Dr. Horace Kent Tenney III

Dr. Horace Kent Tenney III, known as ""Hod"",   a prominent Madison pediatrician, former medical director of the state Bureau of Children's Special Health Care Needs, and artisan, died on July 25 at the age of 88.   His family lost a quiet and steady guiding light in their lives.                 Dr. Tenney was born in 1921 in Evanston, Illinois, to Horace Kent Tenney Jr. and Jeanette Walker Tenney.               During his years at West High School, Dr. Tenney was an avid sailor, racing his C scow Hermes on Lake Mendota   with his brother Tom and friends. He ran the high hurdles and earned a college letter in track from Washington and Lee University.               Dr. Tenney married Lucia Waterman Rogers on June 10, 19 44, thereby uniting the Tenney family and the Rogers family.   Hod and Lucia lived and worked together as a team, and their love for each other never waned during their 66 years of marriage.               Dr. Tenney began his college education at Washington and Lee.   Shortly after World War II broke out, he entered an accelerated medicine program at Northwestern University, joined the Navy in 1944, and earned his   M.D. in 1946.   He served his internship at the U.S. Naval hospital in Newport,   R.I., and his residency at Children's Hospital in Denver, Colorado.               In 1950 he joined his father Dr. H. Kent Tenney Jr. in pediatric private practice and continued caring for children in private practice until 1965. During these years he was an associate clinical professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine. Following his father's example, he provided calm and devoted care to his patients, including house calls at any time of night.   His affiliation with the UW Medical School provided a formal source of training in well child care to the residency program along the model of well baby clinics established by his father.               In 1965 Dr. Tenney accepted the position of medical director of the state Bureau of Children's Special Health Care Needs and focused on extending quality health care and early educational opportunities to all children in the state.   One of his special projects was to develop a mobile unit to test the hearing of children in underserved areas of the state.   He was particularly interested in early childhood development and served as an early Head Start Coordinator.                Dr. Tenney derived special pleasure in designing and building   a compound of innovative cottages in Door County.   Using only hand tools and assisted by friends and family, he created a retreat in the woods which he loved and is treasured by his wife, children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.               An artisan who combined his woodworking   and lapidary skills, he created numerous beautiful pieces of jewelry, furniture and architectural   elements.   His work revealed a deep sensitivity to the organic qualities of wood and stone used in a    manner that accentuated their natural beauty in forms that are both useful and aesthetically pleasing.               Dr. Tenney is survived by his beloved wife of 66 years, Lucia Waterman Rogers Tenney, and their four children, Marion Rosenau of Amherst, MA, Katherine Potter (Toby) of Portage, WI , Cornelia Tenney (Dr. Paul Gross) of Newton MA, and Kent Tenney (Kathy) of Ashland, WI . their   grandchildren, Kate Edwards, Dr. Paul Rosenau, Lisa Bonvicini, Mabs Potter, Marion Menzin, Reba Gross,   and Erin Tenney, and ten great grandchildren. He is also survived by two brothers, Thomas of Berkeley, CA and Baird of Cleveland, OH.               Services will be private.   Memorials in honor of Dr. Tenney can be made to HospiceCare, Inc., 5395 East Cheryl Parkway, Madison, Wisconsin, 53711 or the Dane County Humane Society , 5132 Voges Road, Madison, Wisconsin,   53718.