John Andrews

John H. Andrews
1922-2020
John H. Andrews (BS, MS, MD) passed away on November 17, 2020 at 98 years of age. Dr. Andrews was an ophthalmologist, Air Force WWII B-29 command pilot, meteorologist, and physicist. He was born on October 9, 1922 in Kentwood, La. to Omie Belle Dykes Andrews and Malcolm L. Andrews.
He entered Southeastern La. University at the age of 16 and graduated in 3½ years with a BS in Physics and Math. He entered the Army Air Corps in 1942 and rose to become a senior pilot and officer. When the war was over, the Air Force sent him to Ohio State University for an MS in Physics where he provided flight instruction to Tuskegee pilots at Lockbourne AFB. After graduation, he became a staff officer at Wright-Patterson AFB, working on the development of the Loran navigation system and National Solar Observatory, and on research to determine Russia's atomic bomb capabilities. He attended Harvard University while working at the Air Force Research Laboratory in Cambridge, Mass. Honorably discharged in 1950, he pursued a medical degree at Louisiana State University School of Medicine, graduating in 1954. He completed an internship at Charity Hospital, a fellowship for National Institute of Health, and an Ophthalmology residency at Tulane University School of Medicine.
Dr. Andrews practiced medicine as a board-certified ophthalmologist in Baytown, Texas from 1959 to 1999. He was on the teaching staff of Baylor College of Medicine, president of the East Harris County Medical Society, chief of surgery at Houston Methodist San Jacinto Hospital, and board member of the Harris County Medical Society. For 40 years, he treated without compensation indigent patients for the Harris County Hospital District. He later donated land and a building to the district for an office.
Dr. Andrews was a Mason, a Shriner, a member of the Knights Templar and Cedar Bayou Methodist Church.
He was preceded in death by his beloved mother; brothers, Talmadge Andrews and Randolph Andrews of Kentwood, LA; sister, Mary E. Andrews of Hammond, LA; son, Mark D. Andrews; and nephew, Dr. Reginald Sanders. He is survived by sons, John H. Andrews Jr. (Roselyn) of Garden Ridge, TX, Dr. Quentin T. Andrews (Maureen) of Katy, TX, and Scott C. Andrews (Aya) of Panama; and daughters, Carolyn Urban (Michael) of Houston, TX, and Ginger Gelke (Rick) of New York, NY. In addition, he is survived by cherished grandchildren, Warren Andrews, Judith Andrews, Jonathan Andrews (Ashley), Kristen Staggers (Ryan), Ann Andrews, Brad Urban (Citrine), Andrew Urban, Ellie Gelke, Keats Andrews, and Witt Andrews; and great grandchildren, Nathan Andrews, Jax and Ryker Andrews, Coy Staggers, and Cambria, Coraline, and Nixon Urban. He is also survived by nieces and nephews, Dr. Charles Sanders, Dr. Sherri Sanders, Bruce Sanders, Sharon Andrews, and Craig Andrews, as well as treasured friends and thousands of patients whose lives he touched.
A private service was held on November 24, 2020.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial contributions to the Shriners Hospitals for Children.