A float plane rests near the shore of Brennan Lake in Canada, above. Below, Goodkind, right, holds a walleye, and Rosemond, left, looks on.

by Jim Rogalski

The float plane touched down on the bumpy water of the remote Canadian lake with the grace and smoothness of a limousine and gently nudged up against the dock. David Goodkind, MD'75, HS'80-'82, stepped off the plane and into a world he had only dreamed about until then.

Towering, thick, longleaf pine trees maintained a tight grip on the shoreline of Brennan Lake in Northwest Ontario —protective sentries against the encroachment of civilization. No roads, power lines, or cell towers muddied the landscape. When the pilot cut the engine what immediately struck Goodkind was confounding silence, unlike anything he had ever heard in his home of New Haven , Conn. He wished he could have recorded it and brought it back home.

For Goodkind, an avid fisherman, this was akin to hitting the lottery. The clear, cool, water of Brennan Lake promised countless memories with rod and reel, as well as with the 11 other men with whom he would spend the next five days.

The gentlemen were guests of cardiologist Robert M. “Crusty” Rosemond, T'49, MD'53, who for years has been offered the annual use of a grateful heart patient's wilderness compound for himself and 11 guests. Rosemond always invites at least one Duke Medicine friend. Goodkind and Rosemond became friends as members of the Duke Medical Alumni Council, and Goodkind considers his invite for the trip this past August a blessing.

The compound, Goodkind says, is anything but backwoods rustic. “It is equisite,” he says. “Elegant. There is a series of cabins, each with a couple of bedrooms, a central lodge with a big screen TV, and a large kitchen and dining area. All of it is run with generators that are far removed from the sleeping areas.”

Log and wood construction and interiors offered warmth of spirit not found in more conventional buildings, and the numerous trophy fish and stuffed animals hanging on the walls gave a mere glimpse of the abundant wildlife around them.

Sure, the fishing was tremendous, Goodkind said (“I caught a 27 ½-inch walleye that was one-half inch shy of trophy size for walleye. According to the chart it was 21 years old!”), but with any outdoor adventure with friends, it is the camaraderie that ultimately burns the fondest images into the memory bank.

“We fished every day,” Goodkind says. They were back at five for cocktails for an hour, then dinner, then they would sit around telling stories. “Crusty always invites three specific gentlemen,” Goodkind says, “two Navy pilots who were shot down during World War II, and a World War II winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor. Their stories were just incredible. We relived the Greatest Generation through their stories.”

At age 56, Goodkind was the youngster in the crowd, with more than half of the men age 80 or older. He was particularly moved by the modesty of the Congressional Medal of Honor winner. “The gentleman kept his experiences very close to the vest,” Goodkind said. “He did furnish us with the actual verbage that was presented to him by President Truman.” He earned the medal, Goodkind says, by “storming a whole company of Germans, killing many of them, and saving some fellow soldiers by dragging them to safety. It was obvious he was still disturbed by it 60 years later.”

Because the time that Rosemond's guests spend at Brennan Lake proves to be a cherished highlight in their lives, those who have died are remembered with a memorial gravestone behind the lodge. Resting next to each marker is a bottle of their favorite beverage.

Goodkind is a surgeon with Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery in New Haven . He and his wife Sandy have three children ages 13, 15, and 17.