William Harold Scragg

William Harold Scragg, Jr., M.D., was born on December 8, 1931, in Paterson, New Jersey. He died on March 5, 2021, in El Paso, Texas. Dr. Scragg’s long and accomplished life included earning a four-year scholarship for full tuition at Princeton University (BA in biology, 1953). He took pride in his Princeton degree and always spoke fondly of his time there. While at Princeton he met Anne Thelma Bacchini, who was then attending the New Jersey College for Women at Rutgers University. They married in 1954, and he often bragged of winning his beautiful wife away from guys who would become “some of the richest men in the world.” As Bill and Anne started a family, Bill joined the Army Medical Corps in 1956 and completed his M.D. in medicine and surgery from New York Medical College in 1957. In 1959 Dr. Scragg took his residency in OB/GYN at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. During his twenty years in the Army Bill served as assistant chief or chief of OB/GYN Service at duty stations around the world including Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu and the US Army Hospital in Munich, Germany. Dr. Scragg moved his family to El Paso in 1971 to help open the William Beaumont Army Medical Center. He attained the rank of colonel at the age of 41 and he became the Chief of OB/GYN Service at Beaumont in 1973. He received the Legion of Merit in 1976 and retired from the Army that year to open the new Texas Tech University medical school campus in El Paso. At Texas Tech University, Dr. Scragg served as interim regional dean, assistant dean, associate department chairman, clinical director and residency director for OB/GYN, and medical director for family planning. He was a tenured professor, and his colleagues recognized him as an outstanding teacher and mentor. He was beloved by medical students and in 1999 won the Excellence in Teaching Award, presented by the Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics for the campuses of Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. He later went on to win a Lifetime Teaching Award. He was appointed professor emeritus by the Texas Tech Board of Regents to honor his forty-year contribution to the medical school, and he retired in August 2013. Bill was known for his sense of humor and his strength of personality. In fall of 2020 he commented on his own power of persuasion, “They did everything I said. Everybody did everything I said.” As he weakened with age and disease he lamented the loss of that power, and was saddened at the end of his life as the pandemic isolated him from the people he loved. In addition to his love for family and friends he loved classical music and animals, especially his dogs and cats. Golf was a touchstone of his life. Dr. Scragg is predeceased by his parents, William Harold Scragg and Marie Korteweg Scragg, and survived by a younger brother, Anthony Scragg. He is also survived by his wife of 66 years, Anne, and their daughters Ellen Duncan (Anthony), Dana Frank (Raymond), and Cara Campos (Lee); his seven grandchildren Ashley Derr, Chelsea Duncan, Shane Duncan, Evan Frank, Asra Frank, Emilio Campos, and Rene Campos; and his five great-grandchildren Sebastian Derr, Louisa Derr, Francine Derr, Eila Duncan, and Delano Duncan. A private interment with immediate family will be held at Ft. Bliss cemetery. A celebration of Bill’s life is planned in El Paso for October 2021. In lieu of flowers the family respectfully requests a donation to Paralyzed Veterans of America or to The Humane Society of El Paso.