Old-style Minneapolis doctor made house calls

Dr. Thomas Arnold was a Minneapolis physician who liked to get to know his patients.

The internist, who made house calls, died of complications from kidney failure on April 3 at his Bloomington home. He was 78.

His parents, Dr. Anna Arnold and Dr. Duma Arnold, were Minneapolis obstetrician-gynecologists.

After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia in the mid-1950s, the Minneapolis native served as a flight surgeon and pilot with the Air Force, said his daughter.

He completed his residency at Rochester's Mayo Clinic. In 1962, he entered private practice in downtown Minneapolis.

"Although he was a specialist, his demeanor was earthy," said his daughter Pamela Arnold of Scandia, adding he reminded people of a country doctor.

"He loved to get the whole picture of his patients," said his daughter, who recalled going on house calls with her father when she was a child. She sometimes became bored waiting, because her dad spent so much time with his patients, she said.

"He practiced the old style of medicine," said MacRae. "He was an excellent physician, and he had a very loyal following."

MacRae said it was unusual for specialists to make house calls, but it was his way, and it became her way, too.

Arnold enjoyed piloting his airplane, fishing and spending time at his Minnesota lake home.

At Minneapolis' Washburn High School, he was on the wrestling team and was a speed skater.

He was a 1951 graduate of Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., where he competed on the intercollegiate ski team, and was proud to have built a part of the Appalachian Trail with a college group.

His son, Thomas (Chip) Arnold, died in 2005.

In addition to Pamela, he is survived by his wife, De of Bloomington, and his other daughter, Virginia Arnold, of Bozeman, Mont.