Northpinellas: Scholarships honor 2 healers

Back when a doctor knew a patient's name without looking at a chart, when a bill could be paid with a bucket of eggs and when babies were born at home, Dr. James Thompson and his wife, Jane, a nurse, were known throughout Tarpon Springs as a compassionate medical team. For 34 years, their clientele ranged from the highly privileged to the desperately poor.

Now their memory has been honored by the creation of the James E. Thompson, M.D., and Jane B. Thompson, R.N., Nursing Scholarship. A $100,000 gift to St. Petersburg Junior College, given by two of their children, Nancy Thompson Howley, 62, of Odessa and St. Petersburg attorney James B. Thompson, 56, is expected to be matched by the state and administered in perpetuity.

"They loved what they did. They loved taking care of people. They were a team," said Mrs. Howley, who worked as her parents' office administrator for 25 years. When her mother died last July at age 85, Mrs. Howley said she decided to set up a scholarship fund so those who wanted to follow her parents' tradition of dedicating their lives to the care of others could get an education.

"This will cover books, tuition, child care, transportation, whatever it takes to get a nursing degree," she said.

The financial-aid packages are designed for people who have worked at least two years in health-care support jobs in positions such as nursing assistants or hospital orderlies and who wish to become registered nurses. She said the scholarships cater to mature, experienced learners, not those just out of high school.

"There are a lot of young girls out there who watch ER and think they are going to meet George Clooney," she said. "Nursing is not like that."

The Thompsons arrived in Tarpon Springs in 1948 from Columbus, Ohio. Mrs. Thompson was a graduate of White Cross Hospital School of Nursing in Columbus. Dr. Thompson had graduated from the Ohio State University College of Medicine in Columbus and had served overseas as a medical doctor during World War II. They found a red-brick home on the Anclote River and settled down to raise a family.

At the time, Dr. Thompson and Dr. William James Clough were the only physicians in town. They ran what was then called Tarpon Springs Hospital, a two-story building with 12 beds and one operating room. They eventually organized the Tarpon Springs Hospital Association, a predecessor of the non-profit Tarpon Springs Hospital Foundation that now operates Helen Ellis Memorial Hospital.

In 1960, Thompson lost a kidney, and his wife joined the practice full-time. Even as he was recuperating from surgery, he was dedicated to his patients, Mrs. Howley said.

"I remember him delivering a baby from his wheelchair," she said. She recalls many babies being named Jim or Jane after the couple that had delivered them.

In those days, Mrs. Howley said, her parents' practice, at 415 S Pinellas Ave., would serve as a one-stop shop. They often found themselves arranging adoptions, acting as family and marriage counselors, and, because there was no veterinarian in town in the early years, treating an occasional cat or dog. Most tests were performed right in the office.

Many people didn't have money to pay the doctor bills, so they would bring eggs or chickens or turnip greens or citrus. Greek food also was a popular item, she said.

"No one was ever turned down because they couldn't pay," Mrs. Howley said. "This wasn't a business to them, but a dedicated service."

In 1982, Dr. Thompson retired because of health problems. He was 70. He died in 1986 after a heart attack. A wing of the Helen Ellis hospital was named in his honor.

Carolyn Hewett, a registered nurse and partner at the Wound and Ostomy Care center in Palm Harbor, said she was inspired to enter the medical profession because of the Thompsons.

"I was fascinated by Dr. Thompson and Jane," the Tarpon Springs resident said. "When I was little, I was impressed with her white uniform and the way she would always put her arm around people and make them feel better. He would come to your house when you were sick. He knew you and your family. He was a real person."

Mrs. Thompson encouraged Mrs. Hewett, 49, to enter the medical profession, and when Mrs. Hewett attended St. Petersburg Junior College to get her nursing degree, Mrs. Thompson gave her more than just a shoulder to lean on.

"She allowed me to give her shots of saline to practice," Mrs. Hewett said.

To learn more

For information on the James E. Thompson, M.D., and Jane B. Thompson, R.N., Nursing Scholarship, contact the St. Petersburg Junior College Office of Scholarships and Financial Assistance at (727) 791-2513.

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