Dr. Dennis Michael McCulloughdied unexpectedly on June 3, 2016 in Bar Harbor, Maine. He was born January 19, 1944, in Hancock, MI, the son of his dear mother, Bertha Juntenen McCullough.

After growing up in the town of Dollar Bay in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Dennis earned a scholarship through his hockey prowess to attend Philips Academy, Andover, MA, for two years, graduating in 1963. From there he went on to Harvard College, where he was Captain of the hockey team and graduated magna cum laude in 1967, receiving the Francis Burr Scholarship Award (scholar athlete) and the Harvard College Traveling Fellowship (1967-68). He began his studies at Harvard Medical School in 1968.

In 1971, Dennis married the love of his life, Pamela Harrison of Oklahoma City, and with her spent his final year of medical school abroad studying Maternal and Child Health in Helsinki, Finland; delivering babies at St. Thomas's Hospital in London, England; and serving at the National Institute of Health's cancer research clinic in Kampala, Uganda. After receiving his MD from Harvard Medical School in 1972, he fulfilled a rotating medical internship at Swedish Hospital in Seattle, Washington, 1972-73, for which he won the Outstanding Intern Award. He went on to a residency in family practice, studying under Dr. Ian McWhinney at the University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada, from 1973-1975, where he was a nominee for Outstanding Family Practice Resident in Canada.

In 1975, Dennis and Pamela moved to the Upper Valley, where Dennis was privileged to join the Family Practice of Dr. Hugh Bower in Lebanon, NH. During those busy, happy years, Dennis cared for many Upper Valley families and delivered many babies now grown. He helped to start The Birthing Center at Alice Peck Day Hospital, served as President of its Medical Staff from 1980-1982, and worked hard to build what became the Family Health Center in Lebanon. From 1983-1984 he was the Clinic Director of the Wingra Family Medical Center of the Department of Family Medicine and Practice at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. In 1985-86 he and Pamela embarked upon a volunteer year abroad with their eight-year-old daughter, Kate, traveling to the tiny island of Carriacou in the Caribbean, where Dennis served as Project HOPE's District Medical Officer for the island's 7,000 residents. In the fall of 1986 the family returned to the Upper Valley to live in Norwich, VT.

From 1986-1994 Dennis practiced primary care and was Family Medicine Clerkship Director in the Department of Community and Family Medicine of Dartmouth Medical School. From 1996-2002 he was a member of the Hitchcock Clinic's Board of Directors and Board of Governors. From 1994-2002, Dennis was the Chief Clinical Officer in the Department of Community and Family Medicine at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, NH, and was recruited to serve as the first Medical Director for Kendal at Hanover, shaping its special brand of Slow-Medicine over the next eleven years with the help of Nurse Practitioners Joanne Sandburg-Cook and Brenda Jordan.

Dennis was a member of the Academy of Family Practice, the American Geriatrics Society, the American Medical Directors Association, the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine, and the World Organization of National Colleges and Academies and Academic Associations of General Practitioners/Family Physicians. Certifications included the National Board of Medical Examiners (Diplomat 1973); the American Board of Family Practice (Diplomat 1975, re-certified 1981, 1987, 1993, 1999); the Canadian College of Family Physicians (Diplomat 1975); Certificate of Added Qualifications (Geriatrics 1994); Certified Medical Director of the American Medical Directors Association (1996). He served on the Board of Overseers for the Visiting Nurse Association and Hospice of Vermont and New Hampshire.

In 2002 Dennis was stricken with an inherited auto-immune disorder which forced an untimely retirement from clinical practice and a lengthy medical leave of absence. During a recuperation that lasted for three years, he began writing what has become a signal textbook for families caring for frail elders, My Mother, Your Mother: Embracing "Slow Medicine," the Compassionate Approach to Caring for Your Aging Loved Ones (Harper Collins, 2008). From 2009 to the present, Dennis traveled all over the United States and to Japan, Singapore, and Italy giving talks about elder care and Slow Medicine. His book has been translated and published in Japan, South Korea, and Brazil.

Upon his return to health, from 2004-2009, Dennis served as a Community Consultant for the Department of Community and Family Medicine and for the Dartmouth Centers for Health and Aging at the Dartmouth Medical School. Recently, he has developed a new website: www.slowmedicineforelders.com.

Over the past three years here at home, Dennis has partnered with RN Laurie Harding to help 11 Upper Valley towns establish Community Nurses to better serve the needs of the frail and home-bound.

Dennis is survived by his sister, Maureen Dolan, of Michigan City, IN; his wife, poet Pamela Harrison; his daughter, Kate (Scott Walker) and two cherished grandsons, Marcus and, born on 20 April of this year, Calvin Dennis.

A service of remembrance will be held at 6 PM Friday, June 10 at the Norwich Congregational Church in Norwich, VT, with reception to follow at the church.

In lieu of flowers, gifts in memory of Dennis McCullough can be made to the Community Nursing Project at Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital by mail (10 Alice Peck Day Drive, Lebanon, NH 03766) or online http://www.alicepeckday.org" target="_blank">www.alicepeckday.org

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/dennismccullough" target="_blank">www.caringbridge.org/visit/dennismccullough