Dr. Harvey Ellis passed away this past week. He was 87. Dr. Ellis was my family physician for my family from my middle school years until I was out of college probably.
Though I only knew him as my family doctor, I knew him enough to be able to say he was a gentleman in every sense of the word. His very gentle mannerisms - the way he would look over his half-glasses with his easy smile and softly asking his diagnostic questions - always left me wishing that my medical symptoms were a little harder to figure out. That way he would spend longer in the exam room talking to me. Dr. Ellis was one of those people whose company you can never get enough of.
And he was a person well worth looking up to.
As I grew older and developed an interest in flying, Dr. Ellis began sharing that he had been an army air corps pilot in World War 2. That gave us a few more things in common than just medical conditions and remedies to talk about.
Though he wasn't the least bit pushy about it, his faith in God was obvious in his every move. And he would every now and then mention God's marvelous works in the creation of the human body or His intended maintenance plan for said creation.
It was a sad day (for me, happy for him) when Dr. Ellis retired and we had to change family doctors. And it's a sad day to learn he passed from this life. Unfortunately, I was out of town when he passed thru the date of his funeral. It would have been the least I could do to have attended and paid my respects to such a great person. Someone wrote in his online obituary guest book that "God will embrace him in heaven." It's easy to imagine Dr Ellis entering the gates of heaven as the Lord gives him a hug and says, as told in Matthew 25:19-30, "Well done, my good and faithful servant." Welcome home.
Thanks for the great care and conversation, Dr. Ellis. Rest in peace.
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