Thomas Green

Longtime Anchorage resident Dr. "Doc" Thomas Green, 73, died peacefully while surrounded by his family Jan. 28, 2010, in Anchorage.

A celebration of life will be at 2:30 p.m. today at the Aviation Heritage Museum in Anchorage.

Doc was born March 17, 1936, in Homestead, a suburb of Pittsburgh, Pa., to Ann Valisko and Robert Green. He graduated from Munhall High School in 1958. He continued training to be a doctor by attending college at Thiele College in Pennsylvania, graduate school at St. Lawrence University in New York. He then drove 1,345 miles from New York and walked himself in to medical school at the University of Manitoba School of Medicine in Canada, where he was accepted into one of only two positions reserved for Americans.

He then drove to Alaska in 1965, after completing medical school and his internship, in an old bus that he also lived in until he became established.

For more than 45 years, he practiced medicine in the Last Frontier. While in Alaska, he became a legacy supporting the Anchorage Military Entrance Processing Station for 30 years as a chief medical officer in addition to his private practice. He delivered more than 5,000 babies in his career. Sometimes seeing many generations of some of the children he delivered as babies.

He treated prison inmates on a contract basis, provided care for Alaskan Natives on St. Paul Island, a tiny remote Bering Sea community as junior officer with the Public Health Service, and was one of the first doctors to open a practice in Eagle River called Eagle River Medical Clinic. He also started Airport Medical Service where Doc did physicals for international airlines and Bush pilots for the Federal Aviation Administration, and made sure to keep them flying. Aviation medicine is something that brought him a lot of enjoyment.

He met Irene while he was in the process of building his Eagle River clinic by hand with recycled materials he found. In fact, their first date was at the "dump" and they had barbeque spareribs. They married in 1969 at St. Andrew's Catholic Church in Eagle River. While he had a busy career, he still found time for his family and helped raise his three sons. Together they would go on many deep sea fishing adventures.

He had many hobbies and activities that he loved. He was an unsurpassed football player in both high school and college. He was also a drummer in a popular band during college and would often perform incognito at Chilkoot Charlie's in his younger years. He also dabbled in welding and would turn some of his collections into art.

Doc was full of life, humor and wise experience that he obtained from practicing frontier medicine. He had an Alaskan "Pay It Forward" approach to his life and to his work because "Every once in awhile (and possibly every day) you have somebody who needs you, and you give it." He never turned anyone away for medical treatment. He would gladly take something in trade, like a neon sign, and add it to his collection. Doc will be missed by everyone who knew him, but because nothing about him was average, he will never be forgotten.

He is survived by his his sons, Justin Green, Niels Green and Bart Green, all of Anchorage; grandchild, Alexander Green of Anchorage; daughter-in-law, Pinja Larme Green of Anchorage; brother, Robert Green, of Pennsylvania; nephew, Kenny Green of Pennsylvania; and former wife, Irene May-Green of Anchorage.