Column: Is It Really So? – Coping With Loss Of Friends Is Hard

Dr. Jerry Bergman
Montpelier, Ohio

The loss of long-term friends has always been very difficult for me. One recent loss was especially difficult.

This was the loss of Dr. Thomas Stogdill, M.D. He was a very special person in my life. He was 88 when he passed away on August 10th this year, so was blessed with a long and very productive life.

We met after I published an article in The Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette in 2006 on the Bible and science.

He wrote to me about my article, and we soon corresponded by email which was a godsend for both of us. We were in so many ways alike in interests.

After living out west for many years he returned to Bluffton, Indiana, in 1986, to work at Caylor-Nickel Clinic. Much of his life was giving to others.

He was instrumental in establishing the Panos Free Clinic in 1991, where he served as Vice President of the Board for 15 years.

He was also President of the Board for the Council on Aging, a board member of the Boys & Girls Club and the Wells County Foundation, where he was Chair of the Grants Committee.

He was a Big Brothers/Big Sisters volunteer and was a member of the Human Rights Committee for Bi-County Services. As an active pro-life supporter, he was deeply concerned about Christian social issues.

We both were very interested in science and Christianity, especially the biological origins issue, as well as medicine.

I was then doing research and teaching at the Medical College of Ohio. Thomas was also the author of two books and would also help me with my writing.

As an excellent editor, he would often catch things that I missed, as well as challenge me on a few of my more esoteric ideas.

He also wrote introductions and endorsements to several of my books. As a long-time subscriber to several science magazines, he was up to date on many aspects of science which helped to stimulate our conversations.

We both had major reservations about many evolutionary claims and reinforced each other’s concerns when these issues surfaced in scientific literature.

Foremost he realized that God revealed himself not only through His word but also his works, his creation.

And one can learn a great deal about God though studying his creation just as one can learn a great deal about an artist by studying his art.

Success as a writer depends on one’s editors and associates. In some ways, Tom was one of my co-authors that I worked with.

There is no way I could have published 60 books in 12 languages, and close to 1800 articles, without Dr. Stogdill’s help, as well as the assistance of many other supporters.

He would also keep me updated on the success of his family members, whom he loved and of which he was very proud.

Speaking of family, on a personal note, on July 15, 1966, Tom wedded Lou Ann Carlson in Las Vegas.

After over 20 years of marriage, she preceded him in death in 1987. It was very clear that he missed his wife enormously.

I once asked him once if, as a successful physician, he had ever considered remarrying. He ardently explained that Lou Ann was his first and only love, and nobody could ever replace her. This was typical of his dedication to others, especially his family.

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Dr. Jerry Bergman has taught biology, genetics, chemistry, biochemistry, anthropology, geology, and microbiology for over 40 years at several colleges and universities including Bowling Green State University, Medical College of Ohio where he was a research associate in experimental pathology, and The University of Toledo. He is a graduate of the Medical College of Ohio, Wayne State University in Detroit, the University of Toledo, and Bowling Green State University. He has over 1,800 publications in 12 languages and 60 books and monographs. His books and textbooks that include chapters that he authored are in over 1,500 college libraries in 27 countries.

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