Hip And Knee Surgeon Bruce Wentworth Burleigh Dies Age 79

Bruce Wentworth Burleigh, M.D., who served hip and knee patients in the Joplin, Missouri region for a quarter century, passed away on December 20, 2022.

Dr. Burleigh specialized in hip and knee replacements and was a member of the Joplin Orthopedics practice. He was also a member of the Freeman Health System in Joplin and served for a time as director of the physical rehabilitation unit.

Burleigh earned his medical degree from Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1969. He completed an orthopedic surgery residency at the University of Oklahoma in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Burleigh was born on July 25, 1943, in Yonkers, New York, to Grace Ann, an elementary school teacher and Robert Wentworth Burleigh, an engineer with Otis Elevator – United Technologies.

He grew up in the New York area, graduating from Briarcliff High School in 1961. After high school, he moved up into the New England area to continue his education. He attended Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts for his bachelor’s degree. While there he swam on the Men’s Varsity Swim Team, played fullback for the Tufts Jumbos Varsity Football Team and was a member of the Delta Tau Delta Fraternity. He graduated Magna Cum Laude in 1965.

During the years he was in college and medical school, he would spend the summers working as a camp counselor at Camp Wagon Road, a camp for special needs children in Chappaqua, New York. It was during this time as well that he and his friends designed and built a summer cabin on Lake Androscoggin in central Maine. The cabin would become the center of family gathering for Burleigh, his wife Susan, their friends, children, and grandchildren.

Burleigh also took his family on trips to Popham Beach State Park and family climbs up Mount Washington in the White Mountains in New Hampshire. An avid climber, he also climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Mt. Elbrus in Russia, Mt. Aconcagua in Argentina, Mt. Whitney in California, and Mt. Katahdin in Maine.

After he retired, he and his wife became summer residents of Wayne, Maine. There he served as board member and commodore of the Androscoggin Yacht Club, helping to preserve community access to the waterfront club.

Burleigh is survived by his wife Susan, his children Matthew Wentworth Burleigh of Leawood, Kansas, Jonathan Earl Burleigh of Altamont, Kansas, Bryce Alan Burleigh of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Nicholas Christopher Thach of Webster Grove, Missouri, and Lauren Grace Melroy of North Wales, Pennsylvania.

He is also survived by his brother Keith of Fitchburg, Wisconsin, and his grandchildren Hayden, Garrett, Paige, Grace, Addison, Katherine, Madeleine, William, Olivia, Kamryn, Amela, and a new granddaughter expected in June 2023.