The Carolinas’ Full Throttle Magazine
40
Ride In Peace – Code Blue By: Alan Dockery
ne of the coolest things about motor-
Photo compliments of Kickstand
cycling is meeting all kinds of people from every walk of life who enjoy motorcycles and hanging out with other folks who dig life on two wheels. You meet the coolest people on motorcycles. There are way too many that you wish you could have spent more time with. Riders you barely know and only see once in a while at local events, but seldom really talk with. Close friends or family are sometimes gone too soon. I think I first met Code Blue at a Harley drag race. He was a member of the Rare Breed MC and they had some race bikes. I was taking a short break from the starting line but had to ask about the name Code Blue. Gotta be a doctor. Sure enough he was a heart surgeon and a real good one. I told him my heart problems are electrical and not plumbing. I meet so many of you bikers across the Carolinas who have great stories about your jobs and riding. Dr. William Penn Sweezer, Jr. is one biker I wish I had spent some time sitting and talking with. While reading obituaries and reports of his passing on medical websites I learned about his
life away from motorcycles. “Kickstand”, from Rare Breed MC, told me about the biker and man, “Code Blue”, who so many of y’all knew. Code Blue’s obituary says he was really good at math and science from the time he was in elementary school in Saginaw, Michigan. It mentions his laboratory under the stairs and experiments and calling himself a “mad scientist.” So, the man was destined for the medical field. He was a Cub Scout and Boy Scout. Code Blue worked from a young age as a paperboy and pushing an ice cream cart. His family picked crops with the migrant workers. The obituary details his schooling from Flint Northern High School to Michigan State University to Meharry Medical College. While completing his internship and residency at Baylor College of Medicine he married Arlene Rachal in 1981. Over the years, Code Blue perfected his skills and got advanced training to become a talented and respected cardiovascular thoracic surgeon. He joined the faculty at Duke University Medical Center in Danville, VA. Code Blue was 70 years old when he passed in August, but he had 43 years of experience in the medical field and performed more than 15,000 vascular and abdominal surgeries. Imagine how many people are alive and healthy today because of his skill and dedication. The hospital and medical news websites had lots of posts from other doctors praising him and telling how much he will be missed. One of his brothers in the Rare Breed MC told me a little more about Code Blue. “Kickstand” said, “I’ve known Code Blue for more than 10 years and he’s always been the same person,”. “Always been that person who is about solving problems.” “There wasn’t much Code Blue wouldn’t do if he wanted to. He had a pilot’s license and was in the process of build-
