Dodge, Billy G., MD

Dr. Billy Gene Dodge, USAF Flight Surgeon, “Headed West” on October 11, 2021.

TYLER — Billy Gene Dodge, M.D., was born November 1, 1934, to Vaunda Smith Dodge and Earl Floyd Dodge in Wynona, Oklahoma. The family moved many times during the early years, as his father was an oilfield driller.

As a young boy, Bill worked as the projectionist at the movie theater in Monahans, TX, and later as an oilfield rig hand alongside his father. He graduated from Monahans High School as an honor student and active band member, playing the cornet. He received an academic scholarship to Rice University in Houston, TX. During one college summer, he served as a game warden and stream guard in Alaska.

After graduating from Rice in 1956, he went on to earn both his master’s and M.D. degrees at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. He then joined the US Air Force as a Flight Surgeon, serving in Southeast Asia in the early sixties. After special service in Thailand in 1962-63, he was awarded the US Air Force Commendation Medal for his exemplary service and contributions including expediting emergency lifesaving evacuations and creating major improvements for the Thai water supply.

After returning to Houston to begin his dermatology residency at Baylor College of Medicine, he met his future wife, Mary Julius, a nurse at the Veterans Administration Hospital in the medical center there. They were married in August 1965.
While continuing in the Air Force, the couple moved to Wiesbaden, Germany, headquarters for the Air Force in Europe. Bill served as consultant to the Surgeon General in Europe for more than three years. Upon their return to the US in 1970, he was named Chief of the Dermatology Residency Program at Wilford Hall, Lackland AFB, in San Antonio, TX. In 1973, he received the James Clarke White Award for Outstanding Dermatologist.
He was in private practice in San Antonio for a few years, and in 1976, the family moved to Tyler, where he practiced until retiring in 2013.
The Dodges have two sons: William David, born in Germany in 1968, and Michael Douglas, born in San Antonio in1973. William is a family practice physician in McKinney, TX, and he and his wife, Joslyn, have two daughters, Charli Elizabeth and Vaughn Alexandra. Michael is a telecommunications engineer; he and his wife, Polly, live in Colorado.
Bill is survived by his wife of 56 years, his two sons and their families, his sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Kathi and Paul Jensen, San Marcos, and his nephew, Peter Jensen, Maryland. He is so loved and missed by all his family members and many dear friends. He also is missed by his patients and colleagues who remember him as a brilliant, kind, generous, and benevolent physician and scientist, a doctor who was extremely thoughtful, always wanting to help. He volunteered frequently to assist in free skin cancer screening clinics. His passion in dermatology was healing diseases of the skin, and he never allowed a declined insurance claim or financial hardship to stop him from helping a patient in need. He was very devoted to both his family and his profession.
He was preceded in death by his parents and older sister, Arlene Dodge Nichols, and his in-laws, Elsa and Walter Julius.
Bill passed away on October 11, 2021, following a brief illness. Because of the continuance of Covid concerns, the family has waited to memorialize him.
A service will be held Tuesday, July 26 at 2 p.m. in the Chapel of Marvin United Methodist Church, 300 W. Erwin Street in Tyler, TX. In lieu of flowers, Dr. Dodge’s family requests that anyone wanting to honor him do so through a contribution to their charity of choice.
Obit From Tyler Morning Telegraph, Tyler,TX.