John F. McQuade – 50th Reunion Essay

John F. McQuade

4511 Gloucester Drive

New Bern, NC 28562

jfmcq@suddenlink.net

252-670-4836

Spouse(s): Diane McQuade (1971)

Child(ren): Shannon Elizabeth McQuade (1973); Kathryn Marie McQuade (1976); Maureen Anne McQuade (1979)

Grandchild(ren): Ava Kathryn LuQuire (2004); Sloane Alexandre Barnes (2007); Oliver Chase LuQuire (2007); John Cameron Rose (2008); Abigale Kathryn Rose (2008); Ashley Julianna Barnes (2009); Ellis Marguerite Barnes (2011)

Education: Yale University BS 1969; Yale Medical School 1973 MD; Board Certified in Internal Medicine 1976, and also Cardiology 1979

Career: I graduated from Yale Medical School 1973; University of North Carolina for internal medical internship, residency and cardiology fellowship 1973 to 1978; Practiced internal medicine and cardiology in New Bern, NC from June of 1978 until May 1, 2018

Avocations: fine art photography, marine invertebrate zoology, book making, kayaking, reading history ( WWI, WWII, Cold War, and ancient Greek and Roman history and literature)

College: Branford

On May 1, 2018, I retired from a 49-year love affair with the medical profession, which included the practice of internal medicine and cardiology in New Bern, North Carolina. That event, as well as our upcoming 50th Yale College reunion, is cause for reflection and gratitude for all that has enriched my life these many years. Unquestionably, besides my marriage to Diane Roche in 1971, whom I met as a medical student in the Yale New Haven Hospital ER, the next greatest of life’s gifts to me was the opportunity to have attended both Yale undergraduate and medical schools. Those four years at the college have meant much to me, not only in having the chance to meet many inspiring teachers, researchers, and, of course, my fellow students, but also in having had instilled in me an unquenchable fire for continued learning and an understanding of what “intellectual excellence” really is.

After graduating from Yale Medical School in 1973, Diane and I moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, for internship and residency in internal medicine and fellowship in cardiology at the University of North Carolina. At the completion of this training in 1978, I had to decide whether to remain in academic medicine, or enter private practice in rural eastern North Carolina. It was the latter choice that led me to New Bern and into the lives of thousands of people, who entrusted me as their physician. From an academic point of view, it has been a life of obscurity in that I have not published after leaving UNC, never became a professor, and was never the head of a department outside of our small medical community. However, the privilege of being intimately involved in the lives of my patients and their families for 45 years has been an enrichment far beyond anything I would have predicted upon graduating from Yale in June of 1969. I did not know, sitting in the Yale Commons on that June 10th graduation day, how profoundly wonderful and spiritually rewarding my career would become.

Rather than focus on leaving a career, I preferred to concentrate on moving on to the next one, something that I have contemplated and prepared for. Diane and I have three daughters—Shannon, Katie, and Maureen—who are all married with seven of their own children. We all live close together, another great blessing, as Diane and I have the chance to live out our lives with them so near to us. Also included in the fabric of this new chapter is ongoing dedication to fine art photography and related graphic arts, kayaking, marine invertebrate zoology, book making, and catching up on a library of great books in history and literature.