IN REMEMBRANCE
(continued from page 9)
he served to inspire many poor people to aspire to more than they
would have, otherwise. These lessons and beliefs remained with
him throughout his life.
In the mid 1960s John decided he would become a cardiologist
and was accepted to the Henry Ford Hospital cardiology fellow-
ship program in Detroit, Michigan. With Virginia and their four
children, he moved to Detroit. Needless to say, the salary for a
cardiology fellow was nowhere near enough to support his fami-
ly, so once again he took on multiple moonlighting jobs to make
ends meet. In 1969 with his cardiology fellowship completed, John
was recruited to Louisville by his college friend Dr. Henry Post to
join their group, which consisted of Dr. Woodford Troutman, Dr.
Ralph Denham and Dr. Donald Mosely. In a few years, with the
addition of myself plus several others, the group became known as
Cardiovascular Associates.
John’s hospital practice was primarily at St. Anthony Hospital
where he spearheaded their expansion of cardiology services to
include cardiac stress testing, cardiac rehabilitation and setting up
an intensive care unit. John was a Fellow of the American College
of Cardiology and the Council on Clinical Cardiology. He served
on the Kentucky Governor’s Advisory Committee for the Amer-
ican College of Physicians and was also the President of the St.
Anthony Medical Staff. John was recognized by both hospital and
office staff for being a kind and caring physician who always put
his patients’ best interests first. Sometimes to the chagrin of his
office assistants, he spent a lot of time with each patient causing
their schedule to run much longer than expected.
During his practice years, John devoted most of his limited
spare time to Virginia and their children. During his Navy service,
he learned a good deal about electronics, and this spurred his in-
terest and hobby, inventing electronic gadgets in his workshop. It
is said that at times, Virginia was not happy with the messy work-
shop in their home.
John retired from Cardiovascular Associates in 1994 after 25
years. He always loved talking about his years as a small-town doc-
tor in Mississippi. He also loved writing, especially short stories
about their years living in southern Mississippi. He became an ac-
tive member of the Crescent Hill Writers Group where he wrote
short stories and some poetry. Later he founded the Lenbrook
Writing Group at his retirement home in Atlanta. He also enjoyed
doing pottery in retirement.
Another hobby he learned in retirement was baking bread. He
thought baking bread was the same as a chemistry lab experiment,
often experimenting with new and original recipes. In fact, he en-
10
LOUISVILLE MEDICINE
tered his bread in the Kentucky State Fair competition for three
years and won first place all three years, which did not make a
perennial winner of that division happy.
Travel made John and his Virginia extremely happy. Their three
to six week travel tours often took them worldwide. They travelled
to China, Singapore, most of the European countries, Australia
and New Zealand, as well as the British Virgin Isles.
John’s beloved wife Virginia passed away in 2007. This led to
his moving into a retirement home in Atlanta in order to be near
two of his four children. He was fortunate to remain healthy and
active for several years. He was socially active in the home’s activ-
ities including dancing and telling stories.
John was always devoted to and proud of his four children who
survive him. They are:
John C. Tomlinson Jr., (Nan), Ginger Kaldenbach (Tom), Scott
Tomlinson (Marty) and their 3 children - Martha Scott, Sarah
Francis and Spencer and Susan Lippert (Wendell).
John and his family were members of Second Presbyterian
Church. He will long be remembered by all who knew him as a
kind and caring physician, a learned person who was devoted to
his patients and friends.
- Robert R. Goodin, MD, FACC, retired cardiologist. A colleague of Dr. John Tomlin-
son for 20 years at Cardiovascular Associates