AFTER 33 YEARS AS DOCTOR, CAPE MAN WILL EMBARK ON LAW CAREER

Dr. Perry T. Roberts closed the doors on a 33-year-old medical practice Friday.

At an age when many people are thinking retirement, the 62-year-old Roberts is looking at a second career.

He plans to go back to school and become a lawyer. Two of his 10 children are lawyers, including a son who is an assistant U.S. attorney at Oxford, Miss.

Roberts plans to attend law school at the University of Mississippi in Oxford.

He admits there isn't any pressure on him to carve out a new career. "I don't have to do anything," he said. "I am going to school for the fun of it."

Roberts views it as only natural that he likes school. From grade school through medical residency training, he spent 24 of his first 32 years of life in school.

"Any doctor by the time he finishes is really a professional student more than anything else," he said.

With his physician's headlight planted firmly on his head, Roberts spent Friday seeing a few patients at his Doctors' Park office and greeting others who just stopped in to pick up their medical records.

He straddled his doctor's stool as he examined the ears of a last-minute patient. Roberts said he couldn't get along without the stool. "That is more important than my legs."

Roberts found time to clean up his desk and roll up medical diagrams of the ear, nose and throat that had graced the walls of his examining rooms for years.

He joked a lot with his staff, particularly his longtime physician's assistant, Ken Peyton who is retiring.

Both Roberts and Peyton served in the Air Force.

Roberts opened his ear, nose and throat medical practice in Cape Girardeau in February 1974, moving here from Ogden, Utah. For the past 19 years, Roberts and Peyton have been a team.

Peyton often chatted with patients, unlike Roberts who examined and diagnosed patients with little comment.

Roberts said his life has revolved around medicine for 41 years, if you go back to medical school at Northwestern University.

After years of dealing with ears, noses and throats, first in the Air Force and then in private practice, Roberts figures it's time for a change.

"A change is as good as a rest," he observed with a smile.

Over the years, Roberts has treated more than 35,000 families. He has treated patients in his office and performed surgery in Cape Girardeau's hospitals, working as much as 70 hours a week.

Roberts said it takes a lot to keep a medical practice going today, particularly with all the paperwork required by the government and insurance companies.

"You have got to be a doctor, an office manager and a businessman," said Roberts, whose office was staffed with six full-time employees.

Roberts enjoyed the challenge of a difficult case. He felt satisfaction in successfully treating cancer patients.

Many of his patients suffered allergies and returned to him time after time for treatment.

"Allergies are frustrating," Roberts said, noting that there is no cure.

When Roberts came to Cape Girardeau in 1974, the city needed an ear, nose and throat doctor. The city's previous specialist in that field had died from a fall.

"I came and visited and liked it and stayed for 21 1/2 years," Roberts said.

An avid pilot, Roberts grew up in a small town in Utah and spent 14 years in the Air Force, from 1957 to 1971.

He moved around a lot. In fact, he has lived in Cape Girardeau longer than any place else.

Roberts said he has enjoyed Cape Girardeau, but admitted he is ready to move on.