Former Southborough doctor is the perfect blend of old and new

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By Sue Wambolt, Contributing Writer

Former Southborough doctor is the perfect blend of old and new
Southborough's Doc Stone still resides in the red house on Main Street where he began his medical practice in 1947. (Photo/Sue Wambolt)
Southborough – Ninety-six-year-old retired physician Dr. Timothy (“Doc”) Stone is a distinguished and respected resident of Southborough. He resides in the red house next to Fay School, adjacent to the Stone Health Center where his daughter, Susan, now practices acupuncture and alternative medicine. It is in this house, built circa 1750, that he began his medical practice 60-plus years ago. Today, he can be found sitting at his desk with his rotary phone at his side and his Apple computer logged on to his favorite website – a striking contrast of the past and the present.

Stone grew up on Edmands Road in Framingham, on the outskirts of Southborough. He recalls playing on the rolling hills and jumping in the hay of Eastleigh Farm. He spent afternoons on the grounds of Number Seven Schoolhouse (then a public school), home to the current Framingham Meeting House, with his brothers.

He attended Tufts Medical School and then served as a medical officer with the Army's 85th Division in Italy and the Mediterranean during World War II. Following the war, he worked a year at Framingham Union Hospital, and ended up establishing his practice in Southborough. Here, black bag in hand, he saw patients in his office, as well as in their homes. He was the physician at both St. Mark's School and Fay School where, according to an old colleague, his bedside manner was a combination of compassion, benevolence and straight-talking common sense.

“I came to Southborough in 1947 because it was an attractive town and there was no physician here,” he said.

Stone immersed himself in the small town where “Everyone knew your name.” He became involved with the Board of Health and remained a faithful member for 57 years. So influential was he, that the “Doc Stone Award” for community service was created in his honor by the Board of Health. To date, this coveted award has been given to three recipients.

While Stone has retired from his medical practice and his position on the Southborough Board of Health, he remains thoroughly engaged with and intrigued by current events. He spends a great deal of time on his computer, his “go to” source for information.

“I go there for everything. I go there for Google, I go there for my AOL mail, I go there for news and the weather. I go there every day to see the astronomy picture of the day,” he said. “It is fascinating.”

Stone hesitates to talk about himself, saying, “What I did is of no importance. I am one person in a community of eight or nine thousand. What is important is the shape of the government and how things are now.”

From his desk in his kitchen, with his rotary phone by his side and his laptop at his fingertips, Stone researches the subjects he is most interested in.

“I am concerned with things outside of Southborough,” he said. “I am interested in jail sentences and sentencing, special needs results, medical care as a right, deficit spending and how the newspapers control what is considered news. These are things that are very interesting.”

It is Stone's hope that others are also concerned about these subjects and become informed about the state of the country.

There is one thing for certain at the red house on Main Street – the doctor is most definitely in.

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