John Walker Poundstone

1940 - 2023

John Walker Poundstone
May 1, 1940 - April 1, 2023
Lexington, Kentucky - JOHN WALKER POUNDSTONE, MD
John Walker Poundstone, MD, age 82, passed away peacefully on Saturday, April 1, at Thomson-Hood Veterans Center in Wilmore after a long struggle with cancer. Born on May 1, 1940, in Lexington, he was the son of Robert Bruce Poundstone and Myra (Shipp) Poundstone. During his years at Lafayette High School, John developed his life-long interests in the environment as a Boy Scout with his father's troop and as a Junior Naturalist at Natural Bridge State Park.
John received his BA in Liberal Arts in 1962 from St. John's College in Annapolis, MD, and his medical degree in 1966 from the newly established University of Kentucky School of Medicine, followed by Board Certification in General Preventive Medicine and an MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health.
John joined the US Navy in 1980 and served as Head of the Venereal Disease and Tuberculosis Control Division, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, Washington DC; Chief of the Division of Epidemiology and Biometrics at the Navy Medical Research Unit, Great Lakes, IL; and Officer in Charge of the Navy Environmental and Preventive Medicine Unit in Naples, Italy, with responsibilities in public health oversight in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.
In 1980, John left active Navy duty, retiring as Captain, to become Commissioner of Health for Lexington, KY, a position he held for 23 years. He pursued a broad range of public health issues, the greatest ones (in his own estimate) coping with the HIV/Aids epidemic in the Bluegrass and enacting a ban against smoking in public indoor spaces in Fayette County. He served in the US Navy Reserve for twenty years. After his retirement as Commissioner, he was an Adjunct Professor in the UK School of Medicine, recruited to help create the new UK School of Public Health. He served terms as President of the American Association of Public Health Physicians, the Kentucky Public Health Association, the Kentucky Public Health Departments Association, and was Vice President of the Lexington Medical Society. A senior member of Rotary Club International, John was the delegate to the Kentucky Medical Association, and he was active in numerous organizations pertaining to public health, including the Boards of the US Conference of Local Health Officials, National Association of County and City Health Officials, the Public Health Foundation, and the Medical Advisory Board for the Lexington Division of Fire and Emergency Services.
John's life was not 'all work and no play', however: he loved music, and sang with the men's chorus, the Chanticleers, at Lafayette High School, attended the annual Spring Festival of the Bach Choir of Bethlehem, PA, for more than 50 years, a tradition that he began with friends in his St. John's College days, and enjoyed performances by the Lexington Philharmonic and UK Opera Theatre. He traveled with his second wife, Mary, a paleopathologist, to various archaeological conferences around the world, and they made several visits to his daughters Katharine in China and Virginia in New York City. He was a dedicated reader with broad interests, ranging from Kentucky natural history to current political events to his favorite murder mysteries by Donna Leone, set in Venice, Italy. Many cats found happy homes with John during his long lifetime, and while not an ardent gardener himself, he appreciated the fruits of his wife's vegetable garden each summer.
John was predeceased by his parents, his brother Robert Bruce Poundstone, and several uncles and aunts. He is survived by his wife Mary Lucas Powell, whom he married in 1991; Katharine Esther Poundstone (Han Bing) and Virginia Edith Poundstone (Torbitt Schwartz), his daughters by his first wife, Ann von Isakovics; his grandchildren Lavinia Ching Yin Han (in Hong Kong) and Zoby Poundstone Schwartz (in Brooklyn); his sister-in-law Sally Poundstone and her daughters Nancy Opdyke (Brad), Holly Corey (Paul), and Alice Poundstone; and numerous cousins.
To continue his long association with the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, John donated his body to the UK Body Bequeathal Program. His family will hold a Memorial Service for John at Central Christian Church in Lexington, where he was a life-long member, at a date to be announced later this year. Donations in his name may be made to Central Christian Church (205 E Short St, Lexington, KY 40507), to Floracliff Nature Sanctuary (8000 Elk Lick Falls Rd, Lexington, KY 40515), or to the Bluegrass Council, Boy Scouts of America (2134 Nicholasville Rd Ste 3, Lexington, KY 40503).