PRESS RELEASE
January 20, 2015
The Gainesville-Hall County Community Council on Aging will honor Dr. Henry S.
Jennings, Jr. with its 1st Annual Quality of Life Award on May 7, 2015. Dr. Jennings
was chosen as the first recipient of this special honor because of his commitment to
improving the quality of life for residents throughout Gainesville and Hall County.
Dr. Jennings has had a long distinguished career serving others as a physician
specializing in internal medicine, and as a volunteer with several organizations such
as the Georgia Heart Association. In 1954, Dr. Jennings became the first boardcertified internist at Hall County Hospital. He was soon joined by Emory colleagues
Samuel O. Poole, M.D., and Warren D. Stribling, III, M.D. Together these three formed the initial core
partnership of physicians known as “Jennings, Stribling, and Poole.” Shortly thereafter James Butts, M.D.,
joined the trio and the practice became “Jennings, Stribling, Poole, and Butts.” Growing steadily in
physicians and patients over the decades, the practice eventually became the highly respected Northeast
Georgia Diagnostic Clinic, consisting today of over thirty physicians (along with ten mid-level care
providers) specializing in internal medicine along with numerous internal medicine sub-specialties.
The Gainesville-Hall County Community Council will host an awards ceremony and reception at the
Gainesville Civic Center from 6:00pm to 7:30pm on May 7. If you have been touched by the work of Dr.
Henry S. Jennings, Jr. please join us for this very special recognition as an event sponsor and/or guest at
the ceremony. Proceeds from the event will serve our families, friends and neighbors who receive
nutrition and support from Meals on Wheels and Senior Life Center programs. For more information
please contact Phillippa Lewis Moss at 770-503-3340. Please see attachment for additional information
about the life of Dr. Jennings.
The Life of Dr. Henry S. Jennings, Jr.
Henry S. Jennings, Jr., M.D., was born in Cordele, Georgia, May 22, 1922, and spent his early childhood in
both Cordele and Brunswick, Georgia. His family later moved to Dawson, Georgia, where he graduated
from Dawson High School. He attended Emory-at-Oxford from 1939 to 1941 and graduated from Emory
University in Atlanta with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1943. He was active in the Emory Glee Club
and served as president of the Glee Club during his years at Emory-at-Oxford. He was a member of Sigma
Alpha Epsilon fraternity at Emory University.
After receiving his undergraduate degree, Dr. Jennings matriculated to Emory University School of
Medicine where in 1945 he received his Doctor of Medicine degree. While at EUSM he was a member of
Phi Chi Medical Fraternity.
Dr. Jennings subsequently served his internship in surgery at Grady Memorial Hospital, after
which he fulfilled a commitment to the U.S. Army Air Corps at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio,
Texas, from 1946 to 1948. While at Lackland Field, he served as Chief of the Medical Service.
In 1948, Dr. Jennings returned to Atlanta and completed an assistant residency in Internal Medicine at
Lawson VA Hospital under Chief of the Medical Service Max Michael, M.D. The following year, Dr.
Jennings was invited to serve as Chief Resident at Emory University Hospital In 1951, Paul Beeson, M.D.,
asked Dr. Jennings to join Emory’s Private Diagnostic Clinic. Dr. Jennings subsequently became one of the
seventeen original founding physicians of The Emory Clinic under the leadership of Hugh Wood, M.D.
Dr. Jennings remained at The Emory Clinic until 1953 when he decided to move his young family from
Atlanta to a smaller community in which to practice medicine. Initially he had planned to begin his new
medical practice in Moultrie, GA, and came extremely close to re-locating there. However, several of his
Emory-trained colleagues were already practicing medicine in Hall County, GA. These physician-friends
persuaded Dr. Jennings to change his plans and move instead to Gainesville to establish his own practice
of internal medicine - joining the growing medical community at Hall County Hospital, later to become
the Northeast Georgia Medical Center. Dr. Jennings and his family set down roots in Gainesville – roots
that remain intact to this day.
Dr. Jennings' original solo practice office was a small brick house on Broad Street near the recently built
Hall County Hospital facility. But his early medical practice also took him on “house calls” to the homes
of his patients all over Northeast Georgia. In 1954, Dr. Jennings became the first board-certified internist
at Hall County Hospital. He was soon joined by Emory colleagues Samuel O. Poole, M.D., and Warren D.
