Pancake Supper Crowd Flips Over Doctor's Magic Tricks
Posted on Monday, March 11th, 2019
Pick a Card: Ashton McGill draws from the deck of magic cards offered
by Dr. Stephen Hutchins as Kyle Reed and Hailey Dasilva, age 8 (left),
look on at the Lions Club Pancake Supper.
Magic tricks, performed by Dr. Stephen Hutchins, provided entertainment at the recent Lions Club pancake supper.
The long-time Mercy Health/Love County physician went table-to-table with magic playing cards, disappearing coins, interlocking rings, and the mysterious toy guillotine that easily sliced through carrots but thankfully spared the fingers of young children.
Diners of all ages took delight from the display.
It was his first occasion to entertain outside of Lions Club luncheons, and the usually reserved doctor enjoyed the audience response just as much.
“I don’t spend a lot of time at this and I’m not real good, but I do enough so I get the tricks right most of the time,” he said. “It went better than I thought.”
Hutchins said he bought a magic kit a few years ago to help the Marietta Lions Club grow.
“Membership numbers were dwindling. They wanted me to be president and I decided that doing a magic trick each week would encourage attendance. It got to be expected after that.”
Hutchins has been a Lion since 1989, including two terms as president.
He joined shortly after moving to Marietta to start a practice in family medicine.
At Mercy Health/Love County, he treats adults and children in the clinic, hospital, and emergency room.
Hutchins said he was influenced toward medicine by his mother, Catherine Hutchins, a career nurse and teacher, and by his part-time work during high school and college as a nursing home orderly.
He and his brothers, Charles and David, were raised near Rochester, NY, and he migrated to Oklahoma to attend Oral Roberts University.
Hutchins earned both undergraduate and medical (M.D.) degrees from ORU, the latter in 1986.
Medical school was preceded by a master’s degree in biochemistry from the University of Arkansas.
He completed a three-year residency program after graduating from medical school.
As part of their residency, family physicians receive training in pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, internal medicine, psychiatry and neurology, surgery, and community medicine.
Through a combination of home study and medical conferences, Hutchins continues to hit the books.
He has been recognized by the American Academy of Family Physicians for regularly completing 300 hours of continuing education every three years, twice the 150 hours required for medical doctors.
Hutchins delves more into mental health education because on Thursdays, his day off, he sees outpatients at Mental Health Services of Southern Oklahoma in Ardmore.
His leisure interests include hiking and trips to Tulsa to visit his grown children, Katie Hampton, Rachel Sherfield, and Jonathan Hutchins; and grandchildren, Emily Hutchins, 4, and Alicia Hampton, 1.
Family members closer to home include stepson Kory Atcuson and Christina Cooper, his wife, Sheri’s great niece.
Asked to assess his career, Hutchins replied: “I enjoy medicine. I’m still learning, and I’m happy to be here (Mercy Health/Love County). This has been a great group to work with.”
He said coworkers also serve as “guinea pigs” for new magic tricks. “I practice on people here. If I make a mistake and they figure the trick out, I know I have to get better.”