Born in July of 1926, Fred moved with his parents to the Chattanooga (Tennessee) area in 1937, and lived there until his peaceful passing in October of 2013. I can personally attest that Fred truly excelled at life. He became an Eagle Scout by age 13, served in the U.S. Army in the South Pacific in World War II, received his BBA degree from University of Chattanooga in 1949, saw active duty during the Korean War as a member of the U.S. Naval Reserve, obtained his Doctorate in Medicine from The University of Tennessee College of Medicine in Memphis in 1956, and received additional training at Erlanger Hospital where he later taught as an associate clinical professor in Family Medicine.

He was board certified by the American Academy of Family Physicians and was a member of the active staff of East Ridge Hospital, Erlanger Hospital, Parkridge Hospital and Memorial Hospital. He practiced Family Medicine in the Chattanooga area for 43 years, and was a member of the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Medical Society, the Tennessee Medical Association, the American Medical Association, the Chattanooga Chapter of the Tennessee Academy of Family Physicians, and the American Academy of Family Physicians.

In May of 2009, he published a book of poetry entitled “Songs from an Inner Silence” (pictured); a truly brilliant work that was edited and re-released in 2012.

Of course, while they are quite impressive, these “accomplishments” completely pale in comparison to Fred’s greatest triumph … for Fred truly mastered the art of being a man of gentle Compassion; Fred transcended his life’s trials & turmoils and became a true Human(e) Being.

I admit that I was not privy to the days of his youth, and I also readily accede that I know nothing of the probable missteps of his middle years. And yet despite what was surely a life as varied & challenging as each of our own, I do indeed know — and will indeed unabashedly attest — that in his later years, Fred Lansford was a paragon of Honesty & Integrity; a man who always maintained a powerful presence of calm Grace; and a friend who seemed to know no alternative but to provide all he encountered with a gentle caress and a Kind word.

“There is only one ocean and only one Love.
It is only our thoughts that divide them.” ~ Fred Lansford

THEY TOO HAVE CLIMBED MOUNTAINS

“As you climb a high hill
and look back to the valley from whence you came,
which of your footsteps along the way
would you hold in a measure of judgment
above the others?… Would you say
the steps that carried you forth at your beginning
were of lesser importance
than those by which you now arrive?

Neither judge you your brothers
when they stumble with eagerness, or limp with pain.
Whether they be presently walking on a high hill
or in a darkened valley,
they too, have climbed mountains;
and their pathways would merge with all others,
ere any reach their destination.”
(Fred Lansford)

MASTER PLAN

“By that force that in me breathes
to know one wiser hour,
so higher thought with love bequeaths
a waft from wisdom’s flower
that we may see all faults of Man
as nothing more than needs
we might help fill within our span
of history’s growing seeds.

For there is that in every Man
his heart would have him do
to fit into some Master Plan
a crafted form so true
that he might then so interlace
and share with all the rest
that something more than commonplace
that he of all does best.”
(Fred Lansford)

 

Filed under: In LOVE with Humanity by Scaughdt