I first met Dr. Tom Willmeng in 1989 when Dr. Lloyd Appell was recruiting me to join his practice in Vicksburg. Doctor Tom lived in the area. His children attended Vicksburg schools. He had an orthopedic practice in Kalamazoo and also saw patients in Bronson Vicksburg Hospital. He was part of a group Dr. Appell had assembled to convince me Vicksburg would be a great place to live, raise a family and practice family medicine. He was right. I enjoyed 35 years of family practice in Vicksburg.
Over the years Doctor Tom and I interacted on many levels. Sometimes we met on the sidelines of a football game. Doc was always pleasant and never talked down to me like “I’m the specialist and you’re not.” At one scrimmage, the trainer of the opposing team came over and said, ”I’ve got a player who may be having an allergic reaction. Can you help?”
Doc immediately looked at me and said, “That’s you!” He’d take the orthopedic problems…