John Robert Strawn

1931 - 2023

John Robert Strawn
02/03/1931 - 12/07/2023
Bob wrote the following about his life:

Bob died on December 7, 2023. He was born on February 3, 1931, to E. J. and Ruth Strawn in Big Spring, Texas. He grew up in Houston from age 11 and, except for four years of medical residency in Philadelphia and two years in the Air Force in Harlingen, he lived out his years in Houston. He started school in Tulsa and finished in Houston: Roberts Elementary, Lanier Junior High, Lamar High School, Rice Institute and Baylor University College of Medicine. He took his internship and residency in internal medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. After the Air Force, where he served as a medical officer, he returned to Baylor College of Medicine as a faculty member, teaching at Jefferson Davis and later Ben Taub Hospitals. He spent seven of the most frustrating and rewarding years of his life there, a fond memory that had grown dim until he re-lived it treating patients at the Astrodome after Hurricane Katrina. He left Baylor in 1969 for private practice in southwest Houston, primarily in office but also working at Memorial Southwest Hospital. There, his colleagues honored him by electing him President of the hospital staff. In 1985, his partner Bill Ossenfort died, and Bob joined the Medical Clinic of Houston until he retired in 1998. Along the way, he passed the examination for the American Board of Internal Medicine, served as president of the Houston Society of Internal Medicine, the Blood Club and the Texas Society of Internal Medicine. He also served on many committees for the Harris County Medical Society.
All of these honors paled before the honor bestowed on him by Martha Hodge when she accepted his proposal of marriage. Martha and Bob were married August 14, 1953, at South Main Baptist Church. Martha had just graduated from Rice, and Bob was starting his sophomore year in medical school. They still had all of those times mentioned above ahead of them, some of them hard times. Their first two children, Lisa and John, were born while they lived in Philadelphia. Their third child, Susan, was born while he was in the Air Force.

After that, life was glorious. He loved the practice of medicine, his patients, his colleagues, but most of all his family. Martha loved teaching school and bringing up the children. Lisa graduated from Rice, married Andy Foley and gave them three grandchildren: William, Elise and Robert. John graduated from Dartmouth College and University of Texas Law School, married Allison Linneman and added four more grandchildren: Emory, Peter, Ellie and Eric. Susan graduated from Princeton University and the University of Texas Law School. How proud could a dad be?

Then one day we got a call from Lisa. (I tried to write this in the third person, but couldn't. This is too much a part of me to step back.) Lisa was sick and had an abnormal chest X-ray. A few days later, I got a call from her pulmonologist. She had adenocarcinoma of the lung. We were devastated. Why? She wasn't yet 38 years old and never smoked. None of us had smoked. Soon Martha retired from teaching and I retired from practice and we moved to Denver to help Lisa. She died in February of 1999. I felt my spirit and my faith died too. I've spent the rest of my life trying to get back into God's good graces and trying to let God back into mine.

We bought a farm in southern Grimes County in 2004, where we have spent much of our time since. It's a beautiful place that we love. Our grandson William married Sherry Chang at the farm in 2011. It was special. They have given us two great-grandchildren, Liv and Leon. Our granddaughter Elise married Brian James in 2019, and they gave us a third great-grandchild, Lucie. How we have been blessed.

In lieu of flowers, I ask that you take the time and do something for others less fortunate, and to make that a daily habit. And don't forget Martha. Stay in touch.

In addition to Bob's words above, the family adds that Bob volunteered thousands of hours with the Christian Community Service Center Garden, growing produce for food pantries in Houston, a labor of love. He also was a member of South Main Baptist Church, where he served as a deacon. The farm also provided a loving home to many abandoned mutts, and he is predeceased by Buddy, Hairy, Skipper, Lady and Molly, and survived by Maggie, Pup and Pooh Bear, along with dozens more dogs for whom we found forever homes. The farm also provided a final green pasture for a half dozen well-loved rescue horses.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, February 3, 2024, at South Main Baptist Church in Houston.