John Rolla Trumbo

John was born March 25th, 1952 in Roswell, New Mexico. He was the only child of the late William and Louise Trumbo and grew up in Midland, Texas.

John attended high school at New Mexico Military Institute. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Missouri (Mizzou) and medical degree from Saint Louis University School of Medicine. John went on to serve in the U.S Air Force for 20+ years, retiring as LtCol in 1998. Following his service, John continued to work as a pediatrician in Caldwell, Idaho until he found his true passion in humanitarian work.

John was first married to Satira Hollis, with whom he had his two children, Melanie and Shawn. Years after their divorce, John met Helen-Marie while stationed in Mountain Home, Idaho. They married in 2004 and John became a step father to two additional daughters, Kim and Cassie.

Together John and Helen-Marie were two peas in an eccentric pod; they enjoyed traveling, especially road trips, flea markets and estate sales, collecting lots of what they would call antiques (what their children refer to as junk). John enjoyed tasting new and exotic foods and they both enjoyed spending time in their backyard gardening.

John was an avid collector of original art and leaves behind his art collection, to which the family has no idea what to do with it all. So, if anyone is interested in any strange paintings, bizarre statues, odd and even sometimes offensive trinkets, contact John’s wife HM (please wait the appropriate amount of time before contacting her…tomorrow is fine).

In addition to his eye for peculiar art, John was a cyclist and loved spending time outside. He enjoyed all kinds of water sports, especially boating. He was a helpless Cowboys fan, a Cardinals fan (including the pre-Pujos era), and loved to watch his alma mater's sporting events whenever he could. John was a wonderful father to his children and a dedicated husband. Anyone that knew John appreciated his dry, brash sense of humor. He was blunt and honest, awkward, incredibly intelligent and sometimes stubborn. He was never able to sit still (even at night he would wander the house, snacking on left overs and re-decorating his room of prized art).

Above all else, John had a heart of gold and that was evident through his humanitarian efforts. It was through his volunteer work that John found his true passion and purpose in life; saving the lives of those in crisis by providing emergency medical care. The impact of his work with global medical response humanitarian organizations Medical Teams International (MTI) and Global Response Medicine (GRM) extended across the world; Dr. John compassionately and without hesitation traveled to places of crisis and turmoil to provide medical care for those in need, including countries such as Haiti, Uganda, Rwanda, Bangladesh, and Mexico. He was one of the first responders who met and took care of Afghan refugees when they arrived in Philadelphia. He masked up in the midst of the COVID pandemic to join his beloved colleagues to help provide care for those at the Texas/Mexican border and he continued his humanitarian work there right up to the time of his passing. Even in death, John saved lives through a full donation of his organs.

John was a devoted grandfather to his 4 grandchildren. He rarely missed a dance recital, gymnastics meet, swim meet, or baseball game in which his grandkids participated and he was always present for graduations, birthday celebrations and other achievements.

John will be remembered as a humanitarian, a mentor, a teacher, a friend, a husband, a father and a grandfather. He lived an extraordinary life that will forever be his legacy and his family could not be more proud of him.

John is survived by his wife, Helen-Marie Maguire Trumbo; daughter, Melanie Awtry (Stryker Awtry); son, Shawn Trumbo (Jihene Trumbo); step daughters, Kim Capano (Kyle Gallagher), and Cassie Capano (Boris Pique); grandchildren, Tristan, Parker, Jack, Enzo; the mother of his children, Satira Hollis and a plethora of nieces, nephews, sister and brother in laws and other chosen family he collected over his life, including the friends and colleagues he held near to his heart at MTI and GRM.

A celebration of life service will take place on Wednesday, March 1st, at 6 o'clock in the evening at the Porter Loring Mortuary North (Funeral Home) 2102 North Loop 1604 East, San Antonio, TX 78232. The family will also host a reception immediately following the service at John and Helen-Marie’s home in San Antonio. All those who knew John who would like to say goodbye are invited to attend. A burial with honors service will take place at the Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery on Friday, March 3rd at 1:45 PM CST.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial contributions be made to Global Response Medicine (GRM) or Medical Teams International (MTI) in Dr. John’s honor.

https://global-response.org/

https://www.medicalteams.org/

For more information and to sign John’s guestbook, please visit www.porterloring.com.

#grouphug