Although she’d known him for years, Carmen Fernandez had never used Dr. Robert Bond as a physician — until last Thursday.
“I go to Dr. (William) Raisig’s clinic and had an appointment with (a physician’s assistant),” she said. “She could not be there, so as it turned out I got to see Dr. Bond. He looked so good and healthy and I was impressed with his physical demeanor, so this is just so shocking to me, as I’m sure it is for everybody, to learn about his death.”
“Dr. Bond,” as he’s been known for decades in Ellijay, passed away suddenly on Friday of last week at age 72. After retiring in 2020, he recently began practicing again at The Raisig Clinic and Wellness Center in East Ellijay. Fernandez, the widow of the late Dr. E.J. Fernandez, said Bond was “impressive in the way he expressed kindness.”
“He was remarkable in the way he conducted his practice,” she praised. “I didn’t know him that well personally, or his wife and family. But I always saw him in the hospital, and he was kind and such a gentleman. As far as his medical abilities, he was excellent. He was a true gentleman, and always opened the door for me when I was at the hospital. After Dr. (Wilbur) Schneider retired, Dr. Bond and my husband had the main two practices in town.”
Longtime friend David Westmoreland was “shocked” when his brother, Robert Westmoreland, called him with the bad news.
“He was not only my GP (general practitioner) but a good friend for many, many years,” said David Westmoreland, a former Ellijay mayor and city councilman. “We played a lot of basketball up at my house, went to (Georgia) Tech basketball and football games, and did a lot of things socially together. He was just a good friend.”
He also noted Bond was “a big part of this community for many years.”
“As far as doctors go, nobody served the community as long as Dr. Bond and Dr. Fernandez did, and I can’t go back much further than that,” he continued. “It was a blow when the COVID thing came, and he took a little break from his practice and didn’t really retire. It was a blow to us and to all our family because I had gone to him for years. He had got back in with Dr. Raisig, and the community has suffered a big loss.”
Barbara Parks worked by Bond’s side as a nurse for more than 45 years.
“I think we’re all just in limbo now, it’s a shock to me,” she said. “I loved him, he was like a brother to me. He was fun. He was a good doctor and loved Ellijay and loved his patients and did what he could for them.”
Parks said not many know that Bond made house calls.
“My job was to call and get the directions where somebody lived, and sometimes we got lost!” she recalled. “The community will miss him because he was so reliable. He was out of work for awhile because of his heart, and when the doctor told him he could go back to work part time people told me his whole attitude changed. He was ready for people to come in and he would talk to them — he came out of his shell.”
‘A brilliant guy’
In 1969, David Cochran was in a freshman class with Bond at Georgia Tech.
“They put us together as lab partners in chemistry,” he said. “Robert was so much smarter than I was, and it was a real help for me to have a smart lab partner — he was a brilliant guy. Later, we had biology together, then he went on to med school.”
As Tech fans, Cochran said he and Bond often talked about the Yellow Jackets sports teams.
“And we were both avid fishermen, so he would tell me about his fishing trips, and I would tell him about mine,” he added. “We never went fishing together, but we swapped a lot of stories. He was also my doctor for quite a few years. I always found him to be a wonderful doctor who was good to talk with, just a brilliant physician.”
Longtime friend George Bunch said he went way back with Robert Bond.
“I was his first ‘B’ last-name patient when he opened his practice on the square,” he remembered. “Robert was the best diagnostician in north Georgia. I went back to him when he started working with Dr. Raisig. When I first started seeing him, I asked the nurse if he would see infants. She said no, but he overheard us and came out and said he would. So, Jessica and Nixon used him from about 2 years old until he left practice at his office on the hill. The entire Bunch family used him. It’s just awful news.”
Robert Westmoreland noted, “He was one of the best doctors I’ve ever been to, and I’ve been to a bunch of doctors. He was a good citizen, and the community will miss him.”
His wife, Debbie Westmoreland, confessed “we’ve cried a few tears.”
“We’ve been going to him since I came to Ellijay around 1983-84,” she said. “We went to him until he closed his office and started going to him again when he came to Dr. Raisig’s (clinic). We loved Dr. Bond, he was a great diagnostician, I thought. If he didn’t know what was wrong with you, he’d send you somewhere where they could help you. We just liked him, he was like an old hometown doctor. He was in real good spirits a couple of weeks ago when I had an appointment with him.”
Denise Ray, President & CEO Piedmont Mountainside, said, "It is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to Dr. Bond, a cherished member of our medical community. Dr. Bond will be remembered for his tireless work and the difference he made in countless lives. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and loved ones during this difficult time."
‘Saved my life’
Francine Stanley said she was a patient of Bonds “in the first few weeks he was here, up until he retired.”
“I first met him in ICU when I was hospitalized,” she said. “My doctor couldn’t admit patients to the hospital, so he asked Dr. Bond if he would take me. He was the best doctor, you could always count on him because he’d be right there. I hated it so bad when he retired; I was there the last day he worked. He treated my four children and some of my grandchildren, and they all liked him. My daughter played basketball and he loved sports, so they had that in common. If they had any questions, he would always take time to talk to them.
“He saved my life two or three times.”
In the Times-Courier retirement story, Bond was quick to emphasize the local people were the best part of practicing medicine in Ellijay through the years.
“I really love the people of Gilmer County, there are wonderful people here,” he reflected about growing up in Cobb County and then seeking to find a less-crowded area to practice. “The people I met here on that first trip were so kind and so friendly. They still are. Looking back on it, I was probably being called. I’m not much for cities, and I always knew I was going to be a country doctor.”
Logan Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements, although an obituary was not completed by press time for the newspaper. A spokesperson said a visitation for Dr. Robert Bond will be April 15, with his memorial service to follow on April 16.