Scientech Roll of Honor

• Sagamores of the Wabash
  Academic Honors
  Professional Recognition
  Community Contributions
  

Sagamores of the Wabash

Significance

Elton T. Ridley

Elton is the retired Dean of Allied Health Sciences from IUPUI. He was born in Syracuse, NY when his father was completing a Ph. D. at Syracuse University. They soon moved to Chicago where his father was named the first Executive Director of the National Association of City Managers, a post he held for 25 years. (Indiana is the only state that does not have such a system for governing its cities.)

Elton Ridley graduated from the University of Chicago High School in 1945 and spent a year in the U.S. Army before graduating from the University of Illinois, Chicago in1950. Following that he earned an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago in 1952. His field of interest was Hospital Management and then, as now, graduates are required to serve a residency. Elton stated that, “unlike his father whohad the entire city to manage, and thus could not please everyone, he thought that he would take a segment of the city and try to do a good job of running it.”

The school suggested Indiana University Hospitals in Indianapolis and he moved here in 1952. At that time, an administrator managed Long, Coleman and Riley Hospitals, in addition to the Union building, the gift shop and bookstore. Later he was named Hospital Administrator of the three hospitals and was the first head of the new University Hospital when it was completed in the mid 1970’s.

He spent 35 years at IUPUI and in his later years he did some teaching and was named the first Dean of the Allied Health Sciences division, serving for two years. The Elton T. Ridley Minority Scholarship was developed in honor of his contributions to the Health Information Administration, which was previously known as the Medical Record Administration Program. Elton was an associate professor in the Indiana University School of Medicine for many years and taught the Hospital Organization and Management course.

Dean Ridley joined Scientech in 1973 after attending some meetings with fellow IU professors, Sam Hopper and Dick Adams, who was a long-time secretary of Scientech. He certainly has belonged to the Club longer than most members and is still seen frequently at the weekly lectures. In 1986, in appreciation of his many years of excellent service to IUPUI, he was awarded a Sagamore of the Wabash by Governor Robert Orr.

Elton enjoys the fine museums of Indianapolis and is an avid supporter of Children’s Museum, Connor Prairie, Eiteljorg Museum, Indiana Historical Society, Indiana State Museum and the Indianapolis Zoo. His first wife died in 2001 and they had no children. He married Margaret in 2005 and acquired several children and grandchildren.

Bob Annis

Mr. Annis received the Sagamore of the Wabash from Governor Robert Orr in 1987. This was just one of the many accolades awarded to this remarkable man, who was the embodiment of Scientech Club for many years. His death in 1999 at age 92 ended a 74-year relationship with Scientech. He and founding member D.J. Angus, are cited as the two most inspiring members of the Club. The term "mentor" is used to describe both of them.

Bob was born in Indianapolis in 1907. In school he was always good at drawing and designing. Because of his talent, he was awarded a scholarship to the John Herron Art Institute. He then attended Shortridge H. S. for one year but had to leave because of financial difficulties. He did manage to learn something about the new field of radio technology from a Mr. Crockett at Shortridge. He kept up his interest by joining the Indianapolis Radio Club in 1922.

While at the Radio Club he was introduced to D.J. Angus who arranged for a job for Annis at Thomas and Skinner Steel Products. On weekends Angus taught Bob about tools and tool making. While with the Steel Company, Annis built a magnet surge charger. In 1927, he enrolled at Arsenal Tech H.S., working in the afternoon at the Steel Company after he had attended school in the morning. While in high school, he began his own company in 1928.

The R.B. Annis Co. was in business with Bob at the helm for the next 69 years. Over the years, it made a wide variety of products, including transmitting and receiving devices for the U. S. Naval Reserve and the Indiana State Police. The first precision balancing machines were made in the 1930's and they were used in WW II. Annis also produced bomb sights and magnetizers for the U.S. Navy. A pocket magnetizer for the Ampex Corporation was a big success.

Nearly all of the business was gained by word of mouth from previous clients or people in the manufacturing business. Mr. Annis was very generous to his employees, paying them a good wage and monthly bonuses, based on sales. No one was ever laid off, even during the Great Depression.

Bob married Miriam Fay in 1949; she worked along with him at the company. Annis was a mentor to junior high school and high school students, giving many lectures. He also taught members at the Radio Club. In 1960, Annis spearheaded Scientech's participation in the Central Indiana Science Fair. (Remember, the Soviets launched spacecraft Sputnick in 1957.)

