Name:
John H. Holcombe, MD
In which decade were you born, and where?
I was born in 1the 40’s, officially characterized as a baby boomer. My birthplace was in northeastern Texas, in a small town named Jefferson. My father was running a dairy farm there, which he established after returning from WWII.
Profession?
Retired research physician. I went to medical school at the University of Oklahoma and specialized in pediatrics. But after that training, I did a research fellowship in pediatric endocrinology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX. Thereafter, I joined the faculty back at the University of Oklahoma. There, I taught residents and interns, carried out clinic research, and took care of many patients for eight years. At that point, Eli Lilly and Company recruited me to conduct clinic research in human growth disorders, then diabetes research, and I ended up spending 23 years at Lilly.
Piping/ Drumming Background, other bands:
I began piping at age 55 years, and quickly learned that I should have started when I was eight or nine years old. But there were few, if any, bagpipes to be found in Oklahoma. I was taught by Craig Waugh, an open-grade piper from Canada who also happened to work at Lilly. Several of us formed a band named the Indiana Caledonia Pipe Band, which existed for several years. My wife and I moved to Florida, where I was in the performance band called Palm Beach Pipes and Drums for a short time. Because I wanted to keep learning, I joined the Harp and Thistle Pipe Band, which had both grade 5 and 4 bands. I participated in both.
Even during my first year of learning, I have been lucky enough to take lessons from some of the best pipers in the world by attending piping schools, especially the well-known Piping Hot Summer Drummer, held every summer in British Columbia, Canada, and run by the famous Jack Lee (piper) and J. Reid Maxwell (drummer). I continue to take online piping lessons just about every day.
During two of numerous sessions at Piping Hot Summer Drummer, I tested for and received Levels 4 and 5 certifications from the Piping and Drumming Qualifications Board in Scotland
Do you play any other instruments?
I used to play a five-string banjo, but the bagpipes now occupy that time.
Any other major hobbies?
I enjoy lots of things, including woodworking, flying single-engine aircraft, flying radio-controlled aircraft, and racing radio-controlled sailboats.
Favorite Quote:
A bit long, but this is it, from Teddy Roosevelt in Paris, Paris on April 23, 1910:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”