Thomas Peter Dolkas, MD

August 28, 1945 – November 15, 2021

Lovingly surrounded by his wife and children, Thomas Peter Dolkas passed away at home on November 15, 2021 after a five-year battle with lung cancer. He put up a brave fight and was playing music—his life-long passion—only five days before he became ill for the last time, and even strummed a few tunes while he was sick in the hospital before coming home.

Tom was born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania to Constantine P. Dolkas and Elizabeth (Betty) Gibson while his father was a physician in the Army base there during World War II. He was raised in San Gabriel, California where his parents returned after the war, and his father set up his medical practice. Tom had a happy childhood, playing baseball, and serving mass as an altar boy. He was the eldest of twelve children born into a family that celebrated every event with Greek music and dancing throughout the house.

He attended San Gabriel Mission Grammar School until the 8th grade and then commuted to Loyola High School in downtown Los Angeles for the next four years. When he was twelve, he began playing the guitar which became his greatest passion all his life. He later performed in many bluegrass groups and won several flat-picking contests.

He graduated from Loyola University with a degree in psychology and completed his pre-med requirements before enlisting in the Army and going to Viet Nam. During his tenure in Viet Nam, Tom was a key-puncher, but convinced the Army to let him work in the Army hospital instead. His parents shipped over his Gibson guitar, and he played for kids in the orphanages there and at mass for the other soldiers. He sent numerous music tapes home to his family and to his brother Steve, who was in the Army in Germany at the same time. Tom’s life-long creativity in writing songs for every occasion began in these years and became legendary among his family and friends.

Upon returning home, Tom finished his pre-med studies and worked on a masters in psychology while applying to medical schools. In the meantime, he volunteered to play for a folk mass at the San Gabriel Mission, and it was there that he met his future wife, Marsha, who played piano, loved to sing, and asked for a copy of the music. They both knew the minute they met they would be married, and after a few months, they were singing at their own wedding mass at the mission.

A year later, Tom went to Guadalajara, Mexico for medical school where he learned to speak Spanish and four years later returned to California to do his Residency in Family Medicine at the University of California, Irvine. By this time, he and Marsha had two children, one of whom (Luke) was born while they were in Mexico.

After completing his residency, and adding two more children to their family (Amy and Laura), Tom decided not to join his father’s practice in San Gabriel, and to strike out on his own. He and Marsha searched for a town to raise their children and chose Auburn as the perfect place, although it meant that Tom had to give up the body-surfing he loved so much from all his summers in Southern California.

Tom set up his practice in Auburn, and baby number five was born (Peggy). Soon, Tom became rooted in the community as Director of Hospice, Medical Director for several nursing homes, and as the Team Doctor for the Placer High School Football Teams, a position of honor—in his eyes—handed down to him by Dr. Tom Rossitto, who chose the younger Tom as his replacement. This was a position Tom held for 25 years, attending all the games on the home field, standing beside his good friend, Bill Flake, who remained Tom’s friend and also his patient until Tom retired in 2019.

Music was at the heart of Tom and Marsha’s life in Auburn, where they sang at mass for 17 years, first at St. Joseph’s Parish Hall until St. Teresa’s was built, and then afterwards in the new church alongside a group of wonderful friends, fellow musicians and sometimes, their children. Tom’s love of medicine and music remained a constant throughout his life. He played in numerous groups: at restaurants, festivals, weddings, funerals, fundraisers, and birthday celebrations everywhere. For many years at Christmas, he organized a group of fellow doctors who were musicians and, along with their families, sang carols in all the nursing homes. After retirement, he was fortunate to play with the Gold Country Band and last performed with them only five days before he went into the hospital for the last time.

Tom had a humble and consistent faith in God and went out of his way to help people. He loved his patients and retired from his practice reluctantly when his cancer treatment became too involved to continue. Through it all, he retained his dry sense of humor and his love of dreaming up scavenger hunts for his family. He was an unassuming, gentle person and a master at musical lyrics; he composed a song for any occasion and carried one of his many guitars (or a dobro or a ukulele) with him almost everywhere, sometimes to the hospital to cheer up a patient. While in the ICU, he even requested that we bring him his Taylor travel guitar. He played by ear, but his skill was so remarkable, he could pick up almost any instrument and play a tune on it without any instruction. Some of this talent he passed on to his children and grandchildren. He played and sang, along with Marsha, at their weddings and parties throughout his life.

He was also delighted to pass on his medical skills to two of his daughters, Shelley and Laura, and gleefully taught them to suture wounds when they were only in high school by bringing home a pork roast and showing them different types of sutures and the “sterile technique” they should learn if they were going to study medicine. (Yes, we cooked the roast afterwards, and the girls had to remove the sutures.) Tom’s father had been chief of staff at San Gabriel Community Hospital, and Tom learned these skills early on both from him and from his godfather who was a pathologist, helping on autopsies when Tom was only 16, and later becoming an ER Tech and an OR Tech while he was still in college.

Tom always said there were three M’s in his life: Marsha, Music, and Medicine, but his greatest pride was in his five children: Shelley, Luke, Amy, Laura, and Peggy. He also delighted in being a grandparent, and with his usual sense of humor, he announced after the birth of the first one (of nine), that all of them were to call him “Grandfather” with a Jamaican accent! From then on, he signed all his letters and cards: “GF.”

Tom is survived by his wife of 50 years, Marsha, his five children and their spouses: Shelley (PJ), Luke (Rachel), Amy (Ben), Laura (Aaron), and Peggy (Dustin), and by eight grandchildren (and another on the way): Sophie, Apollo, Orion, Colton, Bravery, Athena, Eliana, and Eros. He is also survived by his ten brothers and sisters and their spouses: Steve (Therese) Dolkas, Elaine Rossetti, Paul (Dana) Dolkas, Teresa (Brian) McClintock, Cecelia (Lonnie) Nicholson, Lisa (Gary) Otto, Angela (Russ) Renish, John Dolkas, Georgianna (Wade) Hawkins, and Bernadette (Adam) Woods, as well as numerous nieces, nephews, and cousins. Tom was predeceased by his 6 year old granddaughter Amelie, his sister Mary, and both his parents.

A memorial service and celebration of Tom’s life will be held at St. Teresa of Avila Catholic Church 11600 Atwood Rd. on Saturday, January 15 at 11 am, immediately followed by lunch and a memorial jam session by musicians who have played with Tom at The Blue Goose Packing Shed in Loomis, CA. Please email an RSVP for the luncheon to: [email protected] and sign the online guestbook at chapelofthehills.com. Those attending are kindly requested to wear masks, and if unvaccinated, to get a recent Covid test for the safety of those in fragile health.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Tom’s name may be made to the music program at St. Joseph’s Catholic School or to the music program at E.V. Cain Charter STEM Middle School (c/o Patti Leftridge).

For those wishing to attend the prayer service via livestream, here is the link to the video content on our parish Facebook page where the livestream will appear:

https://www.facebook.com/StTeresaAuburn/videos/?ref=page_internal

Here is the link to a tribute slide show celebrating Tom's life:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IVbkIxmcOWBcV9Rbu25l6OHouSxKntGw/view?usp=sharing