In 1966, after the death of D.J. Angus, one of Scientech's founding members, Annis and a group of club members began the D.J. Angus-Scientech Educational Foundation, which was chartered in 1967. Today it benefits the Children's Museum (especially in its science department), Grand Valley State University and over a dozen high school students with grants for college. Bob Annis never missed a weekly Scientech Club meeting unless he was out of town.

After his wife died in 1985, he established a scholarship in her honor with the Girl Scouts of America. In 1987, Mr. Annis was named a "Sagamore of the Wabash" by Governor Robert Orr for his many years of outstanding service to Indiana and to the USA. In 1988, Annis married Elmira Vermillion; she continues to attend weekly meetings to this day. Bob loved boats, as did D.J. Angus, and Bob and Elmira sailed around Florida and the Bahamas. They were truly world travelers.

In his earlier years, he fell in love with photography and even produced a photo developing process. He and D.J. Angus took many trips out west taking photos for travelogue shows. In those days, people did not travel that much and a travelogue was a great way for all to enjoy the sights of the U.S., especially the western states.

Mentor and educator - that was Bob Annis. He joined Scientech in 1925, was its president in 1948, helped begin its participation in the regional science fairs and assisted in the beginning the Foundation. The outstanding service of Bob Annis to the Scientech Club will be felt far into the future.

William H. Dick, M.D

Bill Dick was born in Cleveland, OH, lived there for six months, and then in five different Ohio cities before graduating from St. Francis de Sales H.S. in Toledo in 1959. His father was manager and then superintendent for F.W. Woolworth Co. Bill then returned to Cleveland to attend John Carroll University for three years before being accepted to Indiana University School of Medicine. At JCU, he was named to Alpha Sigma Nu, the national Jesuit College Honor Society. Also at John Carroll, Bill met Maggie Steffens (a good friend and his sister introduced them) at a college mixer; the rest as they say is history.

After graduating from IU in 1966, Dr. Dick took his internship at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis, and then stayed for one year of Internal Medicine residency. The military service called and Bill served at an outpatient dispensary at Ft. Monroe, VA, the site of Continental Army Command Headquarters for the USA (there were 16 generals and 400 colonels). Virginia is such an interesting state and the twosome visited Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown, in addition to Virginia Beach and the North Carolina beaches.

He returned to Methodist Hospital and completed his Medicine residency and a two year Nephrology Fellowship, which included the new field of Kidney Dialysis and Transplant. 
 
Beginning in 1970, he and his wife began a love affair with wine and the various people and cultures that surround it, a love affair that continues to this day. This led to a collecting hobby that eventually necessitated two large temperature-controlled wine cellars. Bill supplies local wine and food groups with older wine and has been buying and selling wine at auction for over 30 years. He was the first president of the Indianapolis Wine Society in 1977 and the Liquid Assets Tasting Society in 1993 and belongs to the Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin, of which he was the local head for seven years, the International Wine & Food Society and the Confrérie du Normandy. Wine travels have taken them to California a dozen times and to France on four occasions. They have also been to Ireland for three visits (not too many vineyards there).
 
Bill and Maggie have three daughters, all of whom live close by, and two grandchildren, who are a special joy. They love to visit in the summertime at the backyard swimming pool. They also enjoy “spending the night” with Grandma and Grandpa.
 
In February 1984 the first lithotripsy (ESWL) machine for kidney stones in the USA arrived in Indianapolis at Methodist Hospital. In early 1985 Dr. Dick took a Kidney Stone Fellowship at the Mayo Clinic and started the Metabolic Kidney Stone Clinic at Methodist. In addition to caring for patients on dialysis and serving as Chairman of the Nephrology Fellowship Program, he spent the next 19 years working in the field of kidney stone prevention, having one of the largest practices in the Midwest. He discovered the cause of Ammonium Urate stone disease in adults (phenolphthalein laxative abuse) and the treatment for Brushite stones (high-dose potassium citrate).

Bill’s volunteer work has mostly been for the National Kidney Foundation of Indiana: He helped found the Central Indiana Chapter in 1972, served on the board for many years, was Midwest region national volunteer of the year in 1988, and chaired ten wine tasting and auction benefits for NKF, culminating in 1990 with an auction at which 460 people attended, still the largest in the city to date. For these efforts he was given the Key to the City of Indianapolis by Mayor William Hudnut in 1989 and the Sagamore of the Wabash in 1990 by Governor Evan Bayh. He was named a NKF Honorary Life Board member in 1999.
 
