This is an occasional series about people who have chosen to move or return to Hall County.

Tennent Slack believes that after 30 years, you can come home again.

Slack, a physician, has moved his wife and two children to Gainesville from Decatur, where Slack was an anesthesiologist at DeKalb Medical Center for the past 14 years.

Slack, 47, is part of the family that owns Slack Auto Parts, a business that dates back 80 years in Gainesville history.

His wife, Kelly, is from Atlanta, but her grandfather once lived in Gainesville.

The move comes at a time when Slack is making the transition from anesthesiology to interventional pain medicine.

He is a graduate of the Emory University School of Medicine where he completed his residency in anesthesiology in 1993. He became a board certified anesthesiologist in 1994.

"I left private practice for a one-year fellowship in interventional pain medicine at the Medical College of Georgia," Slack said.

But Slack made the decision to begin his new practice in Gainesville.

"It’s really good to be home," he said. "I’ve enjoyed seeing so many of the folks I grew up with and getting reacquainted."

Slack has joined Dr. John Givogre at Lanier Interventional Pain, a Gainesville medical practice and is also on the medical staff of Northeast Georgia Medical Center, the hospital where he was born.

His family has a rich history of civic involvement and he looks forward to sharing that legacy with his two sons, Tennent, 5, and Reed, 3, who are enjoying their increased time with their grandpa.

"Their grandfather is building a model train room that has just everything you can imagine," he said. "It may be a year or two before they fully appreciate it."

He said it is too early to say if his move home is a success, but so far it feels right.

"One of the many motivators is that in anesthesiology, I had no relationship with the patients," Slack said. "I did plenty of procedures. Now, I do procedures and have a relationship with the patients. It’s a good combination for me."

He enjoys seeing the response to his work.

"Patients are extremely grateful," he said.

Outside of work, Slack enjoys playing the guitar and singing. His first guitar lessons were as a boy under the tutelage of Fred Mulkey of Gainesville.

"My main hobby is music, and I played in a band in Atlanta," he said. "I like acoustic rock, music like James Taylor, Neil Young, America and Cat Stevens."

His other active hobby is solo whitewater canoeing, which has taken a back seat because of his young children.