For orthopedic surgeon and reverend, Richard E. Senghas, M.D., life was a calling to heal, in all its forms. Richard Senghas lived a truly extraordinary and giving life. He died on September 10, 2022, at the age of 94 at the Piper Shores community in Scarborough, Maine.
He was a “loving husband, father of seven, respected orthopedic surgeon, and in his later years, a Catholic priest,” they wrote.
Senghas was born on June 30, 1928, in Cleveland, Ohio, to Erwin William Senghas and Lydia Mueller Senghas. He graduated from Lakewood High School in Lakewood, Ohio, and then graduated from Harvard College in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1950 and received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School in 1954.
In January 1955, Senghas married Gertrude (June) June Murray, one of his medical school classmates. They started their internships in Cleveland and then soon departed for Japan where he was a medical officer for the Navy in Yokosuka and June worked as a pediatrician on the Army base in Yokohama.
When they returned to Cleveland, they completed their internships and eventually settled back in the Boston area. Senghas completed his training in orthopedic surgery at Children’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital.
In 1963, he joined Framingham Orthopedic Associates, a private orthopedic surgical practice affiliated with Framingham Union Hospital (now MetroWest Medical Center) and moved his growing family to Hopkinton.
Senghas also served as president of the medical staff at Framingham Union Hospital, attending physician at Bethany Hospital, and a clinical instructor at University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester.
He was also on the editorial board for the Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery and volunteered on the Hopkinton Board of Health. He retired from orthopedic surgery in 1988.
His wife died in 1993. Afterwards he entered Pope St. John XXIII National Seminary in Weston, Massachusetts, and served as a chaplain intern for both Wellesley College and Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, Maine. At the age of 70, in 1998, he was ordained as a Catholic priest for the Diocese of Maine.
He served in St. John the Evangelist and Holy Cross Parishes in South Portland and St. Rose of Lima in Jay. He was also an officer of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs for the Catholic diocese of Portland and served on the board of the Maine Council of Churches.
Because of his perspective as a medical doctor and priest, he became an advocate in Augusta and testified on important legislative issues including climate change and the expansion of Medicaid, emphasizing that healthcare is an important human right.
Senghas eventually retired, first to Orrs Island and later to Piper Shores in Scarborough.
He is survived by seven children, Catherine Senghas and husband Steven Jackson of Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, Ellen Senghas and husband Mark Kassis of Southampton, Massachusetts, Margaret Senghas Gibbons and husband Robert Gibbons of Lexington, Massachusetts, Richard J. Senghas and wife Tina Poles of Cotati, California, John T. Senghas and wife Audrey Senghas of Bloomdale, Ohio, Peter Senghas and wife Kellie Thibodeau Senghas of Acton, Massachusetts, and Ann Senghas and husband Samuel Bogoch of New York City.
He also leaves behind 13 grandchildren, Michael Jackson, Lara Jackson, Erin Kassis, Emily Kassis, Molly Gibbons Golinvaux, Will Gibbons, Annie Gibbons, Ursula Senghas-Poles, Shawn Denny, Eileen Ward, Jacon Senghas, Samuel Senghas and June Bogoch, and seven grandchildren.
He was predeceased by his wife and his twin brother, Reverend Robert E. Senghas of Burlington, Vermont.