After going part-time in 1997 and then retiring in 2004, Bill had time for reading, mostly about wine, history and biography. Other interests include gardening, photography, writing (wine articles and others), travel and prior to his back injury and subsequent surgery, tennis, at which he won many country club and medical society tournaments. He joined Scientech Club early in 2005 and has served on the board since 2006.

Larry L. Heck, M.D.

Dr. Heck hails from Lawrence , KS (home of the University of Kansas ), where he grew up on a farm. When he was in college at the University of Kansas , he had a linguistics professor who thought he could tell what part of the country a person was from by their of accent. He guessed Larry to be from Texas , and when that was not correct, then from Oklahoma . Larry has a very gentle drawl to his voice – sort of an “Aw, shucks” way of speaking. It matches his low-key friendly personality.

He met his wife Frances on the first day of freshman English in college and knew that she was the one. They have been married 45 years and have two children and two grandchildren. Their son is an attorney and a daughter is an M.B.A. graduate who works for a pharmaceutical company.

Larry graduated from the University of Kansas Medical School, Kansas City , KS, in 1966 . After completing a Rotating Internship, he was going to begin a Radiology Residency at the University of Kansas when the department head went back to the University of Chicago . Larry and Frances followed him to the big city and lived in a small duplex on Chicago’s south side. He was one of the early people to take a four-year Radiology residency and his fourth year was spent in Nuclear Medicine, then an early specialty.

He served in the Navy from 1971-73 and was the Director of Nuclear Medicine at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland . One of his teachers was Dr. Gene Van Hove (also a member of Scientech). Gene came to Methodist Hospital and began the Nuclear Medicine section; he recruited Larry to the hospital, where he spent the next 30 years. Dr. Heck was a great asset to the Interns and Residents as a teacher and an asset likewise for the Staff Physicians. He always made time for you when you had a question about a patient.

He has written three book chapters and published 31 scientific articles and abstracts – quite an achievement for a clinical Radiologist, one who is not in a full-time academic medicine. He is the past president of the American College of Nuclear Physicians from 1981-82. In Indiana he was a member of the state Radiation Control Advisory Board from 1982-1990, serving as its chairman in the last two years. Its duty was to supervise radiation amounts for hospitals, private X-ray offices and physician’s offices. For this important work, he was awarded a Sagamore of the Wabash by Governor Evan Bayh in September 1990.

He enjoys golf, boating, pheasant hunting in Kansas , and rose gardening. He also serves on the Board of Director’s for the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease); he lost a brother to the disease at age 52. Dr. Heck joined Scientech in 2000, served on the Board from 2003-05 and still attends meetings frequently.

J. Darrell Bakken

Mr. Bakken, or Darrell as he is known to everyone, received his award in 1994 upon his retirement from the Indianapolis Water Co., where he worked for 29 years. Often retiring department heads at the Water Co. received this prestigious award but Darrell maintains that it was a surprise. He also had a day named for him by the Mayor of Indianapolis.

In addition to his many years of excellent service to the community in assuring water quality, Darrel could have just as well received the award for his tireless work on the boards of many non-profit organizations, beginning at age 26.

He was born in Wahpeton, ND, now a town of 10,000 people. Both grandparents emigrated from Norway : his paternal grandfather settled in SD and worked as a farmer; his maternal grandfather went to ND and was a lumberman. Darrell’s father left the family farm and began a well drilling business. One time his business took him to ND where he met a client’s daughter who later became his wife.

After graduating from Wahpeton H.S., he earned a bachelor’s degree from N.D. State with a major in Civil Engineering and a minor in Public Health. He then received a Master’s Degree from the University of Minnesota . He soon went into the U.S. Army and served first as part of the Medical Service Corps in Germany as an environmental engineer. Then he was sent to Bordeaux, France with duties in civil engineering. There he met a girl named Ruth, who was later to be his wife. She had served at Ft. Devens , MA and was sent to France as secretary to the commanding officer.

They were married in MA, had the reception in ND and went to SD to live where they settled in Pierre . He worked for the state environmental agency in the field of drinking water quality. Darrell had worked part time and summers for his father in the well drilling business, so he was interested in drinking water from his early days. He served as secretary of the state Engineering Society and as treasurer of the Waste Water Association, beginning a lifelong commitment to community service.

In 1965, the Bakkens moved to Indianapolis as Darrell began his career with the Water Company. His area of expertise was waste water treatment; he eventually rose to the level of VP and Director of Engineering. One of Scientech’s early members had worked for the Water Co., so many employees knew about the Club. Darrell joined the Scientech Club in 1995 after he retired, was president in 2001 and has been a board member since 2002.

