Dr. John Hamilton Allan, a retired orthopedist and flight surgeon during World War II and the Korean and Vietnam wars, died of a heart attack Saturday at his Stevenson home. He was 101.
Born in Stamford, Conn., he earned a bachelor's degree from the Johns Hopkins University and was editor of the yearbook, The Hullabaloo. He also belonged to the Tudor and Stuart Literary Club and was 1929 class vice president.
He then graduated from the Hopkins School of Medicine and did his internship at the Union Memorial Hospital. He was a resident orthopedic surgeon at New York Orthopedic Hospital and Yale Medical Center in New Haven, Conn.
During World War II, he was a flight surgeon with the Navy and served in the Pacific. He also held medical posts overseas during the Korean and Vietnam wars.
Dr. Allan was chief orthopedic surgeon at the Germantown Hospital in Philadelphia from 1946 to 1950 and orthopedic surgeon in chief at the University of Virginia Hospital and Medical Center in Charlottesville, Va., from 1950 to 1967. He also founded the Kluge Children's Rehabilitation Center there.
He returned to Baltimore about 12 years ago when he married the former Catharine Bond Jackson.
Family members said that he had known her nearly 60 years ago. They reacquainted themselves after their respective spouses died. They were married at Adventure, their residence on Greenspring Valley Road. He celebrated his 90th birthday in Charlottesville - and a week later, he had his wedding rehearsal dinner at the Green Spring Valley Hunt Club.
"He was eloquent and articulate," said a daughter, Susan Allan of Charlottesville. "He also adored Maryland."
At his 100th birthday, he quoted the poet Robert Browning from memory and said, "Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be."
Services will be held at 4 p.m. today at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, 232 St. Thomas Lane in Owings Mills.
Survivors include his wife of nearly 12 years, the former Catharine Bond Jackson; a son, David Allan of Pasadena, Calif.; a daughter, Susan Allan of Charlottesville; and three grandchildren. His first wife, the former Dorothy Boyd, died in 1975. His second wife, the former Agnes Offut, died in 1996.
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