Dr. Walter Hackett had 10 sons and a busy family practice in Des Plaines when he went on a medical mission to Bolivia in the early 1960s.
He came home with an 11th child, an orphaned 4-year-old girl whom he and his wife adopted.
“He had a big heart. He just fell in love with this little girl,” said his son Mark. “His life was really taking care of people, not just his family.”
Dr. Hackett, who lived in Mt. Prospect, died Monday, July 10, at Rush University Medical Center two weeks after a brain aneurysm, said his wife, Andrea. He was 86.
Dr. Hackett kept a hectic schedule throughout his career and continued to consult with patients and attend conferences after retiring in 1997.
“I used to say to him, `Your time is up. Why do you still have to do all this?'” said Dr. Philip Lobo, a friend and colleague. “He always said he wanted to keep up.”
A respected diagnostician who took a personal interest in each of his cases, Dr. Hackett called Lobo whenever he had a question about a cancer patient.
“He followed each patient’s progress through cancer treatment from start to finish,” Lobo said. “The man stayed continuously involved in their case, offering an emotional and social form of support. That’s very rare with today’s practitioners.”
Dr. Hackett grew up in Cleveland, where his father sold coal. Money was tight and he went to work at a young age, running the business when his father had an extended illness.
He studied at Santa Clara University in California on a scholarship and moved to attend medical school at Loyola University-Chicago after falling in love with the woman who became his first wife, Mercedes. He drove a cab at night while in school and often said his degree was a joint endeavor with his wife because she would help him with papers.
The family lived in Park Ridge and Des Plaines. Dr. Hackett “ran a tight ship” raising his boys, who had plenty of chores. The older ones had to watch the younger ones. When there was mischief, he would line up all 10 and call out the names of three or four, said his son Paul Hackett. Spankings would ensue, but “it was really more of a show” to keep everybody in line, Paul Hackett said.
Dr. Hackett could be a lot of fun, his sons said. He would take them on his rounds at the hospital, and sometimes he would come home at night with a copy of the Daily Racing Form. “Study up,” he would tell the boys. “We’re going to the track tomorrow.”
His sons followed disparate paths. Dr. Hackett supported their decisions while nudging them to be the best at whatever they tried.
“He wanted us to do what made us happy, but there was a certain threshold that had to be reached,” said his son Peter.
His first wife died in 1973 after a long struggle with breast cancer. His daughter Vivian died in an accident in 1976 at 17.
Dr. Hackett rarely slowed down, but there were signs of his life’s stresses. A Catholic, he would spend time each year at a Trappist abbey in Kentucky to practice meditation and enjoy solitude. “He would take time out to get away from the world,” Peter Hackett said.
He married Andrea Brien, a longtime patient, in 1993. He first called her a year after her husband had died. “We’ve known each other so long, why don’t we go to dinner?” Dr. Hackett said. She agreed, but found it’s not easy to go on a date with a man who had been her physician for 30 years.
“The only thing I remember about that night is, `What should I call him?'” she said. “I don’t think I called him anything.”
Later in life Dr. Hackett told his family he regretted spending so much time at work. But Peter Hackett said he and his brothers understood. “We always realized we shared him with the community.”
Other survivors include sons Christopher, Daniel, James, John, Joseph, Michael and Walter; stepsons, Charles and John Brien; a stepdaughter, Marybeth Brien; two sisters, Noreen Mullins and Jean Mitchell; 20 grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.
Visitation will be held from 3 to 9 p.m. Friday at Friedrichs Funeral Home, 320 W. Central Rd., Mt. Prospect. Mass will be said at 10 a.m. Saturday at St. Raymond de Penafort Church, 301 S. I-Oka St., Mt. Prospect.
