not have imagined that someday he'd play a major role in the development of a world-renowned institution. He couldn't have foreseen an organization that has produced tens of thousands of alumni—men and women who've been trained to bring healing to body, mind, and soul.
Hundreds of Harold Shryock’s former students, can certainly be called “unsung heroes.” Over the years, standing on the front lines of God's medical work without thought of commendation or acclaim, they quietly epitomize the mission of the CME/LLU School of Medicine. Certainly these physicians and their fellow alumni have brought distinction and great honor to their alma mater.
Harold firmly believed that, in heaven's perspective, Loma Linda University is still the College of Medical Evangelists. He had seen God’s influences throughout the history of the institution. He witnessed critics proclaiming loud and long that the venture would fail. He observed controversies over accreditation and consolidation. But he also observed the next day's train delivered one more patient, the next medical class filled, and new graduates passed their state board examinations.
“The pioneers’ faith was based on their conviction that the institution had an important role to play in fulfilling the Gospel Commission,” Harold insisted. As clouds of uncertainty hovered over the struggling institution, it really had only one basis for optimismpioneers perceived that the Loma Linda enterprise operated under a Divine mandate. It was God's institution!
While endeavoring to balance devotion to God, family, and career, he contributed to the physical, mental, and spiritual wellbeing of countless members of both the Seventh-day Adventist Church and the public.
Most importantly, Harold Shryock made bold, creative, and unparalleled contributions to Loma Linda University, one of the greatest ventures of faith in the history of Christian endeavor. In the minds of his students and colleagues, Harold became a giant among men.
Harold Shryock died following a brief illness on March 3, 2004. He looked forward to being reunited with his beloved Daisy in the hereafter. His daughter, Patti Shryock Wallace, had her father’s casket covered with daisies. Although of moderate height, Dr. Shryock stood tall among Loma Linda’s Giants. When he pondered the providential heritage of Loma Linda and recalled how it unfolded right before his eyes…when he reviewed the eternal influence of its graduates who've gone to the ends of the earth…and when he recalled the part he played in the school's mission, Dr. Harold Shryock could only exclaim, “What hath God wrought!”