Retired doctor has seen happiness and tragedy - Arkansas Online

Dr. Siamak Shahriari studied chemistry and past medicine, and helium recovered the look for his happiness was successful surviving for others.

Shahriari, 79, retired successful 2019 aft astir 40 years of taking calls from patients and delivering babies astatine each hours of the time and nighttime successful the Blytheville area, followed by a 3-year stint arsenic prof and doc astatine the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences successful Little Rock.

He doesn't regret each the after-hours conversations and visits.

"A idiosyncratic who lives for themselves, they volition person a constricted beingness -- I don't attraction however affluent oregon however mediocre they are," helium says. "Everybody should widen their capableness and unrecorded for different folks. That's what medicine did for maine and I truly enjoyed it."

Now that his clip is his own, helium has recovered different ways to link with people.

"I americium focusing connected a fewer things, mostly penning and painting, bottommost line, conscionable doing what I privation to do," helium says.

One of his watercolors captures a country from a chili supper successful Blytheville -- 1 pistillate ladling chili from a large stainless-steel cookware and different engaged successful speech with idiosyncratic retired of the frame. The images are detailed, down to the statement connected a ketchup vessel and manus gestures of radical chatting successful the background. Other paintings diagnostic an bare ornate cowboy boot, its toed pierced by the stilettoed bottommost of a pistillate with agleam reddish toenails, and an eagle eyeing a robin perched connected a woody privateness fence. Shahriari's wife, Mahnaz -- who helium calls his "lady superior" and, successful jest, "she who indispensable beryllium obeyed" -- besides is often his muse.

Shahriari has a doctorate successful carnal chemistry and started his vocation researching tiny atmospheric particles successful Rolla, Mo.

"You know, pollutants and otherwise," helium says. "I spent astir a twelvemonth and a fractional determination working, and past I woke up successful the greeting and I said I wanted to bash thing else. I went to aesculapian school."

After aesculapian schoolhouse astatine the University of Missouri astatine Columbia, helium did a residency successful California. That's wherever helium met and joined Mahnaz, determination from her location successful Germany to sojourn her sister and brother-in-law, friends of Shahriari's.

Shahriari and his woman near California's postulation jams down for agrarian Arkansas, settling successful Blytheville.

"It took astir 5 minutes to thrust from my location to the office," helium says. "It turned retired to beryllium a precise fantabulous small town. George Bush Sr. talked astir a kinder, gentler America and I recovered that kinder, gentler America successful Blytheville, Ark."

In Blytheville, helium volunteered to work successful classrooms and sponsored a penning contention for the nationalist schoolhouse district. In retirement, helium writes down stories astir his life.

"It's for my kids. I consciousness similar a batch of children don't cognize their parents, and a batch of parents don't cognize their children good enough. I deliberation that transportation is important," helium says. "I constitute astir what I did erstwhile I was increasing up and each that truthful hopefully they go, 'OK, that's my dad,' who was successful the opening this all-powerful guy, who tells them what to bash and orders them around, and I conscionable privation them to cognize that determination is ever humanity, some successful parents and children."

Shahriari was calved successful Iran, a spot helium hasn't revisited since leaving with his household successful 1960.

His begetter worked for the American Embassy.

"He was a liaison, I think, betwixt the 2 governments," Shahriari says. "He was astatine the embassy and helium had a batch of American friends."

Shahriari was successful precocious schoolhouse erstwhile the household moved to New York, wherever helium needed clip to set to a caller civilization and go fluent successful the autochthonal language.

"I was precise bully successful mathematics and subject and they gave maine peculiar precocious classes for the science," helium says. "I lagged down successful English but I started speechmaking books and dictionaries and that truly made a difference."

He had an uncle who was a doctor, but it wasn't that antheral who inspired him to survey medicine. That was a big, burly Irish surgeon who repaired his injured backmost erstwhile helium was moving arsenic a PhD scientist.

"I spent a bully period successful pain," helium says. "They laid maine down and operated connected maine and it was a palmy cognition and wrong a fewer days I nary longer had that symptom and I could locomotion around. I truly felt similar a caller person. That was much of an power successful my going into medicine than immoderate different proposal oregon suggestion."

It was the close prime for him, helium says.

"Medicine was highly rewarding. I was successful a specialty wherever I could spot parents being astir excited erstwhile their babe was born, and unluckily I've seen folks die. I've been astatine the apical of pleasance and emotion and I've experienced that, and I've besides been astatine the bottommost of tragedies," helium says. "I've had a afloat beingness and enjoyed astir each infinitesimal of it. If I had to, if the bully Lord wants maine to bash it each again, I would bash it each again."

If you cognize an absorbing communicative astir an Arkansan 70 oregon older, delight telephone (501) 425-7228 oregon email:

kdishongh@adgnewsroom.com