John Pitt TOMLINSON III

TOMLINSON, John Pitt III

passed through death unto eternal life with Jesus on January 10, 2019. The son of John Pitt Tomlinson Jr. and Charlotte Bassage Tomlinson, Pitt was born in 1936 in Lake Wales, Florida, where both his father and paternal grandfather practiced medicine in a county known for its citrus groves and cattle ranches. His father served in the Army Air Corps during World War II, and his maternal grandfather, who lived in nearby Sebring, had been a member of the 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry, commonly known as Roosevelt's Rough Riders.

Pitt grew up on Cohassett Avenue and was confirmed in the local Episcopal congregation, the Church of the Good Shepherd. He attended Camp Wingmann, the diocesan camp in Avon Park. While at Lake Wales High School, he drove a Jeep, played football and baseball and was a trombonist in the school band. Pitt spent summers working on the family's ranch in LaBelle, where he kept a horse that he had saddle broken after receiving it as a gift from the Stokes family.

In 1953, Pitt entered Emory University. After receiving his bachelor's degree, he remained at Emory for medical school, from which he graduated in 1961. Between college and medical school, he sailed on the Holland America Line to bike and travel around Europe.

In the mid-1960s, Pitt served as a general medical officer in the U.S. Air Force, stationed in Nevada as part of the SR-71 strategic reconnaissance aircraft program. During this time, he married Sally Wade, whom he had met in Mexico City at the Hotel Del Prado during the 1956 national convention of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity.

After Pitt left active duty, he and Sally moved to Jacksonville, where he completed a pediatric residency. Pitt then practiced pediatrics in Lake Wales and at Mease Clinic in Dunedin. During this time, he attended the Church of the Ascension in Clearwater and served on the board of trustees at St. Paul's School. At age forty-three, he returned to the military, this time with the U.S. Army, which afforded an opportunity for his family to move to Williamsburg, Virginia, where he attended Bruton Parish Church.

Pitt switched fields of medicine in the Army after completing his master of public health degree at Johns Hopkins University. He twice served as chief of preventive medicine at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and served as the communicable disease consultant in the office of the Army surgeon general during the Gulf War. While in the Army, Pitt was awarded the Legion of Merit three times, the Meritorious Service Medal twice and a Commendation Medal.

After Pitt retired from military service with the rank of colonel, he and Sally moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where he worked for the state's disability determination services agency, before retiring in 2005.

Pitt was a kind, Christian gentleman who loved his family, cared for his patients, and served his country. He enjoyed spending time with his family and taking them on trips, doing yardwork, working at his desk, reading the newspaper, listening to the radio, feeding squirrels, and sending weekly letters to his granddaughters.

He was preceded in death by his wife and is survived by his son, John Pitt Tomlinson IV; his daughter-in-law, Sarah E. High Tomlinson; his two granddaughters, Mercy Rose Tomlinson and Lily Grace Tomlinson; his sister, Gale Tomlinson Hussey; his brother, Ashton King Tomlinson; his sister-in-law, Pat Thurmond Wade; and numerous nieces and nephews.

The family extends their appreciation for the outstanding care provided by the staff of Brookdale Meadowmont, UNC Health Care and UNC Hospice, as well as for Pastor Gary Webb's weekly devotions at Brookdale Meadowmont that Pitt attended.

Memorial gifts may be directed to the Church of the Good Shepherd, 221 South 4th Street, Lake Wales, Florida 33853.

"While I draw this fleeting breath, When mine eyelids close in death, When I rise to worlds unknown And behold thee on thy throne, Rock of ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in thee."