ToquiNotes: After 43 Years and 10,000 Surgeries, End is Here for Dr. Doyle Sickles as He Puts Scalpel Down
By Jeff Toquinto on March 29, 2025 from ToquiNotes
Those jokes about listening to your in-laws probably are not all grounded in truth. If you know the story of Doyle Sickles, you will quickly learn that to be the case.
If not for his father-in-law, there may not be a Dr. in front of his name or, almost certainly, an MD after it.
Actually, there would be a fairly good chance Sickles may have spent a good portion of his time working with young minds as a math teacher in the public school system. There is a chance where he could have been teaching engineering at the collegiate level where he
could have earned the title doctor in the academic classroom setting way.
could have earned the title doctor in the academic classroom setting way.
None of that happened. Instead, we have Doyle Sickles, MD. And we – and by we, I mean thousands of patients and the community at large – have his late father-in-law Dr. William Walker to thank for it.
I mention this today because on Tuesday, April 1, Sickles will be retiring. No April Fool’s, it is officially over minus a retirement reception at Mon Health Stonewall Jackson Memorial Hospital (SJMH) on Thursday, April 3.
“From now to back when I graduated with my B.A. in mathematics was a long time ago. I was looking at getting into teaching and my father-in-law told me to apply to medical school,” said Sickles. “I ended up getting in and my first thought was ‘now what am I going to do?’ Turns out, it changed my entire world around.”
As this blog will show, it turned the world around for countless others. Before going where Sickles is today, a little bit of a rewind for a man whose family moved to Bridgeport from Houston, Pa., back in 1965.
That allowed Doyle Sickles to spend a good part of his youth here in Bridgeport and minus his college years, he has never left. He went to the old Bridgeport Junior High and then graduated from Bridgeport High School back in 1971.
It was his time in the Bridgeport school system, particularly at the high school level, where several teachers made an impact on his life.
“I loved math, and I had Mrs. (Sara) Limpert who made you work hard … She was one of the biggest influences that I had,” said Sickles. “There were other teachers, too, like Mr. (French) Friend in chemistry and Mr. (Roy) Phillips in biology. They made you learn, and we
learned.”
learned.”
That learning would carry over to the college stage in the mid-1970s. He did well in the courses to get his degree in mathematics because “math really came easy to me,” so once moving on to medical school things were a little different.
“I thought I adjusted really well,” said Sickles. “Now, you had students who were all smarter, classes like biochemistry would prove to be more challenging, and just more time being required, but I got through it, and it would lead to the career that I wanted.”
That career would eventually be as a board-certified Orthopaedic surgeon. He initially was doing anesthesia with his father-in-law when he got his feet wet in the medical field. Then, however, he found Orthopaedics and the rest is history.
Sickles started in 1985 at the old United Hospital Center and stayed there until 2007. In 2010, he would move his practice to Lewis County and join the staff at Stonewall Jackson Memorial Hospital.
How good was he at his job?
During his time at both stops, UHC and SJMH both earned the titles of Center of Excellence in Total Joint Replacement in the state of West Virginia.
For anyone who knew Sickles professionally or personally, they would not be surprised to know he was as popular at his Lewis County location as he was with his Harrison County one. Kindness, compassion, and skill always travel well, and Sickles had those traits in spades at both stops.
“I still remember my time at UHC. The calls were hectic, and you were on call 24-7. I spent time in the ER (emergency room), and it was very busy,” Sickles recalled. “I was seeing a lot of people, but they were good people, and I eventually found my niche and my passion with Orthopaedics.
“I’m proud of my time there and enjoyed it immensely. We had good doctors and the staff from the nurses and secretaries to the administration were just wonderful. They made me feel welcome there from day one and that feeling never went away,” he continued. “Toward my last few years there I got to 
experience the taking care of a third generation for the first time. I guess I realized I was getting older, but I was proud of that. It was a cool moment, and one I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing a few more times.”
experience the taking care of a third generation for the first time. I guess I realized I was getting older, but I was proud of that. It was a cool moment, and one I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing a few more times.”