He and Ruth have one daughter who works at IU, Bloomington. She has a Doctorate in Religious Studies and works as a Historian. She is Assoc. Editor of the IN Magazine of History. He and his wife love to travel and have visited China, Russia, Greece, Italy, many Persian Gulf states, Egypt, Jordan and Israel. They have visited Norway five times and they traveled to the villages of his grandparents. In July 2007, they plan a barge trip to Bordeaux, where they met.

Robert S.Sorensen, Ph. D.

Bob was born in Stoughton, a southern Wisconsin city made up of Norwegian immigrants. Bob explained that Sorensen is spelled with an “e” in “sen.” “Norwegians and Danes spell it with an “e” in “sen” and Swedes use the “o” in “son.” That is, most of the time.”
 
His father worked in sales for Graybar Electric and was promoted to a position in Oak Park, IL and then on to West Lafayette, IN where Bob graduated from H.S in 1959. He won a prestigious four-year U.S. Navy ROTC scholarship to Northwestern University but at the beginning of his sophomore year he was diagnosed with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and lost his scholarship. The following year later he entered Purdue and earned a B.S. in Industrial Management in 1963. Then in 1964 he took an M.B.A. from Northwestern in the field of Production Control. Later he obtained a Master’s from Purdue in the area of Financial Control and in 1997 he became Dr. Sorensen when he earned a Ph.D. from Purdue in Higher Education Administration.
 
He met Linda in his senior year at Purdue. They have two children and five grand children. Naturally they are very proud of the entire crew. Bob and Linda love to travel and they have been to Norway to visit some of his mother’s relatives. Bob’s parents are ages 97 and 95 and Linda’s mother is 101 years young.
 
From 1966, for seven years he was a Systems Analyst at Purdue, working in the new field of computers. In 1973 he was named to the prestigious post of Comptroller of Purdue University for a term of eleven years. After a series of consulting positions and serving for a few years as the Associate V.P. and Treasurer for St. Louis University, he worked for Ivy Tech State College as Director of Regional Business Affairs and Computer Services from 1987-2001, eventually rising to the position of Chief Information Officer in 2002. He is now retired and wonders where all the time goes.
 
Bob was named an Eagle Scout in 1957 and has been active in Scouts for 50 years. He has participated in two World Scout Jamborees and four National Boy Scout Jamborees. He is a member of the Order of the Arrow, a Scouting Honorary Society. On two occasions he served as President of the Sagamore Council Board. Currently, he is the Chairman of the Capital Campaign. For his dedicated service to the Boy Scouts of America, he was named a Sagamore of the Wabash by Governor Frank O’Bannon in 1997. Approximately seven years ago, Bob was instrumental in obtaining the Boy Scout license plate in the state of Indiana.
   
He has served on numerous college and university volunteer boards and was also an Advisor to the U.S. Department of Education on two separate projects. Most of us know Dr. Sorensen from Scientech Club. He was introduced to Scientech in 2004 by Steve Springer, who was a student at Purdue when Bob was employed there and has served as a board member, Vice-President and President.  

John N. Pittman, M.D.

Dr. John Pittman hails from Princeton, IN where his father was a math and science teacher in the public schools. John graduated from its high school in 1950 before attending Indiana State University. He was accepted into Indiana University School of Medicine after three years, graduating as president of his class in 1957. He was named to Alpha Omega Alpha, the esteemed national Medical Honor Society.
 
Next he took an Internship at the U.S. Army Tripler Hospital in Hawaii. A second year at the hospital was spent in ENT. His third year in the military service was spent at Ft. Benjamin Harrison in Indianapolis, where he was director of the EENT department. Since two Optometrists took care of the Eye Department, Dr. Pittman was able to do much surgery and even a fair amount of OB. After his stint in the Army, he took a Surgery residency at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis from 1960-63.
 
He then ventured to the University of Michigan to take a Thoracic Surgery Fellowship from 1963-65. He returned to Methodist and inquired about starting a Cardiac Surgery program (he had several out of state offers to join other programs). This was a revolutionary idea as very few private institutions would be able to staff and manage such a program. But through the leadership of Methodist president Jack Hahn, a program did indeed begin in 1965 as Dr. Pittman teamed with Dr. Harry Siderys. This was quite a tribute to John’s winning personality and his extensive surgical skills. John was a member of the surgery team that performed the first heart transplant surgery in Indiana at Methodist Hospital.
 
