"God will definitely show you the way to smile again. I know this experience will change you forever. I hope in the days to come you can remember all the good times you shared with your father and all the love he gave you throughout the years. He is not gone. I know he will be watching over you forever. He lives on in your heart! Love you, Dianne"
In loving memory of
Dr. John A. Bollinger
May 12, 2018
Dr. John A. Bollinger, 91, passed away on May 12, 2018. He was born in Paterson, NJ to John Bollinger and Marie Polzer Bollinger. John attended Tusculum College in Greeneville, TN where he met his future wife Carolyn, and based on an accelerated medical school acceptance program, attended the University of Louisville School of Medicine where he earned a M.D. degree in 1949. After completing an internship at the Jersey City Medical Center and a residency in General Surgery at St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, IL, he undertook a preceptorship as an Air Force Captain at the USAF 1100th Hospital in Washington, D.C. During this time, he practiced, collaborated and published with medical researchers on a variety of medical issues including "Pancreatic Surgery, Chronic Pancreatitis and Lithiasis" and "Trigger Finger."
After the death of his mother from pancreatic cancer, John moved his family to New Jersey and established a private practice. He relocated the family in 1957 to Granada Hills, CA where he opened a private practice in a medical group. Not one to linger in one place, in 1973, he moved with his wife and daughter, Teri, to Maryville, TN. In addition to his practice there, he served as Chief of Surgery at Blount Memorial Hospital and did a stint as a Clinical Instructor in Surgery at the University of Tennessee Hospital. Although he enjoyed the smaller town atmosphere of Maryville and thrived there, in 1987, he was coaxed by a former colleague to move to Englewood where he settled for the next thirty years. By the time he retired from medicine in 1994, he had served Englewood Community Hospital in several administrative capacities, including as a member of the Board of Directors, Chief of Staff, Chief of Surgery, and Chairman of the Executive Committee as well as the Surgical Care Committee. He was honored as ECH Doctor of the Year 1988-89.
John had a zest for life. He was an avid reader, especially about the old west, and a voracious learner. The family joke was that he had "itchy feet," that is, he was always moving forward to learn or experience something new. He was an aviator, hunter, and fisherman, and he even bought lapidary equipment to give jewelry making a try. (A noble hobby for the only male in an all-female household, including pets!) The two driving forces that shaped his life, however, were his devotion to his family and to everyone who came to him for medical care.
John was predeceased by his beloved wife Carolyn and is survived by his three daughters, Ellen, Virginia, Teresa (Teri), Virginia and Teri's husbands, Christopher Hamilton and Donald Burns; two grandchildren, John Willis, Erin and her husband Corey Phillips; two great grandchildren, Graham and Caroline; and his devoted sister, Elsie Kimble. A private inurnment will be held at Gulf Coast Pines Memorial Park and Cemetery. In lieu of flowers tax deductible donations may be made to the Johns Hopkins Pancreatic Cancer Research Center (c/o Dr. R. Hruban; see http://pathology.jhu.edu/pancreas/support.php ). Arrangement are being made by Lemon Bay Funeral Home and Cremation Services, Englewood, FL.