There are thousands of families in Martinsville and Henry County who have been touched with the healing hand of a local pediatric physician who passed away recently.
LaFave
For 45 years, parents brought their children to Dr. John LaFave at the Children’s Medical Center on Cleveland Avenue. It was common, before he retired in 2011, for those parents to have been his former patients.
Dr. Mary Noonan of Children First Pediatrics of Virginia on Fairy Street in Martinsville considered LaFave to have been her mentor.
Noonan said LaFave took her under his wing in 2006 and not only imparted his knowledge of the practice of medicine, but taught her about life and supported her in the opening of her own practice.
“You instilled strength and courage in me. You have always been there for me,” Noonan wrote to LaFave in a tribute to him. “You encouraged me to open my practice in Aug. 2016. When I opened Children First Pediatrics of Virginia, P.C., you sent me roses. You even came by the office several times in the first couple of years and worked on your computer while the children, staff and I were busy running through the office all day.”
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Noonan’s practice has grown and flourished, now employing more than 20 people that serve the children of families throughout the area.
“You sat right there in the middle of it all,” Noonan wrote about LaFave. “I smile thinking about that, because I knew your were so enjoying having all the children and families around you. And through all those years, you were always there for advice. I would even run some cases by you after you retired and you always had sound advice and recommendations.”
“You even came by the office several times in the first couple of years and worked on your computer while the children, staff and I were busy running through the office all day,” wrote Noonan.
LaFave was born in 1936 in Malone, New York. He was the oldest of five children, attended Catholic schools and graduated from Franklin Academy. He attended the University of Vermont, where he had received a basketball scholarship. A professor at the school inspired him to obtain a medical degree and become a pediatrician.
LaFave met a nurse, Bonnie MacDonald, while completing his internship and first year of residency at Boston City Hospital. They married in 1963. Bonnie passed away in 2016.
“I remember sitting with you and Bonnie in the hospital when Bonnie first became ill,” wrote Noonan. “There are so many memories I have, talking with you and hanging out with you and Bonnie.”
At the beginning of his career, LaFave and his wife moved to San Francisco where they both worked at the University of California and in 1964 the LaFaves, with their first child, moved to Fort Knox, Kentucky where LaFave served as a captain in the Army.
In 1966, LaFave moved to Martinsville and joined Children’s Medical Center along with his Army buddy, Dr. Bob Rider.
His two daughters and son carry with them the memories of countless stories of the lives their father saved and his uncanny ability to get to the root of what seemed to be an impossible diagnosis.
LaFave served as president of the Martinsville-Henry County Medical Association, president of Chatmoss Country Club, chairman of the Carlisle School Board of Trustees, and a board member of the Memorial Hospital of Martinsville and Henry County.
Dr. John LaFave (from left) was considered by Dr. Mary Noonan to be her mentor.
“When I saw you a few weeks ago, you hugged me and kissed me and told me how proud your are of me and how much you love me, and I told you how much I love you and how much you guided me through almost 20 years, and how you have been my mentor, my inspiration, my strength for all these years,” Noonan wrote. “Because of you, I have a long-lasting commitment to making sure there is a strong pediatric center for all the children and families of Martinsville and Henry County and the surrounding area.”
LaFave passed away peacefully at his home in Martinsville on Dec. 29.
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Retired Martinsville physician leaves lasting legacy - Martinsville Bulletin
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