After he retired from Tanner Medical Center, Dr. Tom Reeve Jr. liked to stop by every now and then to visit his former colleagues.

"It would literally take him 30 minutes just to walk down the hallway because so many people wanted to say hello to him or give him a hug," said Denise Taylor of Carrollton, president and CEO of Tanner Medical Foundation. "He was the dearest man, one of the most impressive people I've ever met, with true family values and a true dedication to serving mankind."

Courtesy of family (ENLARGE)

Dr. Tom E. Reeve Jr. (right) performs surgery in 1987 with his son Dr. Thomas Ellis Reeve III.

In 1949, Dr. Reeve joined what was then Tanner Memorial Hospital and became the first general surgeon on its 16-doctor staff.

"He was a rare physician who came from an earlier time where he used to make house calls," Mrs. Taylor said. "Sometimes he'd perform surgery on people's dining room tables and be paid with a chicken or a cake or some food, as opposed to money."

"He saw so many changes in medicine over the course of his career," she said. "I can't begin to tell you the impact that his life made on the people in this community and this health care system."

The memorial service for Dr. Thomas Ellis Reeve Jr. will be 1 p.m. Friday at First United Methodist Church of Carrollton. Dr. Reeve, 88, died of complications from Parkinson's disease June 12 at his Carrollton residence. Almon Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Until he was nine, Dr. Reeve lived in the former Belgian Congo, where his parents served as missionaries.

With no formal medical training, they were sometimes pressed into caring for local residents.

"They were able to pull teeth and stitch people up, and it probably piqued his curiosity," said his daughter Susan Ingle of Carrollton. "And it definitely left him realizing that there are better ways to do things, for sure."

After he graduated from the Emory University School of Medicine in 1944, Dr. Reeve and his family settled in Carrollton, where his skills were in high demand.

"At the beginning, since he was the first surgeon, he did anything and everything — from tonsils and gall bladders to broken arms and fingers," his daughter said. "And he was on call every night because there wasn't anyone else. But none of us ever felt slighted at the time because when he decided to do things outside, we were with him."

The loyal National Geographic subscriber trekked to Australia, Alaska, China and Hawaii and took thousands of slides along the way.

More often, he was happy to hike Pied Piper-like across the rural fringes of Carrollton with his children and their friends traipsing behind.

He quoted from Charles Darwin and Albert Schweitzer. He knew the names of the constellations and how to carve an apple into a perfect cube with his pocket knife. He could name every unusual tree in Carrollton and knew where to find it.

"If you really wanted to do a good leaf collection for school," his daughter said, "you knew to come to him."

"He loved to show people the stars," she said. "He loved developing people's love of life."

Dr. Reeve started every day on his knees, praying at a window that overlooked his beautiful backyard, his daughter said.

"He never lost his love of God, and everybody in this town knew that," she said. "But it wasn't because he pushed it on anybody. He just lived it."

Survivors include his wife of 62 years, Ruth Hadley Reeve of Carrollton; another daughter, Robin Allen of Augusta; two sons, Dr. Thomas "Tee" Ellis Reeve III of Carrollton and Tim Reeve of Augusta; two brothers, Dr. J. Jackson Reeve of Cumming and the Rev. Charles Reeve of Marietta; 15 grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.