[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 23]
[House]
[Page 31913]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     IN MEMORY OF DR. JOHN SHEARER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Madam Speaker, I rise today to fondly honor my friend, 
Dr. John Shearer, who passed away on November 18, 2009, at the age of 
77 in Petaluma, California.
  Publicly, John was a powerful advocate for children's health care and 
health care reform. He preferred a single-payer system and privately he 
was a kind, selfless man of great integrity.
  As a physician, he was expert, compassionate, and gentle, the kind of 
doctor you would want to have care for your sick child. I should know, 
because John Shearer was our family doctor, and my family adored him.
  A native of Kokomo, Indiana, John moved with his family to Detroit 
and originally trained as a pharmacist. Then he earned his medical 
degree from Wayne State University in 1962.
  John moved his wife and his children to Petaluma in 1964, where he 
started El Rose Medical Clinic with three other doctors. His son, David 
Shearer, recalls that his father made a lot of house calls with his 
black doctor's bag in the early years of his practice. In those days, 
you see, there were no OB-GYNs, so he delivered hundreds of babies in 
Petaluma.
  Dr. Shearer was very active in community and social issues. He was 
involved in Physicians for Social Responsibility, an organization 
dedicated to preventing nuclear war and proliferation, and halting 
global warming and toxic deprivation of the environment. In 1972, he 
was a part of a grassroots Save Our Schools, or SOS, that I also worked 
on with him in Petaluma to raise money to keep Grant Elementary School, 
which was located in Petaluma, open when it was threatened with 
closure.
  In the 1980s, he was the head of Physicians for Social Responsibility 
in the North Bay. He also began the Children's Health Initiative to 
ensure that all uninsured children in Sonoma County would have health 
care.
  Dr. Shearer served as medical director of the Jewish Community Free 
Clinic in Cotati and Rohnert Park. He was the chief of the medical 
staff at Hillcrest Hospital from 1974 to 1975, and president of the 
Petaluma Valley Hospital medical staff from 1986 to 1987.
  He also served as chairman of the Petaluma Valley Hospital ethics 
committee for many years. He served as president of the California 
Physicians' Alliance, an organization of physicians advocating for 
single-payer national health insurance.
  John is survived by his wife, Donna Brasset Shearer of Petaluma; his 
son, David Shearer of Gig Harbor, Washington; his daughter, Annette 
Moussa of Petaluma; and two grandchildren.
  Madam Speaker, even as John Shearer was a tender man with impeccable 
manners, he was a bold and fearless activist for justice and health 
care. He did not hesitate to advocate for a single-payer system among 
his physician peer group. He was a prince of a man who was loved and 
respected by many and will be genuinely missed.
  John, I thank you for your friendship, your counsel, and for making 
my family feel like they were part of yours.

                          ____________________