| Home Surname List Name Index Sources Email Us Genealogy Home | Fifth Generation71. Dr. Emily Lou Trask19 lived in Waldoboro, Lincoln County, Maine, USA in April 2002.
AUGUSTA - Above Emily Trask-Eaton's desk at the Family Medicine Institute is an index card with the following quotation: "It is very explicative of the state we are in," said Trask-Eaton, who is just beginning the three-year internship that will lead to her career as a family practice doctor. Trask-Eaton had been a successful businesswoman in Waldoboro when she decided at age 51 to give up the family store and life at home to go to medical school. She had tired of running the Waldoboro Five and Dime, a business that she acquired in 1981. Her children, Alison and Kathryn, had already grown up and moved away. It was time for change. "I reassessed. The time was right," she said. Her interest in medicine dated back to her undergraduate years at Bard College in the 1960s. Then she split her interest in biology with music and psychology. In 1993 she returned to college to take basic science courses at the University of Maine in Augusta. She also joined the Waldoboro EMS and worked alongside her husband, Jim Eaton, a veteran paramedic with the service. When she finally asked her husband about her decision to apply to medical school, he took the casual approach. "I said, 'Sure, go ahead.' I never thought she would get in," he said. Trask-Eaton was accepted at Vermont University and graduated in 1996. The reality of the her life change did not hit her until her first walk across campus. "It struck me. What am I going to do now?" she said. As soon as classes began she knew her challenge was great. "I couldn't focus. The pace and volume was overwhelming. I went to class. I went home to sleep. The next day it was a new batch of information. There was no time to absorb it all," she said. After a year it was all over. "I couldn't cut it there. My learning processes had all slowed down," she said. She had failed all but a few of her courses. She came home discouraged, but by midsummer decided to reapply to the University of New England in Biddeford. On Labor Day she got a call to "report" to campus the next day. "You have to be here by 9 a.m.," she was told. Her second run at medical school was no easier, but she had learned the level of commitment that was needed. "I hit the ground running," she said. "On weekends, I studied from dusk until dawn." Meanwhile, the rest of the family life was in turmoil. The family store and home were sold and the couple moved into an apartment in Portland while attempting to complete a new house in Nobleboro. "I was homeless for three months," said Eaton who continued to serve on the Waldoboro EMS. His day job is as a chemist for the state of Maine in Augusta. "Our kids thought we were nuts," he added. The completion of medical school and the beginning of her residency in Augusta has brought some stability to their lives, although the workload is no less. Trask-Eaton has a rotation of 13 four-week stints that cover the range of doctor's duties from emergency room to nursing home visits. The Maine Dartmouth plan incorporates tours of duty at Maine General Hospital in Augusta and Waterville, FMI and a second family practice office in Fairfield. The residency is a closely supervised progressive program that Trask-Eaton views as a spiral of knowledge. "The challenge is greater. You are learning things to take care of people," she said. "The responsibility is real now." She enjoys the companionship with the residents and staff, many of whom are from her own generation. "The faculty has the values that came out of the 1960s," she said. "It is family." Once she completes her residency she expects to join a family practice, but probably not in Waldoboro. "I don't relish treating my friends," she said. The next obstacle for the couple will be paying for medical school. "You would never imagine how much it would cost," said Jim Eaton. Although the public sees doctors as well paid, it does not view the impact of college loans, malpractice insurance and taxes on a career begun later in life. "You don't go into family practice to make a lot of money," said Trask-Eaton. She was born in Bass Harbor. Her father was a fisherman. Her aunt was novelist Ruth Moore. Jim Eaton was born (date unknown). Dr. Emily Lou Trask-42516 and Jim Eaton-52097 had the following children:
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