William Glenn Tramblie
Started: 2006-08-28 21:07:45
Submitted: 2006-08-28 21:11:24
Visibility: World-readable
My mother, aunt, and brother wrote this life sketch of my grandfather. My mother and aunt read it at the funeral last week, and I read it at the small grave-side service this afternoon.
William Glenn Tramblie, who preferred to be called Glenn, was born in Baraboo, Wisconsin on December 23, 1912 and died on August 15, 2006 in Loma Linda, CA. He, along with his two older sisters and brother, and a younger bother, grew up in Baraboo, where his father was a train engineer.
During his childhood, Glenn spent summers with his family in a cabin on Devil’s Lake. His father, a train engineer for the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad, joined them on weekends. The children enjoyed fishing and boating and exploring the nearby woods.
The Ringling Brothers Circus spent its off season in Baraboo until 1916. Glenn vividly remembered sitting on his front porch and watching the exotic animals parade down the street when the circus was in town.
When Glenn was a teenager, a Seventh-day Adventist tent meeting visited Baraboo. The Tramblie family attended the meetings and was converted to Adventism. The conversion to Adventism and a vegetarian lifestyle was a significant turning point in Glenn’s life. He would hold his Adventist convictions for the rest of his life.
Glenn attended Broadview Academy and College, after which he enrolled in medical school at Loma Linda to pursue his dream of becoming a surgeon. During his first year he suffered crippling allergies to rubber and alcohol, disabilities which stalled his medical education for about two years. He was very ill, and after seeing various specialists, spent some time at Mayo Clinic, after which he was able to return to medical school in 1939. The development of synthetic latex during the Second World War allowed Glenn to continue his medical school education.
In 1941 Glenn married Esther Weng, a registered nurse from Colorado whom he had met through mutual friends Ella and Victor Sabo, DDS. Glenn and Esther had two daughters: Sherrie Ann in 1946 and Suzan Jo in 1947.
After graduating from Loma Linda in 1943 Glenn began his surgical residencies in Wichita Falls, TX and Pueblo, CO., and later a fellowship in Thoracic Surgery at Olive View, CA. He was certified by the International College of Surgeons with a specialty in General Surgery in 1958. Despite his concentration on surgery, he chose not to limit his practice to surgery. He preferred to work in such a way that he could interact with his patients and teach them healthier lifestyles.
As the Second World War neared its climax in 1944, Glenn enlisted with the United States Army as a First Lieutenant. Had he been drafted, he would have begun as a Private. He worked as a General Surgeon for the Veterans Administration with in the United States, since his allergies prevented him from serving overseas. During this time he received instruction in tropical medicine in Washington, D.C. at Walter Reed Army Medical School. In September 1946 he left the Army with the rank of Captain, after having served for just over two years.
Throughout his life, Glenn pursued many different interests and hobbies. After his service in the Army, he earned a private pilot’s license at a flight school in San Diego in 1947. He flew a Stinson 150 Voyager and purchased half interest in a Cessna 120 with his friend Dr. Day, who was brother-in-law to Raymond Turner, MD with whom he had a practice in San Diego.
Always ready for a new adventure, Glenn sought opportunity wherever he might find it, to such end that he lived and worked in many different places in the United States, including Texas, Georgia, Colorado, and California. He worked at several different places during his five years of residency. He continued to move afterward, never staying in one place more than two years until 1963, when he moved to Visalia CA for about eight years, where he took over a practice from classmate Robert Leo, MD, who had passed away.
Following the closure of his private practice, Glenn "retired" on three separate occasions. He served as a relief mission doctor for over a period of six years in Africa and Asia. Always ready to learn something new, he spent part of his first retirement earning a degree from the Blackstone School of Law by correspondence. After returning from mission work and another short period of retirement, Glenn worked for the State prison system in California for about five years. He enjoyed caring for the inmates physical health, as well as witnessing his faith to them.
Glenn always enjoyed seeing the world, for work or vacation. He and his wife Esther often toured the country in their Buick, visiting friends or relatives in far flung states.
To Glenn, an orderly and well running house was one of life's essentials. Appliances could not stay broken for very long if Glenn was near. In one especially famous episode, Glenn stayed up late the night before his move from Colorado to California to fix a clogged sink in Suzan's house.
Ever since his conversion as a teenager, he was interested in studying the Bible to discover new insights in its pages. Prophecy was one of his specialties, another was locating the remains of Noah’s Ark. He helped fund expeditions to Mount Ararat in Turkey, although he was never able to join one of the expeditions in person.
After Esther, his wife of 54 years, died in 1995, Glenn moved to Loma Linda, CA. In 1997 he married their long time friend, Ella Sabo, who was a widow. Ella died in 2000.
For many years Glenn read, memorized, and recited various pieces of poetry. To those who experienced it first hand, his dramatic rendering of "The Face Upon the Floor" was particularly memorable.
Glenn is survived by his older sister, Lucille Cyr aged 98 of Riverside, CA, his two daughters, Sherrie Tramblie La Tourette of San Diego, CA and La Connor, WA, and Suzan Tramblie-Logan of Norman OK; as well as five grandchildren: Tanya Bryan Bell, Jennifer Bryan, Theodore Logan, Bethany Logan, and William Logan, and three great grandchildren; Aidan Bell, Chloe Bell, and Noah Bryan Negron.
