Award is Validation
Aviator-Doctor will be Honored
INDIANAPOLIS, IN — July 5, 2007 — Inspired by his dad’s commitment to health care as an employee of Eli Lilly and Co., Worthe Holt decided early in life that he would be a doctor someday. He also had a love for flying.
Holt’s consuming passion for all things aeronautical pushed him to secret studies and the pilot’s exam by the time he was old enough to drive.
Some of the people who know Worthe Holt might know only one aspect of his life — that of a caring doctor. He’s also a decorated fighter pilot who has been selected as the 2007 Indiana Aviator of the Year.
Holt’s consuming passion for all things aeronautical pushed him to secret studies and the pilot’s exam by the time he was old enough to drive.
Thirty-five years later, his love for aviation — and how he nourished it in service to his country — will be recognized at the Indianapolis Air Show when Dr. Holt is recognized as the 2007 Indiana Aviator of the Year.
“I’m tremendously honored,” said Holt, Fishers, whose lofty ambition to forge careers as a pilot and physician took him to unimagined heights at age 50.
As a board-certified physician in family medicine, the North Central High School and Indiana University graduate climbed the career ladder to become executive vice president and regional chief operating officer of St. Vincent Health.
As a dedicated pilot, who passed on both the skills and the love for piloting as a young flight instructor working his way through college, he literally has soared as a 27-year member of the Indiana Air National Guard.
Besides his surge through the ranks to become Col. Holt, commander of the 181st Medical Group at Terre Haute, he has flourished as call sign “Doc” — a decorated fighter pilot and F-16 jockey in combat missions over Iraq.
“It’s taken some sacrifices in terms of time and energy, but I’ve never regretted it for a minute,” Holt said of his headlong and, on occasion, headstrong pursuits in aviation. “This recognition is really kind of a validation of what I’ve been doing.”
The air show’s executive committee, which organizes the annual event at Mount Comfort Airport that will take place Aug. 25-26, finds its 10th recipient of the award most deserving.
“Dr. Holt exemplifies what this recognition is all about,” said air show founder and emeritus committee member Rod Taylor. “Not only is he passionate about flying and the aviation community, he has also made significant contributions to our state through his wide-ranging work in the medical field.”
The honor typically is awarded to a Hoosier pilot who has contributed not only to aviation but also as a benevolent community leader or public figure.
Past recipients include airline executive George Mikelsons, founder of ATA; Bill Cook, a medical technology innovator and philanthropist; and last year’s recipient, Dr. David Wolf, an astronaut who learned to fly from his good friend and former classmate, Worthe Holt.
Holt is married to Fishers dentist Marie Holt and still coaches the Hamilton Southeastern High School hockey team his sons played on. He is essentially a full-time soldier because of air-time requirements necessary to maintain skills and readiness as a combat pilot.
He relishes his logistical nightmare of multiple occupations, however. He had to mount a personal campaign to ensure his opportunity for such a demanding life.
In the National Guard, he cultivated his dream to be more than a recreational flier. Because the active military had no program for physician pilots, Holt welcomed the Guard’s offer to ride the back seat of an F-4 Phantom as a flight surgeon.
But he didn’t settle for it.
“After about two rides, I thought the back seat’s not for me. I want to drive this beast,” he recalled.
After establishing a national reputation for creating the Medical Officer Training Corps, a program designed to recruit medical students into careers as Indiana guardsmen or reservists, Holt earned a shot at his dream.
Taking a break from medical studies, he committed to military flight training and became a fully rated pilot in the F-4 before resuming his medical pursuits in 1985.
It’s been up, up and away ever since.
“I enjoy flying anything,” he said. “If it flies, I love it, but it has been largely about service to my country.”
Media Contact:
James A. Gillaspy
(317) 444-2608
james.gillaspy@indystar.com
