William Hubert Orsinger

Dr. William H. Orsinger (Bill) was a man of myriad interests. This born naturalist was a bonsai artist, avid gardener, talented photographer, published writer, videographer, and lifelong traveler. He was also a doctor who made house calls and listened to his patients rather than immediately prescribing.

Dr. Orsinger was born in Chicago, Illinois and inherited an inquisitive mind and the ability to tell a great story from his father Fred G. Orsinger, the first Director of the National Aquarium in Washington, DC. Dr. Orsinger’s passion for biology began early and led to his being a physician which he felt was a most fulfilling life.

He began his medical career in 1948 as a country doctor and medical officer for the District of Columbia Department of Corrections at Lorton, Virginia where he was medically responsible for the nearby Workhouse and the Women’s Division. Later his career detoured to US Public Health Service where he examined Hungarian refugees in Austria and Yugoslavia medically evaluating those who wanted to make a new home in the US.

From 1958 to 1979 Dr. Orsinger was a family physician in Arlington and a charter member of the American Academy of Family Practice and the Board of Directors of Northern Virginia Doctor's Hospital, chairman of many committees at Arlington Hospital and the Arlington County Medical Society. From 1978 to his retirement in 1986 he was a staff physician at the Central Intelligence Agency in Langley, Virginia.

After he retired he was a volunteer videographer for ten years with the Arlington Cable Access station, enjoyed woodworking, and with his wife Viola collected and restored many American antiques. A volunteer with the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum at the National Arboretum since 1988, he also tended his personal collection of over 150 bonsai trees.

A lifelong journalist, in recent years Dr. Orsinger compiled the stories of his life as a physician in My Family Practice Journey, A Prescription for Happiness. This book is a unique look into a very long medical career before the institutionalization of medicine.

- Barbara Orsinger Adolfson