| Dr. John Wyon, 86, healed people around the world
By Peter J. Howe, Globe Staff, 6/12/2004 John Wyon, a longtime Harvard School of Public Health lecturer who devoted his life to improving community-based healthcare in countries as far-flung as Bolivia and Bangladesh, died May 31. The Chestnut Hill resident was 86. ''Even as an academic, John was a strong advocate for introducing humanitarianism in the practice of public health," said Hilton A. Salhanick, former chairman of the Harvard department in which Dr. Wyon taught. ''Deep in his heart, John cared about the people involved, his students, and his colleagues. He cared about all people." Born in Leeds, England, Dr. Wyon earned his medical degrees from Gonville & Caius College at Cambridge University in England. As a conscientious objector to military service during World War II, Dr. Wyon served with a Quaker organization in Tigre, Ethiopia, from 1943 to 1945 as the only Western-qualified physician at a 100-bed hospital serving a community of nearly 1 million people. Four years later, Dr. Wyon headed off as a Christian missionary doctor to the Punjab region of India with his wife, Elizabeth, and four-month-old daughter, Mary.. While practicing medicine, Dr. Wyon became fluent in Hindi. Dr. Wyon's experiences in Ethiopia and India sharpened his resolve to find ways to improve the practice of healthcare in impoverished areas of the developing world. His emphasis, which Salhanick said was unusual for many mid-20th century American health experts, was on working with local residents to identify the health problems they most urgently wanted addressed. Through a sponsorship from Clarence Gamble of the Procter & Gamble household products fortune, Dr. Wyon came to the Harvard School of Public Health in 1951 to earn his master's degree in public health. After graduating in 1953, Dr. Wyon returned to India to conduct a major seven-year study of strategies for controlling population growth, published with Harvard epidemiologist John Gordon as ''The Khanna Study." Dr. Wyon worked as a senior lecturer in the public health school's department of population and international health from 1953 to 1988. He also served as a consultant to health area projects in Sri Lanka and the Andean Rural Health Care project, as well as Oxfam America's efforts to control malaria. Two years ago, he edited with Jon Rohde a 36-part anthology called ''Community-Based Health Care: Lessons from Bangladesh to Boston," which has been widely consulted by public health specialists learning about primary healthcare strategies around the world. Dr. Wyon was a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in London, a past recipient of the American Public Health Association's international lifetime achievement award, and the Harvard School of Public Health's 1995 alumni award of merit. Following the death of his first wife in 1989, Dr. Wyon married Joan Litchard Kittredge in February 1992. Besides more conventional vacations, the couple made several trips through areas of Bolivia and India where Dr. Wyon had served as a physician and researcher. ''I think I helped John with taking care of the practical sides of life and helping him have fun, but the life I had with John stretched my mind and stretched my heart," Joan Wyon recalled. Dr. Wyon was a member of Trinity Church in Copley Square, Boston and was a frequent Sunday worship lector and supporter of the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization. He previously was a member and senior warden of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Brookline, helping shepherd the church community through the aftermath of a 1976 fire that destroyed the church roof and interior. At 6 feet, 3 inches, with a full head of white hair, Dr. Wyon was nicknamed ''Tata Illampu" by friends in Bolivia, Tata for daddy, Illampu for his resemblance to the country's 20,892-foot-high mountain that always sports a cap of snow, his wife said. . His wife said one of her favorite memories of her husband was a reception after a Harvard symposium where he sang a song in Hindi with the line: ''My shoes are Japanese, these pants I'm wearing are English, on my head is a red Russian hat, but my heart is still Hindustani." Besides his wife, Dr. Wyon leaves a daughter, Rachel M. of Cambridge; a son, Thomas C. of Somerville; a brother, Peter of Yorkshire, England; two grandchildren; a great grandchild; three step-children; and four step-grandchildren. His daughter Mary predeceased him. A memorial service was held at Trinity Church on June 26, at 1:30 p.m. Burial was private. This story ran on page B5 of the Boston Globe on 6/12/2004.
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