Notes:
FTDNA Kit# = 1862
Data source is "The Mumma Family" by Samuel H. Mumma 1962 & Moomaw book 1990
Data source is Jean Stevens Mumma, 1140 Rosalia Dr., Novato, CA, 94945, E-mail jamumma2@verizon.net
"no middle name"
1930 Census, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California
Harry J Mumma 40
Katherine Mumma 24
John Mumma 2
Harry J Mumma 11/12
1940: Inglewood, Los Angeles, California, 640 Hargr Avenue
Harry I Mumma, head, 50, b: PA, salesman, wholesale liquor
Kethleen Mumma, wife, 34, b: PA
John Mumma, son, 12, b: PA
James Mumma, son, 10, b: PA
ohn Mumma M.D.
March 19, 1928 - February 1, 2025
Bellingham, Washington - John Mumma M.D., 96, died on February 1, 2025.
He was born on March 19, 1928, in Los Angeles and grew up on California's beaches, mountains, and the family farm in Fresno where his love of the ocean, his interest in animals and the natural world, his support of all things UCLA, and his spirit of adventure and fun got their start.
The first hint of his natural leadership abilities began when he was the student body president of Inglewood High School. This was where he met his sweetheart and wife, Jacqueline Hale. He had a knack for writing and telling a story and acted in school theater productions. He played the piano, was on the swim team, and worked as a lifeguard.
After high school, he enlisted in the army and was sent to Occupied Japan. His commanding officers recognized his verbal skills, and Dad became an Information and Education NCO for the Shinodayama Army Base where he read and reviewed the news for his fellow soldiers.
When he returned to California, he enrolled at UCLA under the G. I. Bill and earned a degree in zoology. He and Jackie, now married, moved with their three daughters to San Francisco to attend medical school. Here is where his love affair with the SF Giants and the 49ers began. At graduation, there were six beautiful daughters! Financially times were tough. Dad always worked two jobs (or more). While he was in medical school, he was a librarian, a Fuller Brush salesman, and a blood bank technician. To make ends meet, he enlisted in the Navy in a program for completing his internship, then began a general practice residency in Martinez, and this is where his son was born. He gained experience in the OR, the ER and in OB-GYN but was drawn to anesthesia. He rejoined the Navy to complete an anesthesia residency in Oakland. His seventh daughter was born and Dad (and family) was transferred to Bremerton Naval Hospital where his youngest daughter was born.
At the end of his required obligation to the US Navy, he remained in the Naval Reserve and provided medical services to military personnel at Whidbey Island NAS, but he and the family moved to Bellingham.
Here his life as a respected and much-loved doctor, an involved community member, and a devoted, committed parent began in full. Among many other professional activities, he was Chairman of the Board of Directors of Whatcom Medical Bureau for nine years. He was the students' physician at Western Washington State College. He was a founding participant and the medical director of the Bellingham Surgery Center, a novel idea in 1988, but now an essential part of the medical community. And of course, he was much loved for his bedside manner and skill as an anesthesiologist.
He was the PTA president at Lowell Elementary and led its 50th Anniversary event. He and Jackie were very involved in Democratic politics, often opening their home to community events to meet candidates, raise money, and promote healthy, thoughtful, caring, and responsible policies. At retirement he volunteered at Options High School.
We admired and appreciated him for his work, but where his true value lay was in his family life and who he was as a person to us. He had a great sense of humor. He wrote and recited limericks, poems, and occasionally a song. He played the piano while we hummed along. He wrote letters and stories, and even transcribed the travel accounts of Betty the mule who carried him to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and Sugar the Yorkie who took her first airplane ride to Palm Springs. He loved word games and the NYT crossword puzzle. He gave the toasts, he read a special story each Christmas, and he wrote the clues for Easter basket hunts. He read to Mom while she soaked in the tub and later on to help her sleep at night.
He was a skilled bird watcher and shared that with us on trips and in the backyard. He taught us to be observant and patient and respectful. He was always open to learning more from the experts.
He jogged, he played basketball and pickleball, he swam in the ocean and hiked in the mountains. He loved watching and supporting local sports, especially when his son John was playing, and he loved watching and supporting his daughters as they trained and rode horses. He and Jackie, as the heart and soul of our family, celebrated all of their children's accomplishments- at the piano, in the art studio, in the classroom, and in the community.
He loved strawberries, cherry pie, a hot dog with pickles, Alaskan Amber, Lillet, a double tall latte, artichokes, and Mom's cooking.
We traveled all together to Hawaii and to many national parks and later on in different configurations to Alaska, all over the west coast, to the South Pacific, Australia, Costa Rica, Spain, Germany, Washington DC, New York, Las Vegas, Pennsylvania, Maine, Florida, Tennessee and the Southwest. He was always so interested in everything!
Although he no longer walks among us, his presence and influence remain. No matter how difficult and challenging life was, he was always the optimist. He's left us a model of how to live- with passion and compassion, hard work but with time for fun, courage, patience, inclusion, humor, common sense and love. This was a man who loved his life and his family.
He was preceded in death by Jackie, his daughter Joan, his granddaughter Shanti, his brother Jim and his parents Harry and Kathleen. He is survived by his children: Judy, Janet, Jill, Joyce, Jeri, John, Jane, and Jeanne and their families, and other dear relatives.
We want to thank the staffs of Whatcom Hospice Services and Silverado Memory Care for their kindness and care of both Mom and Dad.
Possible living individual, birth date and location removed!