As residents of Kaua’i continue to come to grips with the sudden death of Dr. Dean K. “Deke” Thomas M.D., officials at Wilcox Memorial Hospital held a memorial service yesterday in the courtyard next to the cafeteria.
“Deke,” as he was affectionately known, was a Kalaheo resident and a pediatrician at Kaua’i Medical Clinic in Lihu’e, was found dead in Koke’e Monday. Officials said there was no evidence of foul play.
At the packed event, with over 100 people in attendance, babies in strollers to surgeons in scrubs were teary-eyed, and late-comers filled the hall next to the courtyard and strained to hear the speakers.
Pastor Ryan Claytor of the Lihue Missionary Church struggled to find the right words to describe his heavy heart in remembering his friend and member of his church family.
“I lost a very close friend,” said the pastor, who led the prayers. “As a friend of Deke, I encourage you not to be concerned with the question of why. The truth is no one really knows why.
“Focus on his life, his friendship with you,” he said. “He was a great man, a great colleague, a wonderful doctor and father.”
“He didn’t want us to be part of this,” he said, encouraging people to “share memories on how his life impacted yours.
“Deke wants you to know God is a loving God, and (he would) want you to turn to Him. We’re all going to need a lot of strength in the days ahead,” he added.
“He literally touched thousands of lives on Kaua’i and around the world. He walks arm in arm with Him today. Find Him as refuge and strength.”
He then led a prayer for his family, especially his son, and his friends who were there. He also asked Jesus to bless the children and all his patients, that they would find peace and comfort in the pain that lies in the days ahead.
He added that a more formal service is being planned.
After a mournful song, “River of Peace,” Master of Ceremonies, Dr. Lee Evslin, president and chief executive officer of Wilcox Health, asked that those who were touched by Deke share some memories with the somber crowd.
He read an e-mail from long-time Kaua’i doctor, Jeffrey Goodman, which said “he was stunned by the news.”
Goodman, who is a roving technical advisor with the International Medical Corps (IMC), is overseas, although Dr. Evslin was not sure exactly where he was. Via e-mail, he shared the passion Deke expressed when working on missions to Third World countries.
“His passion lit up his eyes” when he talked about it, Evslin read. “Deke Thomas was humble, yet proud of what he accomplished.”
Evslin said he used to see Deke in the morning, overflowing with positively.
“He had a big, broad smile, a wonderful man,” said Evslin. “I told him (regularly) how wonderful the work he was doing was, but I regret I never told him how wonderful a man he was.”
Doctor Geri Q. L. Young, who worked closely with Deke in pediatrics, described him as an amazing doctor and a wonderful colleague.
“It was a real privilege to work with a special guy. I will forever miss him,” she added.
Other members of the clinic and hospital staff described his dedication to his patients, with many describing the ways he would light up after helping a patient.
One woman described how much Deke helped when her daughter passed away from leukemia.
In the last two weeks of the girl’s life, he came over to her house, so she could be at home, she said. And then, when the woman’s daughter passed, Deke stayed with the family all night, just to be there.
Marion, a nurse who worked in pediatrics, said when the clinic was busy, he would always be armed with a joke.
“Anytime we needed anything, he was there. He was our friend outside work,” she added. “I will miss the smile, all the little things I didn’t pay attention to.”
As a member of the medical staff of Wilcox Memorial Hospital since 1999, after ten years in Oceanside, California, Deke was chairman of the pediatrics division, and served on the Medical Education and Medical Executive committees. He also was the founding president and medical director of the Diabetes Association of Kaua’i.
He assisted the Rotary clubs of Hawai’i and Kaua’i by participating in two ‘Rotaplast’ (Rotary plastic surgery) medical missions to Cebu City in the southern Philippines, in October of 2002 and recently in October 2003 said D.Q. Jackson, RN, of Wilcox Memorial Hospital.
His assistance with the surgical repair of facial defects, mainly cleft lips and palates, helped 200 kids over the past two missions, he added.
That doesn’t count the thousands of kids he helped on Kaua’i.
Staff writer Tom Finnegan can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 226)
