James Ashby Burdette, of Knoxville, died January 17, 2011. He graduated from the University of Tennessee with a bachelor’s degree from the College of Arts and Sciences (1949).

Following service in the U.S. Army Air Corps during WWII, he practiced medicine for many years in Knoxville and helped to establish the practice of Family Medicine as a board certifiable specialty in Tennessee.

He was selected as Tennessee Physician of the Year in 1970 by the Tennessee Academy of Family Physicians.

He left Knoxville to help establish the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Kentucky, where he was the department’s first chairman.

He was professor of Family Medicine at Bowman Gray Medical School at Wake Forest in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and returned to private practice during the last 15 years of his career in Loudon County.

Source: University of Tennessee Torchbearer

BURDETTE , JAMES ASHBY, MD. – Age 85, of Knoxville passed away on January 17, 2011. A native of Knoxville, Dr. Burdette was preceded in death by his parents, Joseph and Charlotte Burdette.  He was a graduate of Knoxville High School and the University of Tennessee.  Following service in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II, he graduated from the University of Tennessee College of Medicine in Memphis where he was elected to membership in the Alpha Omega Alpha Fraternity.  He practiced medicine for many years in Knoxville and helped to establish the practice of Family Medicine as a board certifiable specialty in Tennessee.  He and his family spend a year in Concord, MA, where he was a fellow at Harvard Medical School.  During this time, he and his family developed a life-long love for snow skiing.

After returning to Knoxville, he was selected as Tennessee Physician of the Year in 1970 by the Tennessee Academy of Family Physicians. He became very interested in the promotion and teaching of family medicine and left Knoxville to help establish the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Kentucky where he was the department’s first chairman.  He was a professor of Family Medicine at Bowman Gray Medical School at Wake Forest in Winston-Salem, NC.  He returned to private practice during the last 15 years of his career in Loudon County.  He was a member of Sequoyah Hills Presbyterian Church, Cherokee Country Club, Men’s Cotillion, and the Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity.

Dr. Burdette is survived by his wife of 61 years, Jerry Worsham Burdette , and his four children, James A. Burdette , Jr. and his wife Beverly of Salt Lake City, Utah, Marguerite B. Waddell and husband Wayne of Lexington, Kentucky, Evelyn B. Johnson and husband Jeffrey of Knoxville and Ann B. Baker and husband Guy of Aiken, South Carolina, grandsons James Alan Waddell of Lexington, Kentucky, and Jeffrey Garrett Johnson of Knoxville, brother Joseph Garrett Burdette of Knoxville and numerous nieces and nephews.

A memorial service will be held at Sequoyah Hills Presbyterian Church at 3:00 pm Thursday, January 20th , with Dr. Michael V. Stanfield and Reverend Mark D. Lampley officiating. The family will receive friends immediately following the service in the Barron Hall.  In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Mobile Meals or the Sequoyah Hills Presbyterian Church, 700 Keowee Avenue Knoxville, TN 37919.  Arrangements by Rose Mortuary Mann Heritage Chapel.

Source: Knoxville News-Sentinel, 18 Jan 2011, page A18