John and his wife Euna have four sons and one daughter with 18 grandchildren! He has been active in farming and land development. Indeed one son is in real estate development and another is an attorney practicing in the legal aspects of real estate. He loves to travel and has taken a few recent trips with his medical school classmate and fellow Scientech member, Wayne Schmalhausen.
 
In 2000, in recognition of his exceptionally valuable contributions in the field of Cardiovascular Surgery, Dr. Pittman was named a Sagamore of the Wabash by Governor Frank O’Bannon. He has been a great supporter of Indiana University School of Medicine, having worked on the Dean’s Council and the J.O. Ritchey Society committees. In 1982, the Pittmans donated a scholarship to Indiana University for outstanding academic students who are interested in surgery. This past May, he was named a Distinguished Alumnus of Indiana University at the 50th anniversary reunion of the Medical School Class of 1957.
 
John joined Scientech Club in 2007.

Leland Tanner

Leland Tanner is a native of Lowell, IN which is in southern Lake County. His father attended Indiana University for two years but had to return home to help support the family. He had done some barbering at the Union building while in school and so he opened up a shop where he worked for the next 65 years.

Lee graduated from Lowell H.S in 1951 and went to Indiana University in Bloomington, graduating in 1955 with a B.S. in Finance. At IU he met his future wife, Marilyn; they have two sons and two granddaughters, who live nearby. Marilyn studied accounting at IU, education at Indiana Central, and then earned a degree in Interior Design at Butler University in the evening school.

Lee had thought of going to graduate school - his grades were very good, but he decided to go to work. He was employed at a variety of positions. In late 1956, he had a ruptured appendix, peritonitis, required 24 pints of blood and spent six weeks in Gary Methodist Hospital. The new drug, Aureomycin, is credited with saving his life.

In October 1957, he joined American Fletcher National Bank (now Chase Bank) in the Trust department. He worked there for five years and advanced to Senior Vice-President. However, some changes at the bank led him to switch his employment in 1973 to Indiana National Bank, where he managed some money for the State of Indiana Public Employees Retirement Fund (PERF). Later he began his own company, Prime Capitol Management, where one of his main functions was managing and overseeing PERF money. After 25 years in this position he sold his company in 1999 and retired. In 2000, he was honored with a citation from PERF and a Sagamore of the Wabash from Governor Frank O'Bannon.

Lee enjoys reading, gardening, skiing (before a fractured ankle) and family activities. He and Marilyn have quite an interest in wine and food; they belong to a long-time gourmet club in town. Lee became interested in wine while living in Milwaukee after college. In Indianapolis, he was one of the early members of the Les Amis du Vin, for which he was treasurer and later president. He also belonged to the Indianapolis Wine Society, Liquid Assets Tasting Society and the Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin for which he served as treasurer of the Tastevin for 12 years. He and Marilyn are long-time acquaintances of Charlie and Jill Thomas and Bill and Maggie Dick.

He also worked with Hank Wolfla's father in the Trust department at AFNB - it's a small world. Lee and Hank became acquainted at Lee's first visit to the Scientech Club. We are honored to have Lee as a member of Scientech Club.

Malcolm Mallette

Mr. Mallette was born in Evansville, IN and later moved to Petersburg where he graduated from high school in 1959. He graduated from Purdue in 1963 after having studied physics, math and education. Switching from science to law, he attained a J. D. from Indiana University, Bloomington in 1967.

Mlcolm was a law clerk for US District Judge S. Hugh Dillin. After that excellent experience, he joined Kreig, DeVault law firm, became a partner, and worked there for the next 36 years. His specialty was business litigation. He is now retired.

He married Joyce in 1968; she is also a Scientech Club member. She has a BA in Zoology and a BS in Medical Technology from IU. She worked for several years in the Bacteriology Lab at Indiana University Medical Center. Joyce later became a co-owner of the Golden Thimble Yarn Shop. She is now retired also.

Malcolm became interested in amateur radio when he was a student at Purdue. He later developed a serious interest in astronomy. He has his own 8-inch telescope. It is fascinating to listen to him discuss the stars and planets (stars twinkle). He has visited the Link Observatory near Brooklyn, IN many times, as well as the McCloud Nature Park in western Hendricks County. They enjoy the "star parties" hosted there. The city lights are everywhere it seems, and stargazing is more difficult than years ago because of population growth. He is a member of the Indiana Astronomical Society and provides technical support for a small-dish radio telescope at the University of Indianapolis.

