Even though I had heard of Dr. Gary Jolly and read some of his published papers I had never officially met the man until a chance encounter at the Annual Scientific Meeting of ACFAS in San Francisco in 1995. I was on the Board of Directors of ACFAS and after our meeting I was very impressed with his ability to verbalize his thoughts and his wishes for the advancement of the profession.  I suggested that he become involved in the Directorship of the College but he was a little reluctant. We continued seeing each other at meetings here and there and eventually, with a little more shoving on my part, he threw his hat into the ACFAS ring and ran for a position on the Board of Directors. He was nominated and elected to the Board of Directors.

During our first Board meeting, Gary and I had the opportunity to work on projects, debate issues, and to enjoy a few great dinners together. We learned that each of us enjoyed a good martini, a good cigar and a good time. After that long weekend we started planning to get together with our wives and our friendship continued to grow. The four of us started traveling together and visiting each other's home. Joann Jolly and my wife, Dr. Mary Crawford, became very good friends and this made it even more fun to get together. Mary started calling Gary Jolly and me "Frick and Frack" (referring to two people closely associated with similar attitudes and likes). We never minded the term.

Gary Jolly was elected to run another term of office on ACFAS and eventually became the President in 2004-05. I was very proud of his accomplishments and his ability to continue verbalizing his thoughts, teach his Fellows and help a lot of patients with his surgical talents. The profession has gained a lot ,across the board, due to his training of surgeons and his guiding map for many of the rest of us. He was genuinely a good man and he had a lot of close friends and I am proud to say that I was one of them.

I have a number of wonderful memories of our time together in our homes, at meetings in Hawaii, Manhattan, Maine, Seattle, Florida and numerous other states and especially recently when the four of us spent a week in the Piedmont District of Italy. It was a great trip and one of countless hours of talking and drinking fine Italian wines.  Gary was open when it came to discussing life and death and he knew he was terminal but continued to say that he would never give up. It was his way.

Goodbye Dear Friend

Dock

G Dock Dockery, DPM, FACFAS
Seattle, WA