William H. ‘Luke' Hamlin Jr., 81: Public health adviser and Lilburn cop
As an undergrad, William Hamlin Jr. majored in Spanish.
He thought he was going to be the U.S. ambassador to Spain someday.
"He truly believed that," said a daughter, Patricia Keitchen of Johns Creek. "He soon realized that wasn't a reality."
In 1948, Mr. Hamlin graduated from the College of Charleston and was hired as a public health adviser for the federal government. He played a substantial role in early initiatives to control the spread of syphilis and to implement emergency medicine procedures.
Public health advisers were established by the United States Public Health Service's venereal disease control division. They were the managers and personnel who worked behind the scenes. Their efforts were documented in the 2008 book, "Ready to Go: The History and Contributions of U.S. Public Health Advisors," by Beth E. Meyerson, Gerald P. Naehr and Fred A. Martich.
Mr. Martich, a retired Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official who lives in Lilburn, interviewed Mr. Hamlin on in 2003.
"Luke was a dynamic person," Mr. Martich said. "He went to Virginia and set up the first lab-reporting law for syphilis blood tests in [the late 1950s], and in Florida he set up standards for EMTs as well as that state's 911 system, which was the first one in the country. He was definitely a vanguard and a wonderful person for public health purposes."
On Sunday, William H. "Luke" Hamlin of Johns Creek died at home from complications of various illnesses. He was 81. A memorial service will be held at a later date. McDonald & Son Funeral Home & Crematory is in charge of arrangements.
As the book title implies, public health advisers had to be ready to go anywhere, at anytime. They moved every six months to a year, Mr. Martich said, relocating wherever issues arose.
The Hamlins spent time in Maryland, Kansas, Virginia and Florida, among other states. Along the way, the family patriarch earned a master's degree in psychology and attended Tulane Medical School.
In the late 1970s, Mr. Hamlin was assigned to Atlanta at the headquarters of the U.S. CDC. He retired in 1981 after a 33-year career, then became a police officer for the city of Lilburn in Gwinnett County.
In the late 1980s, he read an ad that said the Lilburn agency wanted Spanish-speaking officers. He'd always enjoyed crime and detective novels. His family didn't know he'd attended the police academy until it was time to graduate. He was a patrol officer and zoning enforcement officer from 1987 to 2000.
"He kept himself in good shape and was very proficient with a firearm," said retired police chief Ron Houck. "He was very community-oriented, an outstanding individual."
Dorothy Hamlin, his wife of 56 years, died in 2004. That's when the South Carolina native moved in with his daughter, Mrs. Keitchen.
"My dad had an extremely high IQ," she said, "and was a very intelligent man. I described him as a mix between Einstein and Barney Fife. He was a really smart man."
Additional survivors include three other daughters, Karen Luther of Augusta; Nancy Cranford of Lilburn, and Michele Bagwell of Hoschton; two sons, William Hamlin III of Norcross and Mychael Hamlin of Grayson; and 10 grandchildren.
