DR. THOMAS BARKER DAMERON JR.
RALEIGH -- Thomas Barker Dameron Jr., M.D., of Raleigh, died December 11, 2004.
Born June 1, 1924, in Rocky Mount, N.C., to Thomas Barker Dameron Sr. and Isa Rebecca Sills Dameron, Dr. Dameron grew up in Goldsboro, N.C. After graduating from Goldsboro High School, he attended The Citadel, in Charleston, S.C., and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He graduated from medical school at Duke University where he met his bride, Nancy Jane Henry Dameron.
He interned at Baylor University Hospital in Dallas, completed his General Surgery Residency at Grady Hospital in Atlanta and his Orthopaedic Residency at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore before moving to Raleigh. In 1954, he went into private practice with Dr. Hugh Thompson and Dr. Walter Hunt, with whom he established Raleigh Orthopaedic Clinic where he practiced medicine with great love for forty years.
As a boy, Tom Dameron was an Eagle Scout and was on the football and track teams at Goldsboro High School. In undergraduate school, he was on UNC's football and wrestling teams. He served at the U.S. Naval Hospital at Camp Lejeune during World War II and later at the U.S. Army Hospital at Camp Gordon and the U. S. Naval Hospital in Bethesda, MD during the Korean War.
A member of Hayes Barton United Methodist Church for over fifty years, Dr. Dameron taught both adult and youth Sunday school classes, was a member of the Wesleyan Fellowship Sunday School Class, and served the church in various other capacities.
He was chairman of the Medical Community United Way drives for many years, chairman of the Alice Aycock Poe Center for Health Education Building Fund drive and Grandparents Chairman for the Annual Fund at Ravenscroft School.
Dr. Dameron was on the Selection Committee of Morehead Scholars for UNC. He served as chairman of the Governor's Advisory Committee for Study of Crippled Children's Facilities and was on the Boards of Directors of the United Way of Raleigh and Wake County, Hilltop Home, Wake County Cerebral Palsy and Rehabilitation Center, Raleigh Chamber of Commerce and the Wake County Board for Care Options Plans for the Elderly.
Dr. Dameron was an instructor in surgery at Duke University Medical School from 1954-1961, Adjunct Associate Professor of Poultry Science at NC State University from 1961-1968 and Clinical Professor, Division of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill beginning in 1965. His work was published in many medical journals, and he authored chapters in numerous medical textbooks. He traveled extensively, speaking and teaching throughout the U.S. and Europe and in Africa, Russia and China. During two summers, he served as a medical missionary in Southern Ethiopia and Tunisia.
Dr. Dameron served as president of the Southern Medical Association, the North Carolina Medical Society, the Wake County Medical Society, the North Carolina Orthopaedic Association, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgeons, and the Duke Medical and Johns Hopkins Alumni Associations. He was a member of The Twentieth Century Orthopaedic Association, The Association of Bone and Joint Surgeons, Societe Internationale de Chirurgie Orthopaedique et de Traumatologie (Chairman, U.S. section), The Southern Surgical Association, American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons and The American College of Surgeons (Fellow).
Dr. Dameron served on the Boards of Directors of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, the North Carolina Institute of Medicine, the Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation, the SICOT Foundation, the Southern Medical Association (Chairman), Wake Medical Center, Triangle Bank and Carolina Federal Savings and Loan.
During his career, Dr. Dameron was named Physician of the Year by the American Medical Association, Physician of the Year by the Southern Medical Association, Rex Hospital Physician of the Year, Distinguished Citizen Award by the Occoneechee Council of the Boy Scouts of America, and Tarheel of the Week by the Raleigh News and Observer. He received the Distinguished Service Award from UNC Medical School.
He was also a member of the Terpsichorean Club, the Sphinx Club, the Circle Club, the Royster Club, and Zeta Psi Fraternity.
Dr. Dameron was preceded in death by his sisters, Isa Dameron Barton and Scottie Dameron Perry and by his brother, William Henry Dameron.
He is survived by his beloved wife of fifty-five years, Nancy Jane Henry Dameron, and his five children, Thomas Barker Dameron, III (and wife, Pamela Johnston Dameron) of Raleigh, Dr. David Henry Dameron of Manhattan Beach, CA, Christopher Buxton Williams Dameron of Bullock, NC, Nancy Dameron Almquist (and husband, Henry Gustav Almquist, Jr.) of Atlanta, GA, and Rebecca Jane Dameron of Bent Mountain, VA. Also surviving are his ten grandchildren: Thomas Barker Dameron IV, William Rodgers Johnston Dameron, Laura Shelby Dameron, David Belser Dameron of Raleigh, Christopher Buxton Williams Dameron Jr., Jacob McBryde Dameron, Sarah Dalton Dameron of Raleigh, Katherine Dameron Almquist, Henry Gustav Almquist III, and Anna Hilliard Almquist of Atlanta.
The family received friends Monday evening from 5 to 7 at their home. A funeral service was held at Hayes Barton United Methodist Church today, Tuesday, December 14, 2004, at 11 o'clock.
Memorial gifts may be made to Hayes Barton United Methodist Church, 2209 Fairview Road, Raleigh, NC 27608 or to the Dameron Orthopaedic Education Foundation, Raleigh Orthopaedic Clinic, 3515 Glenwood Avenue, Raleigh, NC 27612.
Arrangements by Brown-Wynne Funeral Home, Saint Mary's Street.
Tributes for Dr. Dameron can be made through www.brownwynne .com
(Written & Paid by the Family)
Published in Obituaries on December 14, 2004 1:47 PM