10/08/2025
Further Reflections on the lives of Erie County Physicians
Thomas F. Nolan Jr. M.D. Gentleman Surgeon
I was once asked, given my Irish heritage, whether I was a “poet” or a “brawler”! “A poet” I replied, cautioning that even the most soft-spoken Hibernian could become a scrapper under circumstances endemic to the “race”. Yet, there are true Irish gentlemen and in July 1978, on my first day on the surgical unit at Saint Vincent, I had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of just such a fellow. Rather, I almost walked into a tall, handsome, well-dressed, silver haired bear of a man who, unlike many surgeons I had come to know in training, seemed to be “chomping at the bit” to meet me. Our easy exchanges forged my now fondly remembered friendship with Dr. Thomas F. Nolan Jr., then a 58-year-old general surgeon on staff at Saint Vincent. Tom not only epitomized the endearing and light-hearted personality of the gentleman Irishman, but as a bonus to a transplant like me, he sported the unique edge reserved for those nurtured in New York City! In the years that followed I discovered many other dimensions of his unassuming nature and the ingredients of his geniality, all worthy of emulation by a young, newly arrived surgeon.
John C. Reilly M.D. 2025
With a tip of the hat to the late John S Chaffee M.D. who wrote and published “Reflections on Erie County Physicians” in 1990, a monumental retrospective for which it was my privilege to write the foreword. I join several history-minded colleagues in the daunting task of continuing Dr. Chaffee’s work.
The public life and career:
Born in Greensburg PA (May 15, 1920), Thomas F. Nolan Jr. lived, studied, trained and practiced in New York City. It was there that he met the love of his life, Joan Devine, in “The City” during surgical training at the legendary Saint Vincent Hospital in Manhattan where Joan worked as a dietician. After their marriage in 1946, she and her New Yorker eventually settled in her hometown, Erie Pennsylvania. Tom completed his surgical training at Saint Vincent Hospital (the one in Erie). He practiced general surgery in Erie from 1950-1986. Upon retirement, Tom and Joan relocated to Madison, Connecticut where Dr. Nolan died, at 91, on December 7, 2011. Joan passed away on April 23, 2025 just shy of her 104th birthday. The Nolans graced the world with 5 children, 9 grandchildren, and, at the time of Joan’s passing, 3 great grandchildren.
A life more fully remembered:
In 1846, John and Catherine Nolan and their son, Daniel, fled the Irish Potato Famine (1845-1852) making the hazardous trip across the Atlantic on one of what were then referred to as “coffin ships” – the term reflecting the mortal threat of the crossing, largely the result of poor sanitation, disease and starvation in the cramped conditions in the bowels of the ships. As in the case of half of the refugees arriving in New York City, the Nolans did not settle there. Since neither John nor Catherine could read or write, John took a job as a laborer on the railroad and that job likely brought the family to western Pennsylvania.
(Not surprisingly, his Irish Heritage meant the world to Dr. Nolan, as it does for most descended from those who fled the Famine. His devotion to his Irish roots was passed on to his children. His embrace of the Roman Catholic Faith resided deep inside him as well.)
Dr. Nolan’s father, also Thomas and also a doctor, was John and Catherine Nolan’s grandson and Daniel’s son. He advanced directly from high school to Jefferson Medical College, in one of the last generation of physicians to do so. He moved the family to New York City, his son Tom, the subject of this biography, being 2 years old at the time. Nolan Sr. practiced General Medicine out of the family residence at 308 East 18th Street in Manhattan.
Tom Jr. and his younger brother, Richard, were raised in Manhattan, both attending Manhattan College (now University) a Catholic College uptown in the borough of the Bronx, 13 miles from home. There being no money for room and board, the brothers commuted to classes by subway.
During college, both boys worked at one of the venerable Schrafft’s Restaurants. They both learned to play musical instruments with a proficiency that gained them entry into the Manhattans College Marching Band. Tom had some great stories about marching in many of the parades that New York City has always been famous for. Tom was also a member of the glee club. When asked by his son, also Thomas, what he would have been if not a physician, his dad “never skipped a beat – a musician.”
Tom and Richard attended New York University (now Grossman) School of Medicine, their education paid for by the U.S. Government in exchange for the promise of military service. Tom graduated in 1944 as a uniformed member of NYU’s Army Medical Corps.
Tom served in the States at Fort Sam Houston in Texas and Fort Lee in New Jersey. His brother served in a MASH unit in Korea and went on to become a Thoracic Surgeon in NYC. Tom received a hardship discharge to dutifully take over his ailing father’s general medical practice.
(Tom became known in the 18th street neighborhood where he practiced for placing his black bag down on the “stoop”, joining a stickball game, and slamming home runs.)
It was during his first years of surgical residency at Saint Vincent Hospital, New York’s premier Catholic hospital, that Tom met and fell in love with Joan Devine. Joan had been raised in Erie, graduated from Villa Maria Academy, and received a degree in Home Economics from Saint Mary’s College in South Bend Indiana. They married in 1946 at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio. Tom and Joan moved to Erie, Tom “recognizing the merits of raising a family in Erie”. Tom’s son notes that Dr. Nolan “always longed for NYC and passed that love on to all of us. We visited often growing up and enjoyed our time there!” (Many of Tom and Joan’s children and grandchildren live and work in the Greater New York area.)
He went on to complete his training in Erie and set up his surgical practice in 1950.
As was not uncommon “in those days”, the Nolan home at 342 West 10th Street, near Cathedral Prep, served as Dr. Tom’s first medical office. Son Tom notes “I remember my mom getting my sister and me up early so our bedroom could become his waiting room!” There, Dr. Nolan became the “neighborhood doc”. His children often brought friends who had “gotten hurt” to him. In the 50’s Dr. Nolan could be found serving as voluntary “team doctor” for his son’s grade school football team.
From the mid-50’s to the early 1960’s Dr. Nolan practiced from an office that he shared with Dr. James Weaver, also a surgeon, at 3123 State Street before relocating to the Saint Vincent Medical Arts Building at 225 West 25th Street, his office until he retired.
Throughout his medical career, Dr. Nolan would make house calls on Sunday after Mass. His son Tom would sit in the living room while his dad tended to the homebound patient – black bag always in hand! The doctor’s children grew up absorbing his empathy for the less fortunate. Young Tom remembers that “one Christmas when I and my sisters were little, we all built a gingerbread house from scratch. We were very proud and when we finished dad said ‘now we’re going to take this to Saint Joseph Orphanage - they don’t have much for Christmas’”.
As Dr. Nolan’s practice progressed, the family home moved from West 10th St to a Baldwin rental at 36th and Old French Road and, in 1958 to 124 West 36th Street. In 1969, the Nolans made their final move to 504 Cherokee Drive in Frontier, a joyful home they cherished until their move to Connecticut in 1989 following Tom’s retirement.
In their heyday, the Nolan were celebrated for the parties they threw - theme gatherings being Dr. Nolan’s specialty - a favorite being the annual Saint Patrick’s Day gathering at which green martinis were served at the door. Also memorable was the 1969 Moon Landing Party which found the ceiling of the home decorated with spaceships. Tom and Joan’s wine tasting parties were popular, with European maps serving as backdrops to an appreciation of vintage and region. The Nolans would host an Italian tenor with piano accompanist one year and an opera singer another year. As a New York City transplant myself, I found it a special pleasure to have attended a 1983 party celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge (a model of the bridge had been assembled and hung in the front hall).
In the final category of “what you didn’t know about Dr. Thomas Nolan” was his love and talent for poetry. He attributed this interest to his Irish heritage and the inspiration of his mother, Mary Bowen Nolan.
