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THE WONDERS
Retirement also has provided Dr. Guerra with the golden op-
portunity to spend more time with his family. He and his wife of
33 years, retired editor of San Antonio Woman, Beverly Purcell
Guerra, travel as much as possible to visit their six children and
eight grandchildren in Ecuador, San Francisco, Dallas, New York,
Denver and Los Angeles.
Family reunions are a challenge, but they do their best to get the nity” of interacting with and mentoring some of the public health
entire brood together “maybe every other year. We’ve had some
wonderful family gatherings,” he said, “when we can find a house
large enough to accommodate us.” Over the years the group has
met in Santa Fe, Ojai and San Diego, CA, and last year in a house
on the Guadalupe River near Seguin. “That was fun,” he said.
Meanwhile, phone calls, Skype and emails keep everybody in
touch.
For now, the couple remains in the home where the kids grew
up. “It gets pretty quiet around here. Beverly and I prefer not to
downsize just yet.” When not visiting children and grandchildren,
they take drives to the Hill Country, go downtown, visit museums
and walk on a regular basis, although not as much as they used to.
“I have mobility issues related to some chronic back problems,”
Dr. Guerra said. Treatment involved surgery and a fusion “that has
really restricted my mobility.”
OF RETIREMENT
Still, Dr. Guerra stays busy in much the same way he always has,
although he said it’s on a lesser scale. He gives a few carefully se-
lected talks a year, serves on the bioethics committee of the Chil-
dren’s Hospital of San Antonio, and is a clinical professor of
pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine, and adjunct faculty at
University of Texas at San Antonio and the University of Texas
School of Public Health where he enjoys “the wonderful opportu-
and pre-med students.
Dr. Guerra is on the Community Health Advisory Board at the
University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio and
UTSA’s Advisory Council for the College of Science. He also is
chairman of the board of the Children’s Environmental Health In-
stitute in Austin. At the national level, he serves on the ethics com-
mittee for the March of Dimes, is on the editorial board of a
pediatric publication, and is a member of the Institute of Medicine,
the Public Health Accreditation Board and the Urban Institute
Board of Trustees.
Despite the awards and accolades for his many years of teaching,
practicing medicine, and providing public service, Dr. Guerra said
that in the end, it’s really all about giving back.
“When you’ve had the privilege and opportunity to obtain a
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