‘The Doc’

There are people out there who dream of traveling the world and helping people, and then there are those who actually do it.

Dr. Larry Norman Magnussen, or “The Doc” as friends and relatives call him, is one of those people.

“I didn’t plan life out this way, but took advantage of certain opportunities,” said Magnussen, who recently celebrated his 80th birthday.

Friends say he has experienced and accomplished so much, across a broad range of skills and interests, that he has fulfilled in his life what would take some many lifetimes to achieve.

Born Oct. 11, 1938, he studied for eight years, the first four at Walla Walla, Washington, before he relocated to California to attend Loma Linda University for medical school. His father, who was also a physician, inspired him to pursue a career in medicine.

Magnussen talks about his years spent in Africa and India, which began in 1965. He speaks of Father Damien and his good deeds toward those struggling with Hansen’s Disease, also known as leprosy, on Molokai.

Magnussen spent seven years in Africa, where he set up health clinics to assist patients for leprosy including with medication and reconstructive surgery, as well as other ailments. He spent a year in India at a medical school to receive training in hand surgery.

He overlooked the risks of contracting the disease from his patients and provided life-changing medical assistance despite those risks.

Magnussen said his time in Africa in particular was successful.

“And part of the thing I was doing was organizing clinics which were all over Sierra Leone,” he said. “With the development of certain medications when they came available, we then organized clinics and got people on the proper medication and gradually Sierra Leone got rid of most of the leprosy (cases).”

In Sierra Leone, Magnussen also began a family with his wife Lois, who gave birth to their son Jon there. He speaks of her fondly and gives her a lot of credit for raising their children, Jon and Chris. Lois was a nurse.

After moving to Hawaii, Magnussen lived in Oahu for a while but settled on Kauai in 1977. While on Kauai he worked in orthopedic surgery at Wilcox Hospital and was also head of the local medical society for a time.

He served on different boards including the Community Board of Directors at KKCR, Keiki O Ka Aina and Kahili Adventist School, as well as being a part of advisory committee for National Tropical Botanical Garden.

His home is a reflection of his admiration and advocacy for Hawaiian agriculture and organic farming, says Krista Rubacher, a member of his hanai family and steward of his gardens and organic edible forests, which also includes many native plants.

She said “sustainable agriculture” is important to Magnussen, and also included on the property are noni trees and mamaki and kokolau tea plants.

“He’s an amazing person; he’s not just anyone, he’s special,” Rubacher said.

Magnussen lives in his home in Lawai where he is surrounded by his gardens and family.

“The people of Kauai, both Hawaiian and non-Hawaiian people, are a culture in and of themselves,” he said. “Their receptiveness to one another and to newcomers and to myself was a fantastic way to spend my life with everyone. The island itself has given me as an individual an incredible place to be; I would say ‘magical’ would be the word for it.”