Pitman remembered as classic small town doctor

Dr. Roemer Dobson (Dobby) Pitman was the classic small town, call him anytime day or night doctor, recalled Williamsburg Mayor Roddy Harrison.

“When I was in high school, I broke my ring finger at football practice. It was wrapped around the middle one, so a couple of coaches took me to his house. It was late, and Doc was hosting a dinner party. He said the finger needed to be set because the circulation was cut off, so he set the finger in his living room and told me to meet him at his office so he could put a cast on my hand,” Harrison recalled.

“I was hot, sweaty, and smelly … and not really a very good football player … but he treated me as if I was. That was Doc Pitman. Oh, and the dinner guests went right on with their thing, albeit a little queasy!”

Pitman, 87, passed away on Nov. 21 in Collierville, Tennessee, after a brief illness.

Funeral services are planned Saturday at First Baptist Church in Williamsburg with Pitman’s longtime friend and former pastor Dr. Jerry Lowrie officiating.

Visitation will begin at 11 a.m. and will continue until the service at 12:30 p.m. Interment will follow at Whitley Memorial Gardens, and a reception will be held after the interment at the Williamsburg Tourism and Convention Center.

Pitman grew up in Memphis, but loved spending summers with his mother’s brother, Dr. Raymond Sanders, in Williamsburg, which sparked his love of medicine.

When he was 16 he graduated from high school, and from the University of Tennessee Medical School when he was 22 years old.

Pitman then served three years in the U.S. Army as a captain before transferring to the reserves.

He joined his uncle Raymond’s medical practice in Williamsburg where he opened a 30-bed hospital for a time, and provided family medical care for the next 33 years.

“From my standpoint, Dr. Pitman was the best doctor that has been around this part of the country,” noted Alvin Sharpe, whose late wife worked 14 years for Pitman.

Sharpe noted that Pitman got to know his patients, their lifestyles and their families.

“He was just a super person all the way around,” Sharpe added.

In addition to medicine, Pitman loved beekeeping, golfing and served in many organizations. He also served on the Williamsburg Independent School Board of Education, and was a Williamsburg High School sports medicine physician for several years.

For complete obituary information, see page A-11.