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When
doctors W.D. Thames of Lufkin
and Joe Dickerson of Jasper
died recently, East Texas lost two
unique physicians--men who made house calls, kept up with the babies they delivered,
and cared for whole families.
Thames graduated valedictorian of
his Lufkin high school class in
1941 and began practicing medicine in 1948 in an small office where he stayed
40 years.
Upon graduation from medical school, he was commissioned as a
lieutenant in the U.S. Navy and served as a doctor on a ship in Korea and Japan
during the Korean conflict.
When he came home, Thames made early rounds
at Lufkin’s two hospitals and made
house calls, recalled his daughter, Mary Anne Clement, before he went to his modest
office.
“W.D. loved every day of his life, and loved every bit of it,”
said a long-time patient, “and even after he retired, he would take phone calls
from old patients or the children of his former patients.”
When someone
asked Thames if he had a specialization in his practice, he laughed and said,
“I specialize in diseases of the skin and all of its contents.”
In 1987,
Thames was awarded the Angelina Award--Lufkin’s
highest award for personal service--but in his typical self-effacing manner, he
said, “here are a lot of people who deserve this more than I do.”
Dickerson,
better known simply as “Dr Joe,” was born in the old ghost town of Rockland
and went to school at Woodville.
In
1964, he built Dickerson Memorial Hospital and named it in memory of his wife,
who died in 1961.
Like Thames, Dickerson enlisted in the military, serving
in the Army Air Corps, flying P-38s during World
War II.
Dickerson was a devout Christian, a Christian scholar and
considered an expert on the Shroud of Turin. He was also known as “Mr. Jasper”
because of his involvement in many community activities.
A friend
said Dickerson delivered babies, doctored them, delivered their children when
they became adults, and cared for them when they became parents and grandparents.
Bob
Bowman's East Texas
May 8, 2011 Column.
A weekly column syndicated in 109 East Texas newspapers |
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