[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 57 (Tuesday, May 6, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S3994]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          DISTINGUISHED CITIZEN OF THE YEAR, DR. ERNEST TOMASI

  Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, earlier this year, the Sunday Rutland 
Herald and Sunday Times Argus had an article about a fellow Montpelier 
neighbor, Dr. Ernest Tomasi. Dr. Tomasi was named the distinguished 
citizen of the year by the Montpelier Rotary Club.
  Madam President, I have known Dr. Tomasi my whole life. And my 
parents knew him even before I did. He is a remarkable man, and 
probably one of the last examples of a country doctor, even though he 
has always practiced in our capital city.
  Dr. Tomasi, a man very proud of his Italian heritage, as was my late 
mother, was one who would make sure that everybody who needed a 
physician received that physician's care.
  So many times people would come to him telling him that they could 
not afford a doctor's care but needed a doctor's care. They always got 
it. It would be remarkable if somebody were able to tally up all the 
people of central Vermont who were cared for by him but never received 
a bill because they could not pay for it.
  I also think of the number of times as a youngster seeing him going 
out making house calls, and then even in later years, even after I 
became a U.S. Senator, seeing Dr. Tomasi with his battered bag heading 
off for house calls.
  It was my privilege to see him in 1994, when he went back for the 
50th anniversary of D-Day. He had landed on Normandy as a young medic 
and, as he said, was one of the only ones who went ashore without guns. 
He also tells some pretty horrific stories of what happened to the 
people who were landing. It was a mark of his bravery that even though 
he earned the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, and a 
Presidential Citation, this was never a part of his conversation, and 
only reluctantly did he go back for the 50th anniversary.
  My wife and I had a chance to talk with him on different occasions 
while he was there. He was one of the brave, brave people President 
Clinton and General Shalikashvili and others referred to at that 
celebration.
  Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the article ``Longtime 
Doctor Named Rotary's Citizen Of Year'' be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

             Longtime Doctor Named Rotary's Citizen of Year

                           (By Art Edelstein)

       Dr. Ernest Tomasi's medical office on Barre Street could 
     well be the setting for a Norman Rockwell painting: The suite 
     of rooms does not sparkle in medicinal white, there are no 
     secretaries behind glass partitions, and the examining tables 
     are from a bygone era.
       But Tomasi can be forgiven the lack of high technology. Now 
     semi-retired, he has practiced medicine locally for 50 years, 
     delivering at least 1,000 babies. Along the way, he raised 
     six of his own children, treated many patients without taking 
     a fee and contributed to innumerable volunteer efforts.
       His career has not gone unnoticed. Earlier this month, 
     Tomasi received the Montpelier Rotary Club's Distinguished 
     Citizen of the Year award for his many years of service to 
     the community.
       Tomasi, who turns 83 at the end of February, is a cheery 
     man who doesn't boast about his formidable medical career and 
     his years in the armed services.
       ``I think the fact that he has continued to practice 
     medicine and is an old-style doctor interested in his 
     patients first made him a great candidate,'' said Rotary 
     President Roderic Sherman. ``He is an outstanding example of 
     good deeds.''
       ``He has been providing services to anyone needing medical 
     help for 50 years,'' said David Pinkham, who chaired the 
     selection committee. ``Dr. Tomasi provides services for 
     barter, or free. He is an example of somebody doing something 
     for others.''
       A Montpelier native, Tomasi graduated from St. Michael's 
     high school on Barre Street, and from the University of 
     Vermont medical school in 1942. After interning for a year in 
     Waterbury, Conn., where he met his wife, he joined the U.S. 
     Army.
       Tomasi doesn't like to talk much about his role as a member 
     of the D-Day invasion force that landed on the Normandy coast 
     of France on June 6, 1944. He said his team of medics were 
     brave men. ``They were the only ones who went ashore without 
     guns,'' he said.
       Tomasi earned the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Purple Heart 
     and the Presidential Citation.
       Tomasi travelled back to France to celebrate the 50th 
     anniversary of D-Day in 1994. The trip, paid for by his 
     colleagues at the Central Vermont Hospital, brought back 
     painful memories of his war years. ``It was so horrible. I 
     saw a lot of soldiers die,'' he said.
       ``I didn't want to go back to Omaha Beach; there were too 
     many bad memories.''
       But there were some better memories of his tour of duty in 
     Europe that he can smile about. In 1944, after the Allies 
     began defeating the Germans, Tomasi and his unit liberated 
     the first town on the German border near the Elbe River. 
     There he delivered a baby girl. Years later he received a 
     letter from that child when she became an adult.
       ``He doesn't talk much, especially about his trip to Europe 
     in 1994,'' said his wife of 50 years, Barbara Tomasi. ``He 
     landed and all these boys around him were killed. Going back 
     to the beach and cemetery were emotional.''
       While the war was an unpleasant experience, Tomasi did not 
     shirk his responsibilities to his fellow veterans. He has 
     been an active member of the American Legion and Veterans of 
     Foreign Wars and has served as the Post doctor for 30 years.
       After the war, Tomasi returned to Montpelier to practice 
     medicine. He has witnessed many changes in the medical 
     profession in his half-century of practice.
       ``It's all changing too fast,'' he said. ``I wish I could 
     live long enough to see how it comes out.''
       A surgeon, he no longer performs operations but continues 
     to assist in them.
       Tomasi began scaling back on his practice in 1994. Before 
     then, his wife said, he kept a grueling schedule.
       ``He would work from 8 in the morning until 11 or midnight 
     with a supper break,'' she said. ``He did this until three 
     years ago when he cut back on patients. He still makes 
     occasional house calls.''
       Adera White, a friend and former nurse, said Tomasi is a 
     special doctor.
       ``Through medicine, he's done much. He would treat people 
     and not get paid; for years he never sent bills to any of his 
     patients,'' she said. ``Whoever felt they could pay, paid 
     him. He wasn't in it for the money, that's for sure.''
       While Tomasi said he is thinking about retiring from 
     medicine, his wife doubts he will quit his life's work.
       ``This is the only thing he has; he is devoted to his 
     patients,'' she said. ``He loves sports, but never had any 
     hobbies. * * * I don't think he will ever retire.''

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