Harold Tausend

Tausend
Harold Jack Tausend, MD., died peacefully at his home, on Sunday morning, September 25, 2011, of natural causes. He was born on August 9, 1917, in Minden, Iowa. His family moved to the Houston Heights in 1927. He graduated from John H. Reagan High School in 1933. Jack attended Rice University and graduated at age 19, in 1937. Upon acceptance into medical school, he attended the University of Texas Medical School in Galveston, Texas, and graduated in 1941. Jack was elected a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society while at medical school. His post-graduate training began at the University of Wisconsin Hospitals in Madison, Wisconsin. After World War II, he returned to Madison to complete his internship. During his internship at the University of Wisconsin, while treating Genevieve Nesbit, he met the true love of his life, Mary Louise Nesbit, daughter of Dr. Wellwood Nesbit and Genevieve Nesbit. He married Mary Nesbit in Madison, Wisconsin, on April 23, 1949, and returned to Houston, Texas, to begin his practice as a family doctor and raise his family.
Jack Tausend was an honored member of the "Greatest Generation." He was a medical officer in the 44th General Hospital, in the Pacific Theater of War. He began the war working in an American hospital in Australia. The 44th General Hospital followed General McArthur in his return to the Philippine Islands. Jack Tausend was one of the first doctors to attend and treat the captive American civilians in the liberation of the University of Santo Thomas, in Manila. He remained in the Philippine Islands for the duration of the war. The 44th General Hospital was scheduled to be part of the invasion of Japan, when World War II ended. He was discharged from the United States Army at the rank of Captain.
He was certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine. He set up his private practice on Travis Street, in Houston. He practiced Internal Medicine from 1949 until 1983, when he retired from private practice. Our father believed that he had the honor of practicing medicine in the "Golden Age of Medicine" when there was a true relationship between doctors and patients and he saw tremendous advances in medicine and cures for many diseases. When he retired, he was one of the few doctors still making house calls to his patients. After retirement from private practice, he began working for the Kelsey-Seybold Clinics at the Johnson Space Center, as a staff physician. He worked at NASA from 1983 through 1999. He truly loved the nurses, doctors and aides, at NASA, whom he called his "NASA Family." Upon retirement from Kelsey-Seybold, he kept his medical license current, until 2009. During this time, he treated his family and friends, keeping everyone up to date with vaccinations, flu shots and prescriptions. While he had four children, Jack Tausend was a father to many of his neighbors, nieces and nephews and his children's friends, whom they would seek advice and direction from throughout their lives.
Jack Tausend is survived by his four children, and their spouses, Wellwood Nesbit Tausend, and wife, Julia Olliver Tausend, Marc David Tausend, and wife, Anna Marie Tausend, Margaret (Peg) Tausend Woody, and husband, James Kenneth Woody, and Peter Carl Tausend, and wife, Zenaida Gonzales Tausend. He is also survived by his grandchildren, Marc Wellwood Tausend and wife, Erin Chiles Tausend, Eric Christian Tausend and fiancée, Elizabeth Rogers Greenblatt, Alan Michael Dohrman Tausend, John Curtis McKallip and wife, Jennifer Krupa McKallip, Emily McKallip Hill and husband, Jeffery Thomas Hill, Mary Nesbit Tausend, Jack Dohrman Tausend, Gerry Gonzales Tausend and Selma Caroline Tausend, and his great-grandchildren, Brady Thomas Hill and Reid Taylor McKallip. He is also survived by his brother, Paul Tausend, M.D., and wife, Ruby Tausend, of Pasadena, Texas, his sister-in-law, Martha Nesbit Francwicz, of Madison, Wisconsin and numerous nieces and nephews. Our family would like to thank Dr. Marjorie Horning, who was Dad's second love, dear friend, and companion who kept him young, and active. With Marjorie's guidance, Jack developed an interest in the Museum of Fine Arts Houston and has arranged to donate his family's original Grant Wood paintings to the institution in memory of his wife, Mary Nesbit Tausend. Jack Tausend was predeceased by his wife, Mary Nesbit Tausend, who died in 1986 and his third grandson, Ryan Matthew Christian Tausend, who died in 1982. He was also predeceased by his parents, Rudolph Samuel Tausend and Caroline Dohrman Tausend, his sister, Ruth White, and his brother, Ralph Tausend.
A memorial service for Jack Tausend will be held Saturday, October 1, 2011, at 1:00 P. M., at Bethel Church, located at 825 Bering Drive, Houston, Texas 77057, with Dr. Michael Boys officiating. Honorary pallbearers will be his grandsons, John C. McKallip III, Marc W. Tausend, Eric C. Tausend, Alan Michael Tausend, Jack D. Tausend, Gerry G. Tausend and his grandson-in-law, Jeffery T. Hill. There will be a reception to honor the life of Jack Tausend at his family residence, following the memorial service. Our family would like to thank all of his friends who loved and supported our father over his incredible life's journey.
In lieu of flowers, contributions in the loving memory of Jack and Mary Tausend may be directed to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, P. O. Box 6826, Houston, Texas 77265.