PATRICK J. FLYNN ---- MY LIFE
Some of you may wonder who I am and why I wrote this web site. Well, as you can probably tell from my name, I am all IRISH. I was born in 1935 in La Crosse, Wisconsin which is on the Mississippi River. I was one of eight children, including seven boys and one girl. My dad was already quite old, 53 to be exact, and my mother, was 42, at my birth. My dad lived until 1980 to the ripe old age of 98, while my mother lived for 94 years and died in 1987. I've always bragged about their longevity. My dad was a high school principle even before he went to Rush Medical School, graduating as an MD in 1910. He once told me he was trained to use leeches to get rid of the "bad blood" from patients. And he said he used to taste the urine of suspected diabetics to see if it was sweet. He was a physician and surgeon. To this day, he still holds the record for delivering the smallest baby in my home town, 1.5 lbs. That little girl is a grandmother today. My mother was born on a farm in rural Wisconsin, and she was second oldest of 18 children(no birth control back then, I guess). She was a fantastic woman to be sure. By the way, three of my brothers are physicians, too. I grew up in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, attended Catholic grade school and high school. I was in pre-med for a few years and got into Marquette Medical School in Milwaukee but unfortunately did not finish. My type 1 diabetes mellitus got in my way and held me back. But I learned a lot of anatomy while I was there. I earned my BS in Biology from the Univ of Wisconsin at LaCrosse in 1960, and my MS in Zoology from the Univ of Wisconsin at Madison in 1965. After that I worked at the UW Medical School. That's where I met my wife, Jeanne. She was finishing up her nurse's training at the UW School of Nursing. She was also in the US Army, so after we got married in 1968, the Army sent her(and me) out to Walter Reed Hospital in Washington DC. She stayed in the Service for 3 years and reached the rank of captain. I always felt cocky driving my car over to pick her up and having the MPs at the gate salute to me as I passed by. Here's our picture together by the big National Christmas Tree in Washington DC, and in Charleston SC a few years ago. In the Washington DC area, I got my main teaching position which was at Prince George's Community College in Largo, MD. It's just 15 miles from where we lived in Bowie, MD. I taught anatomy and physiology for the entire 30 years at PGCC. I liked to try innovative teaching methods so along the way I was the very first teacher to use instructional television(1972), computer test generation(1975), the college-wide tutoring center(1987) and on-line testing via email(1990). I liked computers the best of all the things I tried. When I was teaching, I always gave it my all. I felt that if I provided enough different learning methods that a student should be able to do well in the course without too much difficulty. Unfortunately, that was somewhat shortsighted of me as many still struggled to pass. But those who studied diligently learned a lot and I believe are all the better for it today. Overall, I helped to educate over 9,000 pre-nursing students, and a few hundred pre-med, pre-physical therapy, and allied health students. After I retired in 1999, I started writing this Web site. It was a lot of fun and I enjoy improving it with more tests and suggestions to you, "my new students", on how to pass this difficult course. I feel I still have a lot to give so plan to keep trying for the foreseeable future.
Drop me a note if you have any questions or comments.
Mr. Flynn
