DAZE WORK: Dr. Haggerty delivers in time of need

The death of Dr. Fred Haggerty, whose obituary appears elsewhere on this website and will be included in Friday’s Banner Graphic, puts a face on the COVID-19 pandemic for me.

The good doctor passed away Sunday at age 88, a victim of the current pandemic, according to a family Facebook post forwarded to me.

A Greencastle physician for some 30 years, Dr. Haggerty delivered the two people most important in my life – daughters Kara and Nicole.

In fact, when daughter Kara was born just a few months before the old hospital on Greenwood Avenue gave way to the facility that stands today on U.S. 231 South, Dr. Haggerty, knowing it was our first-born child, teased me with “Where’s your camera?”

Figuring that bringing a camera into the delivery room was not exactly proper protocol, I’d left my camera at home (also knowing that then-wife Debbie would probably have killed me for bringing it).

But Dr. Haggerty knew a Kodak moment when he delivered one, and sent his wife Lynn over to their Highfall Avenue home, literally just a couple blocks away, to retrieve their Polaroid camera.

Dr. Fred Haggerty passed away Sunday at age 88.

Doc even played photographer, snapping a delivery-room shot of a wiggling and screaming Kara Anne Bernsee and her two deer-in-the-headlights parents. Me, no less, outfitted in hospital gown and matching cap. I treasure that photo to this day.

But four years later, the good doctor delivered for us again, going out of his way even more the second time. Nicole was born on Cinco de Mayo and Indiana primary election day in 1982, an event that got me out of covering the primary election for one of the rare times.

Little Nicole was having difficulty feeding, and Dr. Haggerty grabbed baby and bottle and with his massive fingers patiently squeezed the nipple at just the proper intervals to at least get some drops of milk down her reluctant throat.

After keeping those efforts and my second-born alive, he showed us the deliberate method he was using and ordered us immediately on our way to Riley Hospital at Indianapolis.

Making a 50-mile drive with a child that wouldn’t take nourishment and a wife who grew more frustrated by the moment may have been no picnic, but we made it and so did Nicole Brianne Bernsee after three days at Riley.

Since hearing of his passing Sunday morning in Fort Wayne, I have seen and heard several people say Dr. Haggerty had delivered their children as well.

Now I don’t know how many babies Dr. Haggerty delivered in Greencastle -- easily hundreds -- but the two he brought into this world for me were above and beyond on his part and about as close to my heart as you can get.

RIP, Doc, RIP.