Mr. Mallette received the Sagamore of the Wabash from Governor Joe Kernan in 2004 upon retiring from his law firm. The award was predominantly for his outstanding years of service to the American Red Cross. In the Greater Indianapolis chapter, he has held multiple positions in the area of disaster relief. In the early 1970's he put his amateur radio skills to use for the Red Cross. He was part of the disaster action team, which responded to apartment and home fires after 5 p.m. and on weekends and was later a duty officer for the disaster action team.

From managing a shelter during the 1978 blizzard to managing a shelter for Katrina evacuees, he has been involved in most local disasters. For many years, he served as Chairman of the Emergency Services Advisory Committee and later was named to the Board of Directors. He is now Legal Advisor to the Chapter. In 1980, he received the Lynn Award as the Chapter's volunteer of the year.

The Mallettes enjoy traveling and visited Arizona earlier this year, where the stars shine brightly. They also are ardent sailors; their boat is docked on Eagle Creek Reservoir.

Though they are new members of Scientech Club, they can be seen nearly every Monday at the weekly meeting. Welcome to Scientech!!

Charles R. Thomas, M.D.

Charlie, as he is known to all, is an Indy native. He graduated from Arsenal Tech H.S. in 1950 and Indiana University in 1955. From there he went to Indiana University School of Medicine, graduating in 1958. He took his Internship and OB-Gyn residency at Methodist Hospital . Then he opened an office on the south side of Indianapolis , only the second person to practice OB-Gyn specialist in that area of town. During the blizzard of 1978 he delivered a baby in the dining room of a south side family, having traveled there by a snowmobile provided by the Fire Department.

Dr. Thomas is yet another example of a gentleman who came from a middle class background to attain a graduate degree and other honors. His father descended from generations of Welsh coal miners but he became an electrician. Charlie elected to attend Tech H.S. because they had a good science program. He took Comparative Anatomy and Embryology at Tech, very advanced courses for a high school.

In the mid 1970’s he bowled in the Medical Society’s league and while waiting for a ride home from his wife, he wandered in to the Wine Art store on Keystone Ave. The owner, Sol Crash, persuaded him to take home a wine kit and try his hand at making wine. (The store still exists and remains in the family’s hands today.) He practiced at the art but was not satisfied and dreamed of obtaining grapes from California . In 1973, he had taken the IUPUI Wine Course and was later named the Course Chairman. Marcia, the son of Robert Mondavi, taught a class at the wine course. Charlie visited the Mondavi winery in 1976 with a group from Indianapolis . He used that contact to purchase some grapes from  Napa Valley in 1978. The story of how 25 gallons made its way from the San Francisco airport to Indianapolis would require another article. Suffice it to say that Charlie did make a 1978 Napa Valley Cabernet in his basement. (I tasted this wine in the mid-1980’s and it was excellent.) After years of practice, and many years as chairman of the State Fair wine tasting, he opened Chateau Thomas Winery in 1984. His wines are known for their elegance, aging ability and very fair prices. He has won so many gold medals at the IN State Fair and other locations that he stopped counting them. What began as a home winemaking project has become Chateau Thomas, a 14,000 square foot facility that produces 40 different wines and 12,500 cases a year.

He is certified in Ob-Gyn and has given his lecture on the “Health Aspects of Wine” to their national meeting. He gave the same lecture to Scientech Club in 2005; it was very well received, inspiring many to drink more red wine. After more than 30 years in medical practice he retired but that meant that he could now work full time at the winery!

His interest in wine and food has carried him to leadership positions in the Les Amis du Vin, Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin and Confrérie du Normandy, along with memberships in the International and Wine and Food Society, Chaine des Rotisseurs, Indianapolis Wine Society and Liquid Assets Tasting Society.

For his volunteer activity he has been honored with the Key to the City of Indianapolis twice. (No, didn’t lose the key and they didn’t change the lock.) The first key, awarded by Richard Lugar, was a reward for his work with the March of Dimes. The second one was given by Mayor William Hudnut for his work with the Police Merit Board (he was chairman for 10 of the 12 years that he served). He also served as Deputy Coroner for 15 years. He received a Sagamore of the Wabash from Governor Mitch Daniels for his diligent efforts to promote tourism in Hendricks County , especially in Plainfield , the location of his winery. Other interests include photography, writing and travel, which have taken him to the wine country in California , France , Italy and Spain . To this tribute, one could add he is a guy who never forgets a joke and has a story for every occasion; and he is a great storyteller.

He and his lovely wife Jill have seven children between them, six grandchildren and three great grandchildren! Jill is a very accomplished photographer and loves to show off her nature photos and of course, photos of the grandkids.