October 25. The Arlington Free Clinic honored Dad last night.

Click to see the video tribute we made to celebrate the honor.

Respected Washington physician N. Thomas Connally, Jr. died of heart failure on April 2, 2020, at his home in Arlington, surrounded by family.

As an internist in private practice he was known for extraordinary diagnostic skills, a kind and thoughtful manner, and tireless devotion to his patients. Dr. Connally cared for many prominent figures in Washington, including Supreme Court Justices and numerous members of Congress. When Justice William O. Douglas suffered a stroke in the Bahamas in 1974, President Ford sent Dr. Connally by jet to attend to the Justice and bring him home. After retiring from private practice, Dr. Connally was a volunteer at the Arlington Free Clinic, where he served as Medical Director from 2005-2010. He continued to see patients and review charts at the Free Clinic through 2018.

Born in 1936 in Norfolk, Virginia, Tom Connally earned his BA and MD at the University of Virginia. As an undergraduate he was Student Council President and a member of numerous honorary and social groups, including Zeta Psi Fraternity, The Raven Society, the IMP Society, and the Eli Banana Ribbon Society.

Dr. Connally served in the U.S. Public Health Service at the National Institutes of Health in the mid ‘60s and then completed his medical residency at the University of Virginia Hospital. In 1968, he and wife, Judy, moved to Arlington, and he began his 32-year practice in Washington, DC. Recognized by his peers, he was named the American Society of Internal Medicine’s Young Internist of the Year for 1975-76. Also, he served a term as Chief of Medicine at Sibley Memorial Hospital and was on the clinical faculty at the Georgetown University Medical School. In 2001, his book The Third Third, a manual on healthy living in later life, was published and well-received. He was later distinguished as a Master of the American College of Physicians in 2006 and received its Claypool Award in 2013.

Devoted to the University of Virginia, Dr. Connally was appointed by Virginia Governors Gerald L. Baliles and L. Douglas Wilder to two terms on the UVA Board of Visitors. Grateful patients endowed a professorship at the UVA Medical School in his honor, The N. Thomas Connally Professorship in Clinical Excellence. Following the organization’s tradition, Dr. Connally’s membership in UVA's secret Seven Society was revealed upon his death.

Active in state and national politics, Dr. Connally was a delegate to the 2004 Democratic National Convention.

Dr. Connally served on the Board of Directors of the regional CareFirst Blue Cross Blue Shield. He greatly enjoyed teaching courses in medicine and health care policy to area seniors through Arlington’s Encore Learning and participating in his book, investment and discussion clubs.  In 2010, he and Mrs. Connally, a community leader and former member of the Virginia House of Delegates, shared the James B. Hunter Human Rights Award, given to those who in the Arlington community promote human rights.

Dr. Connally loved learning, history, travel, good stories, bad jokes, the Nats, his country home in Hume, Virginia, and his family. He is survived by his wife Judy; son N. Thomas Connally, III (Patricia) of Arlington; daughter Anne C. Regan (Sean) of Herndon; and daughter Katherine W. Connally of San Francisco; as well as his beloved grandchildren, Owen, Clare and Charlie Connally, and Miles and Nate Regan.