Dr. Terry Douglas Tubb

Terry Douglas Tubb passed away naturally in his sleep after an extended illness on Sunday April 30, 2023. He was born on August 30, 1942 to Nathan and Freda Tubb on a Sunday after church in Levelland, Texas and was baptized at FUMC. Tubb was again baptized in the Jordan river, Israel, at the same site of Christ’s baptism by John the Baptist. He qualified as an Eagle Scout by age 13, with extra merit badges, and was awarded (the equivalent) of a Silver Explorer Medal, with extra badges, by age 14 along with an Order of the Arrow sash. Tubb graduated from Levelland High-school as Mr. LHS in 1960, SPC and Texas Tech University by 1964 where he was awarded Phi Theta Kappa status and was a member of the SAE fraternity. He graduated from the Univ. of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, in 1968, belonging to the oldest medical school fraternity in the South, Alpha Kappa Kappa, living on Post Office Street in a 75+ year old Victorian 4 story home. He was awarded Mu Delta status for student’s med service patients. Dr. Tubb was drafted out of a General Residency Surgery in ’70, by LBJ, ultimately completing General Surgery at MCCG-Mercer Med. School in Macon, Ga in 1976, then completing a Plastic Surgery Residency at the Univ. of KY in Lexington, KY, in ’78, winning an award for the state’s best surgical resident’s paper. Tubb completed an Aerospace Medical Degree at the Naval Aerospace Med. Inst., Pensacola, as well as being awarded Naval Flight Wings and graduating as a Naval Flight Surgeon in ’71. He was stationed at Naval Air Station, Kingsville, in the Advanced Jet Wing Training Command, receiving a Sickorsky Helicopter Rescue Award for his life saving effort on an injured airman. Lt. CDR Tubb was a member of a team formed at Naval Air El Centro, CA, to investigate a non-fatal crash of The Blue Angels in 1973. Tubb and Nancy Wagen, a “California surfer girl” born in Los Angeles, were married in ’72, before his Honorable Discharge.

Tubb and family moved to Midland in ’78 where Nancy established Windswept Arabians while Tubb played polo for 3 years while building a practice lasting 34 years. He was one of the three surgeons operating Jessica McClure, “A Child From A Well,” the team undergoing international scrutiny by the global media, because Midland Memorial was a rural hospital. Jessica had obtained status as the most famous patient on planet Earth when walking out of MMH 30 days later with her mother, early November 1987. In the 1990s, Tubb presented a plethora of surgical papers/topics on all continents on the globe, except Africa, and of course Antarctica. His cases presented were both of similar and non-similar patients, including the use of tissue expanders in adults and children, as well as breast implant failures, cancer/reconstruction of the eyelid, etc. Nancy often accompanied him, where “they often caught the wrong taxis, but usually arrived in the right places.” Tubb belonged to a constellation of National/International Plastic Surgery Societies, including The Texas Society of Plastic Surgeons (President ’98) of which he was awarded “Legendary” status in 2014. Tubb was consistently designated by other USA Plastic Surgeons as a top American Plastic Surgeon for two decades, and as a Top 1% USA Plastic Surgeon by both Consumers and other Plastic Surgeons during his last 10 years in practice: no awards were paid for by Tubb. Upon its founding, Tubb was named Clinical Professor at Texas Tech Medical School in Lubbock, and as an Associate Professor at Texas Tech Medical School, Midland-Odessa, for years. Federal District Judge Robert Junell and  Dr.Tubb founded the First Federal Tattoo Removal Program for former convicts in the USA. Texas Tech Medical Center, Odessa was an immediate Co-sponsor.

Tubb was a long-term Confederate/Commemorative Air Force member, being the Chairman of the CAF Air Power Museum for 2 years. He was an Honorary Texas Admiral of the Navy. Tubb had direct blood lineage to a Son of the Texas Republic and direct blood lineage to a General in the American Revolution, who is buried in Plot #1 in the Arlington National Cemetery. Tubb was a founding member of the Midland Son’s of the Confederacy, Chapter 1441 presenting several programs to the group over the years, as well as at medical schools in GA and KY.

His survivors include wife Nancy Tubb of Midland, sister Libby and her husband Billy Thetford of Levelland, brother Gerald and wife Diane Tubb of Austin, daughter Jennifer and husband Jason Hoff of Alexandria, MN, and granddaughter Hannah Leigh Hoff of Alexandria, MN. Dr. Tubb was so proud of his daughter Jennifer and her husband Jason for being wonderful parents to their daughter “Hannah Gal”, and equally proud of Hannah for being a straight A student who excels in all sports that she participates in (especially swimming and softball). 

Graveside Services will be by Krestridge Funeral Home, Levelland, Texas on May 13,2023 at 11:00 a.m. in the City of Levelland Cemetery. Honorary Pall Bearers are Gerald Tubb, Jason Hoff, Joe Tubb, Billy Thetford, Duane Cookson, Robert Watkins, and James Rose, MD. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be considered to one of the many Tubb Scholarships at South Plains College, Levelland, Texas, where students funds are awarded on the basis of both need and merit. 

Arrangements are under the direction and personal care of the professionals at Krestridge Funeral Home. (806)897-1111