Donald L. John, MD

Born in Takoma Park, Maryland on February 8, 1917, Donald Lee John was the son of a college professor, Otto Marion John and his wife, Deborah (Secor). Donald and his brother Edward and sister Marion grew up on Seventh-day Adventist college campuses in Washington, D.C., South Lancaster, Massachusetts and Lincoln, Nebraska.

He took his medical degree from the College of Medical Evangelists in Los Angeles in May of 1941, and followed this by an Internal Medicine and Cardiology residency under the guidance of Harvard's heart disease pioneer Paul Dudley White at Massachusetts General and Boston City hospitals.

Donald married the love of his life, Esther Elizabeth Heffel at Forest Lawn's Wee O'the Heather in 1941, a loving marriage lasting until Esther's death in Fresno in 2010.

U.S. Army Captain John participated in Eisenhower's 1944 D-Day invasion of France: he was eventually billeted at I'hopital Pitie in Paris, his favorite city. After the war her practiced medicine in Glendale, California, though eventually moving to become Chief of Medicine at Riverside General Hospital and Professor of Medicine at Loma Linda University.

Donald and Esther retired to Fresno in 1999.

Donald John, M.D., a life-long devout Seventh-day Adventist Christian, died at his home in Fresno on June 28, 2017 and is survived by his son, Donald John and his daughters, Julie Nye and Jani King, their spouses, as well as grand and great grandchildren.

Arrangements under the direction of Whitehurst Sullivan Burns & Blair Funeral Home, Fresno, CA.