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The Country Doctor Who Helped Make Missouri Spaces Smoke-free by Kaitlyn McConnell, "Ozarks Alive"
Above: Dr. Tommy Macdonnell, 98, sponsored legislation that protected smokefree spaces in Missouri
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DR. TOMMY MACDONNELL HAS LONG BEEN IN
the business of giving life. He saved souls during World War II, where he served as a sharpshooter and stormed Normandy on D-Day. As Webster County’s beloved obstetrician, his smile was the first to welcome more than 4,500 babies into the world. Decades were dedicated to family practice, for which he founded a maternity hospital and modern clinic to support rural residents. But that wasn’t enough for the 98-year-old Dr. Tommy, as locals affectionately call him. Long before the belief was commonly accepted, the forward-thinking country doctor preached the grave health threat tied to secondhand smoke. He felt so strongly about its dangers that he did the only thing he could think to do. He ran for a seat in Missouri’s House of Representatives so he could help protect the public through new legislation. Over the next several years, he battled tobacco lobbyists. He went up against fellow politicians. His bill to
offer smoke-free spaces was defeated numerous times— but still he fought. And nearly 30 years ago, he won. Thanks to Dr. Tommy, Missouri’s non-smokers were protected on a statewide level for the first time.
RURAL MEDICINE
Dr. Tommy’s passion for helping people began long before he earned his medical degree. His father, Dr. C. R. Macdonnell, specialized in obstetrics and moved the family from Indiana to Marshfield in 1928. The elder Macdonnell was attracted to rural Webster County because he heard “it was good fishing and hunting territory,” says his son. Instead of his father’s calling, Dr. Tommy grew up in the medical field. “I would go with him on a lot of home deliveries, and I’d go squirrel hunting while he was in the house taking care of the mother-to-be,” he says. He also attended medical meetings with his father, where in his ignorance he’d collect sample packages of cigarettes for his father.
W W W. K A P PA A L P H AO R D E R .O R G
9/3/21 1:56 PM
