The name Dr. Harold Shryock is well known in Seventh-day Adventist circles. His writings encompassed the globe for 70 years and his contributions to the Seventh-day Adventist Church and Loma Linda University School of Medicine are legendary.
Harold Shryock, M.D. worked for 41 years at the institution known today as Loma Linda University Health. He became a professor and chair of the Department of Anatomy and dean of the School of Medicine. He wrote 621 magazine articles and 13 books. A public speaker at church, school, and alumni meetings across the United States and Canada, as a physician he spoke to as many as 10,000 people at a time. He counseled hundreds of college students regarding scholastic, financial, and marital issues. And in a quest for the most qualified applicants, he overhauled the admissions procedures for what became Loma Linda University School of Medicine.
Dr. Shryock set the standards for recruiting students. He established admissions policies by developing innovative ways of assessing premedical students, determining how letters of recommendation would be written and interpreted, and conducting on-campus interviews. He became the first dean to routinely visit the Seventh-day Adventist undergraduate campuses throughout the United States. His refinements and untiring efforts to determine the best-qualified applicants opened doors of opportunity and service to hundreds of potential physicians.
Harold had no formal birth certificate. Instead, his father, Alfred Q. Shryock, MD, mailed a postcard-sized “Birth Return” from the City of Seattle Department of Sanitation to King County, citing the essential facts of his son’s birth. It included, among other pertinent information, that Harold was “legitimate.” A photocopy of this document served as Harold's birth certificate through the years.
While his mother, Stella Shryock, favored administrative work over homemaking, little Harold’s arrival shifted her priorities in a hurry. He called his parents “Mamma” and “Papa” and went everywhere with them. Some observers, seeing his mother's constant, loving attentions, considered him “spoiled.”
The little family arrived by train at the Loma Linda Depot on New Year’s Day, 1910; about three months after the first school of medicine freshman class had enrolled and within three weeks of the December 9, 1909, incorporation of the College of Medical Evangelists (CME).
Alfred Shryock moved his small family to Southern California and became Loma Linda’s sixth physician. It's amazing that this small group of brave family physicians could even presume that they would be successful in starting a medical school. But each was conscientiously committed to the enterprise. Today, Loma Linda University School of Medicine has graduated more than 11,000 physicians, almost 2,000 more than any other school of medicine in the Western United States. Alfred not only taught histology and human embryology, but also ran the pharmacy and drew blood from patients needing blood chemistries.
A 119-step grand stairway led up the north slope of the hill to the Sanitarium’s main entrance. In nearby fields, horses pulled farm implements. When patients arrived by steam locomotive, the sanitarium would send a horse and buggy to meet them. When the train chugged into the station, the buggy was waiting for Alfred, Stella, and almost four-year-old Harold.
Loneliness, mischief, educational advantages, a natural disaster, and even a mysterious illness colored Harold Shryock’s unique childhood.
At first Mother didn't work outside the home. Although she was actively involved with church outreach programs in the community, caring for Harold remained her first priority.
The Shryocks decided to home-school their growing, energetic boy. Although he later acknowledged the good motives of his parents, he said he felt sheltered and isolated and became quite self-centered. He didn't readily learn how to give and take in relationships with other people and lacked experience in making his own decisions.
Outwardly, Harold’s behavior seemed perfect. His parents saw to that. But, inwardly, conflicting forces troubled him. He tended to be mischievous and had to carefully conceal some of his activities.
For the first seven years of his schooling, Harold studied hard while indulging in a bit of misbehavior on the side to break the routine. In time, young Harold developed interests in sports, bicycling, auto mechanics, and outdoor living. However, wanting their son to become a physician, Mamma and Papa channeled Harold’s energies into scholastic pursuits and music. Although he did well in both, he grew to resent his parents for insisting he pursue their interests rather than his own.
Throughout his childhood, Harold was led to believe that he was special and even superior to others his own age who didn't have the advantages provided to him by his parents. Harold did have advantages. Both parents were intelligent and capable educators. Alfred taught his son the fundamental principles of arithmetic. Stella enjoyed an excellent background in grammar and taught her offspring literary structure and how to diagram sentences. Even through these simple, homegrown lessons, Providence was working with a sometimes-reluctant student to prepare him for one of his future adult avocations—writing.