Dr. David G. Kemp

David Garrett Kemp, M.D., F.A.C.P., Captain, Medical Corps, U.S. Navy Ret., age 83, of Gloucester, passed away on Monday, January 6, 2025. Dr. Kemp was born on February 21, 1941, in Toledo, Ohio, to the late Donald and Blanche Gruber Kemp. He graduated from the University of Toledo with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering, graduating Magna Cum Laude, and earned his M.D. from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Dr. Kemp completed his rotating internship and began his residency in Internal Medicine in 1968. He then attended U.S. Navy Flight Surgeon School at the Naval Aerospace Medical Institute in Pensacola, Florida. He served as a flight surgeon on the USS Forrestal and USS Saratoga carriers during deployment in Vietnam and the Mediterranean. Then, he was an internist at the US Embassy in London. Subsequent medical assignments were at Naval Hospitals in Boston, Oakland, Portsmouth, and Bethesda. The Navy recognized his leadership skills by appointing him Commander of Bethesda Naval Medical Center and then Commander of Naval Health Sciences Education and Training Command. He retired from the Navy in 1995. He continued his medical service in the Lehigh Valley and Virginia's Middle Peninsula, including biweekly trips to conduct clinics for the residents of Tangier Island. Dr. Kemp retired after accomplishing his goal of 50 years of practicing medicine. David loved the outdoors. He sailed his 36-foot Rafiki sailing yacht on both the West and East Coasts, was an accomplished sailplane pilot, and tramped the cold Pennsylvania fields with Labrador Retrievers hunting birds. He was also an expert woodworker, applying ingenuity and precision to projects ranging from a doll house for his daughter to a reproduction of a nineteenth-century hall clock. He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth Exler Kemp; his children, Colin Garrett Kemp (Dr. Hope Rinehimer) and Dr. Catherine Jarrett Kemp (Dr. Ben Jarrett); his grandchildren, Asher Kemp Jarrett and Blythe Kemp Jarrett; and his sister, Barbara Kemp. The family will receive friends at Hogg Funeral Home on Wednesday, January 15, 2025, from 5:30 to 7:00 PM. The funeral mass, officiated by Father Gregory, will be held at noon on Thursday, January 16, 2025, at the Church of St. Therese, 6262 Main Street, Gloucester, VA, 23061. Interment with full military honors will take place at a later date at Arlington National Cemetery. Memorial contributions to the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society and the Gloucester Mathews Care Clinic in memory of Dr. Kemp. Services are under the direction of Hogg Funeral Home.