The move to Lewis County in 2010 saw something that made Sickles choke up when talking about it. His new patient base had a familiar flavor.
“I made the move down from Clarksburg to a place that was more rural, and definitely a lot less hectic even with patients from Weston, Buckhannon and some a bit down south,” he said. “I saw a lot of my former patients follow me and that, as a doctor, really made me feel good about what I was doing.
“My time at Stonewall has been outstanding. It’s been a wonderful place to work,” he continued. “… It has also been a pleasure to work with many professional caregivers throughout my career.”
The time amassed as a medical professional spans 43 years. During that time, Sickles did knee replacements, hip replacements, joint and carpal tunnel surgeries and so many more. The number annually was around 200, likely a little bit more.
Think about that?
I am nowhere near as proficient at math as Dr. Sickles, but the number comes to around 10,000 surgeries. Each one gave a person back something they had lost physically. Each one made someone’s quality of life – and those in their family and social circle as well – better.
Is there a better thing to say that you made someone’s life better? To do it for one person not of your own flesh and blood is a big deal. To
do it for thousands is a pretty impressive achievement.
do it for thousands is a pretty impressive achievement.
The insurance companies may be able to put a price on it, but realistically, you cannot put a price to give someone back their ability to walk, to move without pain, to even just sit up in a chair. Sickles did that over, and over, and over for decades.
To do that many surgeries, however, required a substantial commitment of time. It required phone calls in the middle of the night, while on vacation, or even watching a sports event.
Regrets? Not really.
“It did take away from a few family gatherings or events, but the career provided well for my family and allowed me to do things like go on a vacation to a place maybe I couldn’t have been able to get to in another career,” he said. “There was a tradeoff, but the tradeoff was helping people and that’s why I don’t have any regrets.”
He still did not miss out on most family stuff, including watching three of the top BHS athletes in memory grow up and do their thing. He is one of the few parents in the area that can say his two daughters and his son all walked away as BHS graduates who were also state champions (and now a grandson and granddaughter as well).
Speaking of grandchildren, Dr. Sickles and his wife Beth have nine of them with six living in Bridgeport. For those wondering how someone with such a hectic schedule will fill the void, well, that has been ironed out.
“One of my daughters is in Texas with grandchildren so we’ll be doing some more traveling there, and more traveling in general. We’ll be 
doing a lot of things with the grandkids, too,” he said. “I also love playing pickleball. My love for medicine is going to be taken over by my love for pickleball.”
doing a lot of things with the grandkids, too,” he said. “I also love playing pickleball. My love for medicine is going to be taken over by my love for pickleball.”
Even with the grandkids and a robust pickleball culture growing in Harrison County, handing in the keys April 1 will not be easy. Considering he is keenly aware of what he does for a living, he knows it should not be easy.
He is walking away from the only profession he has ever known.
“I found something that I love and got to help people while doing it. The biggest compliments I received, and they always meant the world to me, was someone telling me thank you,” Sickles said as his voice cracked. “It’s truly been my privilege to care for people in North Central West Virginia. To see so many people come back to see me and show confidence in my work meant the world to me. I’m going to miss it.”
The community in general, and the healthcare community in particular, are going to miss Dr. Doyle Sickles. By taking his father-in-law’s advice, he healed people who needed healing.
There are few things one can do greater than that. And he did it for nearly half a century.
Enjoy retirement, your grandchildren, your own children, and spoil your wife more than you ever have. You have earned it.
Editor's Note: Top photo shows Dr. Doyle Sickles and wife Beth. Next two photos are of Sickles during his earlier years in medicine working at United Hospital Center and that photo is followed by him scrubbing for surgery at Stonewall Jackson Memorial Hospital. In the next image is a portrait shots of Dr. Sickles and the bottom image above shows Sickles surrounded by all of his grandchildren during his 70th birthday celebration. Photo below the editor's note is from Thursday when Sickles finished medical work with his keys to be turned in on Tuesday. All photos, minus the portrait shot, are courtesy of the Sickles family.
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