IN REMEMBRANCE
IN REMEMBRANCE:
DR. JOHN C. TOMLINSON
NOVEMBER 20, 1926 -
AUGUST 14, 2019
D
r. John C. Tomlinson, a longtime member of Cardio-
vascular Associates of Louisville, passed from his earth-
ly life into eternal life on August 14, 2019 after a long
and productive life. He was born November 20, 1926 in
the deep South and lived most of his childhood along
the Gulf Coast of the Florida Panhandle and southern
Mississippi. His family was very poor which forced him
to start working for pay as young as 7 years old to help support
his family and allow him to attend school. This need to work his
way through school continued throughout his formal education.
John was a gifted student. Graduating as valedictorian of Gulfport
Mississippi High School, he entered the US Navy in 1944, during
World War II. He served two years stateside primarily as an elec-
tronics and engineer assistant in Texas.
Following his service in the Navy, he entered Mississippi State
University where he continued to work multiple jobs to be able
to remain in school. After only three years, he earned admission
to medical school at Tulane University. It was there that he met
Henry Post who would many years later recruit him to join his
cardiology practice in Louisville. It was during medical school that
he would meet the love of his life and lifelong partner, Virginia
Parsons. They were married in 1950.
Following completion of medical school, John entered gener-
al practice in Carrollton, Mississippi. These were the days before
family practice residencies were available as well as the specialty
of family practice. Carrollton was a small, poor southern Missis-
sippi delta town where growing cotton was the primary source
of income. He learned many important medical skills during his
years there, delivering hundreds of babies and making clinical di-
agnoses with very limited lab testing. After a few years, he became
the only company doctor for the Delta & Pine Land Company
in Scott, Mississippi. This too was a small community essentially
owned by the Land Company, which also owned farm land and
cotton plantations. It was here that John observed the terrible dis-
crimination taking place at the time and he refused to become a
part of it. He insisted that African Americans receive equal care,
to the point of administering the polio vaccine to people only if it
was distributed equally. In their town there was a hospital which
was limited to only white patients. He convinced the company to
build an equal hospital for the African American patients (no one
would hear of sharing).
It was during this time that he became known as Dr. John, and
(continued on page 10)
Dr. Tomlinson was a GLMS member for 51 years.
MAY 2020
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