John Wells Garden, M.D., devoted husband of Ann Holswade Garden passed away on Dec. 24, 2013 in Lexington, KY. He was born on May 15, 1935 in Meadville, Pennsylvania, son of the late Henry B. Garden and Caroline Wells Garden. After attending The Westtown Friends School in Westtown, Pennsylvania, he graduated from The Webb School in Bell Buckle, Tennessee. He subsequently graduated from Davidson College in Davidson North Carolina and received his Medical Degree from The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. After an Internal Medicine Internship at New York University, Bellevue Hospital in New York City, he entered the U.S. Navy serving on a destroyer division and receiving a commendation from the Nationalist Chinese Government for courage on the high seas. After two years of research, he entered the Ophthalmology Program at Yale University on a National Institutes of Health Clinical Trainee Grant. He then entered private practice in Lexington Ky but continued his academic career at the University of Ky College of Medicine. His teaching at that institution was continued until a few months before his death.
Lexington community service included board member and Past President of the Blue Grass Association for Mental Retardation, Fayette County Civil Service Examining Committee serving as Chairman, multiple committee chairs and President of the Lexington Medical Society and committee member and Chairman of High Hope Steeplechase which raised over $250,000 for children’s cancer research. Prior to coming to Lexington, he was a volunteer physician in Haiti receiving no compensation.
He and his wife were long time members of Christ Church Cathedral. Their social life centred around the Iroquois Hunt where he was a whipper-in and she Fieldmaster. After many years in the thoroughbred business, including memberships in the Keeneland Club and the Thoroughbred Club, he sold the farm and returned to golf, belonging to the Champions, Spring Valley and Idle Hour Country Clubs.
Surviving family members include his wife of many years, Ann, 262 Market St., Lexington, KY, 40507; their daughter Caroline O’Hagan (Richard) and grandson, William O’Hagan. Surviving also is his sister Elizabeth Garden Hedgpeth and niece, Mari Wells Hedgpeth Seifert (Kevin) and brother-in-law Henry Holswade (Julie) as well as a niece, a nephew and their children. The family also expresses affection and appreciation to Kathryn Gates.
A memorial service at Christ Church Cathedral will precede interment in the columbarium on Fri. Jan. 3, 2013, at 10 AM. Visitation, Thurs., Jan 2, 2013, Milward-Broadway, 4-6 PM. Pall bearers serving will be Roger M. Dalton, Robert S. Walker, III, Dr. Stephen Bobys, J. Richard Parsons, Ambrose W. Givens, William P. Curlin, Dwight Tenney, Darrell Brown, and Dr. Emler A. Neuman. Honorary pall bearers will be Dr. John P. Stewart, Dr. William N. Offutt, IV, Dr. Joseph R. Jones, and Dr. Edward Hedgpeth. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to The Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation, 253 Market St., Lexington, KY 40507, The Department of Ophthalmology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill General Alumni Association, P.O. Box 660, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, The Lexington Humane Society, 1600 Old Frankfort Pike, Lexington, KY 40510 or Christ Church Cathedral, 166 Market St., Lexington, KY 40507.