TUPELO, Miss.—Pediatrician Dr. Van Stone is retiring after more than 32 years caring for generations of area children.

The community is invited to a retirement reception between 3-5 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 17, at Children’s Clinic, 199 Grandstand Place.

A native of Marks, Dr. Stone graduated from Delta Academy in 1975 and Mississippi College in 1979. He earned his medical degree from the University of Mississippi School of Medicine in 1983 and completed an internship and residency at Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock.

He practiced in Clinton and Little Rock until 1993 when medical school mentor Dr. Skip Robertson brought him to Tupelo. He joined North Mississippi Pediatrics (now Children’s Clinic-Tupelo), where he has served thousands of area families for more than three decades.

“Every day we have fun,” Dr. Stone says. “Pediatrics is different in that I get to play with kids, and I enjoy it.”

His greatest joy is turning a child’s tears into laughter. “You get a child that’s screaming when he comes in to have a smile on his face by the time he leaves. He comes in intimidated but then becomes my friend—that’s the best,” he says. “I will miss my patients and their parents, but my coworkers will take good care of them.”

The spirit of service runs deep in the Stone family. Dr. Stone and his wife, Deborah, a retired registered dietitian, have four children who all pursued careers in health care. Their two sons are physicians like their father—Dr. Ross Stone practices gastroenterology in Tupelo and Dr. Stephen Stone is an infectious disease specialist in Washington, D.C.

Their daughter, Dr. Mary Catherine Blossom, is a dentist in Tupelo, and daughter Lacey Gray Fortenberry is a speech-language pathologist in Rome, Georgia.

The Stones have 12 grandchildren who will keep them busy during retirement. In addition to spending time with family, Dr. Stone enjoys playing online chess, reading and being outdoors. He is an active member of Calvary Baptist Church, where he teaches Sunday School and sings in the choir.