Alvin J. Phelan, M.D.

Donations in A.J.’s memory may be made to a charity of one’s choice.

A.J. was born on November 25, 1925, in Wyandotte, Michigan, the son of James and Mary (Bednarek) Phelan. He graduated from Trenton (Michigan) High School in 1943, attended the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, earned his medical degree in 1949 from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, and completed his internship at Milwaukee (Wisconsin) County Hospital. For three years, A.J. served in the United States Navy as a medical officer. Part of this time was spent in the South Pacific helping conduct a medical survey and epidemiologic work, and another part of his military service was spent at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Yokosuka, Japan. A.J. then completed a general residency at Bon Secours Hospital in Grosse Pointe, Michigan.

He married Elizabeth Rose “Bette” VanLerberghe, who was a registered nurse, in Romeo, Michigan, on June 26, 1954. They had two sons and four daughters, all of whom were born in Tecumseh, Michigan, where A.J. practiced as a physician and surgeon. In 1971, they moved to Lansing, Michigan, where A.J. was a physician with Oldsmobile and later an emergency room physician at St. Lawrence Hospital in Lansing. He was board certified by the American Board of Emergency Medicine, retired from full-time medical practice in 1987, and moved with Bette to Colleyville, Texas, in 1994.

A.J.’s many outside interests over the years included woodworking, coin collecting, golf, boating and fishing on Hubbard Lake near Alpena, Michigan, bow and arrow hunting in northern Michigan with brother Don and friend Dick Dustin, and scuba diving. His favorite dive trips were with sons Jim and Mark in Palau and Jim, Mark, and grandson Andy in Belize. A.J. also loved teaching a computer class for seniors at Tarrant County College. He was a member of St. Michael Catholic Church in Bedford.

He was preceded in death by his parents, beloved wife Bette, daughter Jane Elizabeth, brothers James Richard “Dick” and Donald Lewis “Don” (DDS), and sister Shirley Marie Geboyls.

A.J. is survived by his five loving children – James (Kim) Phelan of Colleyville, Texas, Anne (Greg) Skuta of Edmond, Oklahoma, Karen (Larry) Tuccio of Dallas, Texas, Mark (Kim) Phelan, MD, of Abilene, Texas, and Amy (Jeff) Nottingham of Euless, Texas; and eleven grandchildren – Andrew (Lorna) Phelan, Jonathan (Amy) Skuta, Catherine (Justan) Wright, Matthew Skuta, Sara Tuccio, Erik Tuccio, Samuel (fiancée Eileen) Phelan, Alix Phelan, Jack Phelan, Joshua Nottingham, and Justin Nottingham. He was looking forward to the upcoming birth of his first great-grandchild Norah in April.

A.J. was deeply committed to his family and positively impacted their lives and, as a physician, the lives of the thousands of patients for whom he cared. He will be missed but always remembered as a devoted husband, father, grandfather, and friend.