Services for the pediatrician, who died last week at age 55, are next week.

A kind ear can be as healing as any medical treatment, which Dr. Diane Fuquay knew well.

When she listened, “she wouldn’t just hear the words, she’d hear the feelings behind the words and knew what was fluff and what was real,” said Kim Miller, whose children were among thousands Bailey tended during a quarter-century of pediatrics practice on Bainbridge Island.

“She wasn’t afraid to tell the truth, but in the kindest way imaginable,” Miller said. “She just knew that it was important that people heard the right words so they could make the right decision for them and their family.”

Diane Elizabeth Fuquay Bailey died Sept. 8 at her home on Bainbridge Island. She was 55 years old, and had been a member of the island community for 26 years.

Fuquay was born on July 21, 1950 at the Doctor’s Hospital in Seattle to James Fuquay and Virginia Trafton.

She grew up in the city of Richland and moved to Seattle when she was offered early acceptance to the University of Washington before she had graduated from high school.

She finished her undergraduate studies at the University of Washington in 1971, and then went on to graduate from the University of Washington’s School of Medicine in 1976 with honors.

She completed her internship and residency in pediatrics at Children’s Hospital in Seattle. She was also inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society, received the Frederick C. Moll Prize in pediatrics, and was honored by the American Medical Women’s Association with a citation for her scholastic scholarship achievement.

After medical school, Fuquay moved to Kenai, Alaska to work with the Indian Health Services for a year. She then returned to Seattle and took a pediatric residency at Children’s Hospital.

In July 1979, she moved to Bainbridge Island to start the pediatrics practice at Winslow Clinic, now called Virginia Mason Winslow Clinic.

Dr. Thomas Haggar and Dr. Robert Scribner hired Fuquay as the fifth doctor at the clinic.

“She was one of the most intelligent doctors I ever worked with,” Haggar said. “She could have done whatever she wanted to,” but her heart was in the community where she provided dedicated service for 25 years.

For some years after joining the Winslow clinic, Fuquay continued to help staff the emergency department at Seattle’s Children’s Hospital, care for newborns at Swedish Medical Center and conduct clinical research.

Haggar said she had a lot of empathy for her patients, kept up to date on advances in the field of pediatrics and was “eager and willing to teach the rest of us caring for children.”

“She provided a level of care to seriously ill children who would not be able to (normally) get in a small community,” Haggar said. But for her presence, such children might otherwise have been referred to a hospital in the big city.

She was on the list of doctors taking turns to be on call to meet the fire department at emergency scenes 24 hours a day before there was a staffed emergency room on the peninsula.

“She’d show up whenever we asked her to,” said Jim Dow, a long-time EMT with the Bainbridge Island Fire Department. “If we had a pediatric case, even if she wasn’t on call, she’d come.”

Dow says the memory of aid calls runs together, “what you’re truly left with is an overall impression, a deep sense of appreciation for her efforts.”

Within the clinic, Fuquay was good at finding common ground among the group of physicians, Haggar said, “very insightful in interpersonal relations.”

From her, Haggar said he learned to be a good listener, a common theme among people who knew her.

Miller knew her for 16 years, first as the doctor of her children and then as a friend in the last eight years.

“When you’re with Diane, you had her undivided attention,” Miller said. “She was just with you 150 percent.”

If a patient was scheduled for a 10-minute exam, but more time was needed, “she’d take an hour with anyone, not just friends,” Miller said.

Haggar believes his colleague’s keen empathy was what let her treat very sick children.

“She’d make eye contact, listen and take it to heart,” he said.

As the only pediatrician on the island for years, and then later as one of only two, Fuquay saw entire generations of children grow up. It was her love of children and people that made her such a good doctor, but also a devoted mother and wife.

“Medicine is so demanding, but she always put her family first without compromising the care she gave her patients,” Haggar said. “She was able to not lose sight of the importance of her family.”

Fuquay was a strong advocate for immunization of children, Haggar said; she tackled and became a resource for difficult issues, such as sexually abused youths, whom other doctors might choose to avoid.

Fuquay worked as a pediatrician on the island for 25 years until she retired in 2004, and served on the National Pediatrics Quality Board.

She was a classically trained pianist and a lover of the outdoors.

She kayaked the Oregon coast and the San Juan Islands, rafted the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon and as a mountain climber she summited Mt. Baker, Mt. Adams, Mt. St. Helens and Mt Rainier.

She was a charter board member of the Bainbridge Educational Support Team, board member for Bainbridge Youth Services and served as medical director for a local daycare. She participated in community events and raised her two children on Bainbridge Island.

She is survived by her husband Stan Bailey and her two children, Elizabeth Bailey and James Bailey.

A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Sept. 24 at Rolling Bay Presbyterian Church. Remembrances may be sent to the Cancer Institute at Virginia Mason for breast cancer care, P.O. Box 1930, Mail Stop D1-MF, Seattle, WA 98111.