Local vet leaves legacy
By ADAM STEWART Staff Reporter
Dr. Harold Warsinke and his daughter, Dianne White, on Amtrak Cascades’ inaugural stop at Vet Stanwood Station.
From televised demonstrations of new surgical procedures, to discovering groundbreaking techniques in the embryo transfer industry, Stanwood’s Harold Warsinske, D.V.M., was an innovator in veterinary medicine.
He was also a community leader, proponent of ethical treatment of animals, advisor to local dairyman, devoted husband and father of four.
He passed on Dec. 25 at the age of 91.
Growing up on a small dairy farm in Spokane, Warsinske felt comfortable around the large animals he cared for as a veterinarian with Stanwood’s Northwest Veterinarian Clinic for more than 60 years.
His daughter, Mayor Dianne White of Stanwood, said her father made difficult, and dangerous, procedures look easy because of his experience, ability, concentration and care — even if he came home with bruises covering his legs.
Not only did he deal with the animals, Warsinske also cared for his clients’ financial stability.
“Dad had a tremendous amount of empathy for the farmers as well as the animals,” said White. “He would gladly make a call in the middle of the night without charging an additional fee.”
After graduating from Washington State University’s (WSU) veterinary medicine program in 1942, Warsinske was handpicked by the state to test cattle for Brucellosis on Camano Island.
He settled in Stanwood with his wife, Ethel, his childhood sweetheart from Spokane, and began work at the clinic.
In 1958, Warsinske was part of a team of doctors to perform a televised surgery to remove a foreign body (a piece of wire) from the stomach of a cow during the National Veterinary Medical Association convention in 1958 at the Olympic Hotel in Seattle. The procedure proved to be pivotal in saving the lives of valuable animals.
White recalled an incident during a similar surgery she witnessed where her father removed a nickel from a cow’s stomach. He turned to the owner and jested, “I always knew there was money in cattle.”
Warsinske’s most notable accomplishment in veterinary medicine came with his work on embryo transfer.
Teaming up with fellow veterinarians, researchers and farmers, Warsinske developed a process to expedite breeding of genetically superior, therefore valuable, beef and dairy cows.
In 1974, the group, Bova Transplant, a division of Northwest Veterinary Clinic, was the first to register Embryo Transfer (ET) calves from the Holstein, Guernsey and Murray Grey breeds.
Bova Transplant remained a pioneer in the industry through their nonsurgical technique for collection and implantation of embryos and even developed a way to freeze the material for international transfer.
Renamed Bova International, the group worked with breeders throughout the world; Warsinske traveled as their representative.
In 1988 Queen Elizabeth sent Warsinske an invitation to attend a banquet in Cambridge, England celebrating agricultural achievement.
“He was really comfortable around anyone,” said White, who attended the event with her father. “He always had a story to tell in any situation.”
Warsinske will be remembered in his field as an innovator, problem solver and skilled surgeon; he was awarded WSU’s Distinguished Veterinary Alumnus Award in 1992. But his volunteer work in the community was equally important.
Throughout his retirement years, Warsinske worked on the Stanwood- Camano School District Board of Directors as well as the senior center board.
“If Dad saw a problem, he tried to fix it,” said White. “He thought it was necessary to give back to the community.”
Staff Reporter Adam
Stewart: 629-8066 ext. 115
or astewart@scnews.com.
