Frank Dailey, M.D. of Columbus, Mississippi

July 12, 1931 - August 29, 2020

Frank Harrison Dailey, born July 12, 1931, in Indianapolis, IN, joined our Heavenly Father on the evening of August 29, 2020, in his apartment at Trinity Healthcare Center in Columbus, MS. He passed away peacefully with those who loved and cared for him at his side.

Dr. Dailey, as countless people in the Columbus area called him, was a man of vast experience, deep learning, and remarkable humanity. Everyone knew him to have a playful sense of humor and a love of laughter. A man of many talents, he was born into a musical family learning to sing and play piano totally by ear in a way that would astonish music teachers. He grew to become an avid gardener and a photographer with his own darkroom. He was also a man of words. Story telling was among his favorite pastimes, whether reflecting back on his days camping without a tent in Yellowstone National Park among the inquisitive bears or reminiscing about the times when his parents and siblings would spend summers in Petoskey, MI, where he participated in many sailing competitions, venturing out beyond Little Traverse Bay into the choppy cold waters of Lake Michigan. He would always remark that he was at home near the water, never passing up the opportunity to find a lake, pond, or stream to go bait cast or fly-fishing, tying his own flies for the best of lures. His stories were always drawn from his colorful life, so richly embroidered were his many years. While he could be very practical about things, cherishing punctuality and prizing organization, he had an emotional depth and would never hesitate to shed a tear over experiences he felt were sentimental or transformative. Indeed, what compelled this much beloved man to become a doctor is itself a story: when he was a young boy attending The Orchard School in Indianapolis, Frank looked on as his science teacher carefully dissected a live tadpole. The young Frank peered in awe and wonder at the tiny beating heart. In describing this unsettling scene many decades later, Frank would energetically announce: “I knew right then and there I wanted to be a doctor!”

In pursuit of his ambition to become a doctor, he enrolled at Indiana University in Bloomington, graduating in 1953 with a BA and subsequently earning his MD in 1956 at the School of Medicine there. He completed his medical internship at Seaside Memorial Hospital in Long Beach, CA from 1955-57. Realizing that he could best serve his country by applying in the military his medical expertise, Frank enlisted in the US Air Force for two years. He was first stationed at Parks Air Force Base in Dublin, CA, then at Clinton-Sherman Air Force Base near Burns Flat, OK, a Strategic Air Command base, where he was Captain and hospital commander in charge of setting up and equipping the hospital and upgrading its medical resources. For his work at this base, he was awarded, in 1959, the newly established Air Force Commendation Medal for Meritorious Service. That same year he and his family moved back to Indianapolis, where he took his residency as a Fellow in Internal Medicine at Indiana University Hospital. In 1962 the Dailey family moved to Ukiah, CA where Frank set up his first medical practice at the urging of the local physicians he met while visiting in-laws there. Several years later, he was elected Fellow of the American College of Physicians, a distinction conferred onto him in a ceremony in Philadelphia in 1968. Thereafter he was appointed to the Board of Trustees at Ukiah General Hospital (1975-79).

Always up for a new challenge, Frank changed course in life, as he explained in his fascinating memoir circulated among friends and family: “Early in 1981 after 19 years of practicing internal medicine in Ukiah, California, I came across an advertisement in a medical journal concerning the need for physicians at the Al Hada hospital in Taif, Saudi Arabia.” He was hired for the job, and he and his first wife and youngest daughter spent a year there, seizing the opportunity to travel parts of Europe and Africa. After divorce he extended his contract by another year to work in Taif where he met his second wife, Doris Lawrence Dailey, while playing bridge with friends. In 1983, Frank and Doris settled in Columbus, at which time he established his widely known medical practice. He cared deeply for his patients, phoning them at night to check on their well-being, making rounds at Baptist Memorial or at Trinity Healthcare, and always happy to say hello to patients when he saw them at the grocery store. He also served on the Advisory Board for the Office of Continuing Medical Education at the Baptist College of Health Sciences in Memphis, TN.

When Frank retired in 2008, he found it hard to say goodbye to the hundreds of patients in his care. But in retirement he continued with the pursuits he always loved: volunteering at Baptist Memorial, fishing, playing piano, participating in the Rotary Club, donating to charitable causes, visiting his children across the country, and serving as an active member (since 1984) of First Baptist Church of Columbus, where he sang for many years in the church choir. Chief among his many avocations was bird watching: Frank was a life long birder who enjoyed frequent trips to the Columbus Lock and Dam and Noxubee Wildlife Refuge to observe the purple gallinule bounding across the water lilies, the endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers in their recently restored habitat, and the much anticipated migration of warblers in their vibrant spring plumage. He could be seen turning an attentive ear to their song, imitating their calls in response, and documenting his sightings in his well-thumbed field guide in a script characteristic of a doctor. This most loving, honest, and impressive of human beings, Frank Dailey, will be greatly missed and long remembered by many people in their own stories of how his life touched their own.

Dr. Frank H. Dailey was the blessed father of five children, two sons and three daughters, one of whom passed away in 2017. Four stepchildren also survive him, as well as many grandchildren and great grandchildren from both families. The entire Dailey family would like to thank all of the staff at Trinity Healthcare, especially Cassie Neal, Cherie Coghlan, Karla Jernigan, Jessi Miller, Craig Hill, and Dr. James Woodard for their care and support. The family also expresses their abiding gratitude to Dr. Dailey’s best friends Ralph and Carole Stewart, his wonderful sister-in-law Dessie Lawrence, and his devoted friend and fellow congregant Glenn Lautzenhiser, for their selfless acts of love and kindness.

There will be a small private internment at Memorial Gardens in the spring with arrangements by Memorial Funeral Home. In lieu of flowers, please consider a contribution to one of the following organizations about which Dr. Dailey cared passionately:

Oktibbeha Audubon Society, P.O. Box 2041, Starkville, MS 39760 ;

Trinity Healthcare Center, The Trinity Sunday Fund, 230 Airline Rd., Columbus, MS 39702 ( http://www.mss.org/donate );

The Orchard School, 615 West 64th Street, Indianapolis, IN 46260, 317-251-9253 https://www.orchard.org/support/owl-fund/donate-online

Sam D. Hamilton Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge, 13723 Bluff Lake Rd., Brooksville, MS 39739 ( https://friends-of-noxubee-refuge.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Donation-Gift-form.pdf ).

Sign the online guest book at www.memorialgunterpeel.com 716 Second Avenue North • Columbus, MS