By Staff
About two weeks ago, like many Niles area residents, I received a letter in the mail from Dr. Linda Stanley.
It told me she is closing her office here and is no longer going to be practicing medicine. That message evoked a floodgate of emotions – shock and concern, then selfish disappointment.
I worried that something was wrong, but she has assured me that she's fine. She simply wants to spend more time with her family.
Well, there's no one more deserving of that.
I've tried to get her to sit down for an interview and story, but she won't. Dr. Stanley is an intensely private person. In fact, I know very little about her personally, even though she's been my doctor for nearly 18 years. I do know she has two daughters who are all grown up now, live away from the area and will soon be starting their own families, and Dr. Stanley and her husband want to be part of that. She did tell me she plans to stay in the Niles community.
Dr. Stanley has touched many, many lives in Niles and many, like me, will miss her greatly. She's simply the perfect family physician – incredibly thorough and thoughtful. I've also appreciated the many times she has simply listened to me. While we've never discussed it, I believe Dr. Stanley is someone who has a deep faith and I think that has a lot to do with the kind of physician she is. How rare it is to find a physician who practices medicine like Dr. Stanley – one patient at a time.
Niles is going to miss her. Goodness knows I will. I know you join me in wishing her only the best life has to offer.
Thank you so much for all you've meant to your many patients, Lakeland Hospital in Niles and the Niles community.
This week was an important one at Leader Publications. We completed publication on Friday of our 26th Annual Horizons edition.
Most long-time readers of our products know what a tremendous project Horizons is for us. We began work on this year's edition in October and worked almost non-stop until this week to bring you some of our best work – in stories, photos and advertisements.
I'm proud of the success of this year's edition – it was one of our biggest ever – and I am proud of the people who worked so hard to bring it to you.
We hope you enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed creating it for you. Many thanks to the literally hundreds of community-minded businesses who year after year support Horizons – our community yearbook – through the purchase of advertising in the edition. Please take the time to seek them out and tell them how much you appreciate their support of our community.