Stribling, III, M.D. Together these three formed the initial core partnership of physicians known as
“Jennings, Stribling, and Poole.” Shortly thereafter James Butts, M.D., joined the trio and the practice
became “Jennings, Stribling, Poole, and Butts.” Growing steadily in physicians and patients over the
decades, the practice eventually became the highly respected Northeast Georgia Diagnostic Clinic,
consisting today of over thirty physicians (along with ten mid-level care providers) specializing in internal
medicine along with numerous internal medicine sub-specialties.
In addition to the responsibilities of his medical practice, Dr. Jennings has always been very active in
local, state, and national medical organizations over the past 60+ years. He served as Chief of the Medical
Staff at Hall County Hospital/Northeast Georgia Medical Center; President of the Hall County Medical
Society; Vice President of the Medical Association of Georgia; and President of the Georgia Society of
Internal Medicine. Dr Jennings was Charter Member and subsequently President of the Georgia Heart
Association. Additionally, he served as Delegate for the Georgia Heart Association to American Medical
Association meetings on several occasions. He was an active member of the Southern Medical
Association and the American College of Physicians. Deeply dedicated to the education of healthcare
providers, Dr. Jennings was for years on the adjunct faculty of Hall School of Nursing – which later
became Brenau University School of Nursing – and continues to be so proud of the many, many nursing
students who were greatly influenced by his professional guidance as they became healthcare providers
themselves.
Additionally, Dr. Jennings served on the Organizational Steering Committee for the Appalachian Georgia
Health Systems Agency. He was a former District Medical Consultant for Vocational Rehabilitation. He
was also instrumental in the formation of the Gainesville Heart Clinic in the 1950s, under the aegis of the
Georgia Heart Association, which served patients of the area with cardiac disorders who did not have
commercial insurance/access to adequate cardiology care. He served as Chairman of the Clinic
Committee of the GHA, supervising and traveling to similar heart clinics throughout the State of Georgia,
including Dalton, Valdosta, Waycross, Brunswick, and Athens in addition to the Gainesville Heart Clinic
where he volunteered his services several hours every Tuesday.
Involvement in numerous community organizations and civic efforts in Hall County and Northeast
Georgia has also been a high priority for Dr. Jennings over the years. He has served faithfully in many
leadership roles of his church – Gainesville First United Methodist - including Chairman of the
Administrative Board. He has also served on numerous other local boards, including the Board of
Directors of the Rotary Club of Gainesville; Board of Commissioners of the Georgia Housing Authority;
Board of Trustees of the Gainesville-Hall County Hospital Authority; Board of Trustees for Brenau
University (25 years); Board of Directors of the Gainesville National Bank; Advisory Board of Directors for
First Atlanta National Bank; Board of Trustees/Vice Chairman for Northeast Georgia Health Systems;
Advisory Board of Directors for Wachovia Bank; Medical Advisor to the U.S. Social Security Administrative
Law Judges; Board of Directors for Lanier Village Estates/ ACTS Retirement Community (and so proud of
being among those on the Founding Committee of LVE).
Dr. Jennings retired from the active practice of internal medicine in June 1987 after 42 years. Dr.
Jennings now remains the sole survivor of the original 17 founding members of The Emory Clinic. [In
1978, he attended the 25th anniversary of the founding of The Emory Clinic.] He was greatly inspired by
both of his former Chiefs of Medicine, Drs. Paul Beeson and Eugene Stead, during his formative years at
Emory. In addition, he greatly valued his collegial relationship in The Emory Clinic with fellow
internists/cardiologists Drs. Willis Hurst and Bruce Logue, both of whom he also greatly admired and who
served as professional role models for him.
One of Dr. Jennings’ guiding principles in life has always been “Touch What Hurts.” He used that slogan
as he taught medical students and residents at Emory and as he taught nursing students at Brenau.
Remarkable changes occurred over the years in the medical world during Dr. Jennings’ career spanning
from 1945-1987. But he would say that, more than anything else, a healthy and involved doctor-patient
relationship should always be fundamental to providing medical care for others. Yet this principle went
beyond simply his practice of medicine. Over all Dr. Jennings’ life – from active medical practice on into
these also active retirement years – he has recognized the importance of caring compassion and
attention to the needs of others. It was a principle that he passed on to his children and his
grandchildren. One might call it “hands on/heart in” involvement in the betterment of others and his
community.