Rash's Surname Index
Notes for Howard Pitner Jr. THOMAS
Howard P. Thomas Jr., 91, a physician in Telford for 40 years and former chief of pediatrics at Grand View Hospital in Sellersville, died of pneumonia May 4 at North Penn Hospital in Lansdale. Dr. Thomas grew up in Media and graduated from Westtown Friends School. He earned a bachelor's degree from Haverford College and a master's degree in chemistry at Johns Hopkins University, where he met a nursing student, Sally Shepherd. They married in 1943.
After receiving a medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania, he interned at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and completed a surgical residency at Chester County Hospital before serving in the Army Medical Corps.
In 1948, Dr. Thomas bought a home and a general medicine practice in Telford. Several years later, he decided to specialize in pediatrics - then a new field - and completed a residency at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. In the late 1950s, Dr. Thomas became Grand View's first chief of pediatrics.
Helen Rawson, a retired pediatrician in Lansdale, said she and Dr. Thomas had assisted each other with patients. He liked his work, was very conscientious, and had a sense of humor, she said. To encourage mothers to breast-feed, he explained that "breast milk was sterile, was always the right temperature, and came in such nice containers," Rawson said.
Dr. Thomas kept up with medical literature and was a pioneer in evidence-based medicine, said his son Richard "Mark" Thomas, who is also a physician.
In his youth, Dr. Thomas was a camper and later a counselor at Camp Dark Waters in Medford, where he acquired a love of the outdoors. He enjoyed hiking and biking. He was also a gifted photographer and had a keen eye for composition, his son said.
Dr. Thomas moved from Telford to the Dock Woods Retirement Community in Lansdale in 2005.
In addition to his son, he is survived by another son, Howard III, and daughters Bonnie and Beth Ann. Daughter Susan died in 1997. His wife died in 2005.
A memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. May 30 at Gwynedd Friends Meeting, Route 202 and Sumneytown Pike.
Memorial donations may be made to Indian Valley Public Library, 100 E. Church Ave., Telford, Pa. 18969, a library Dr. Thomas helped establish in the 1960s.
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