HATTIESBURG – South Mississippians almost missed out on the talents of Ben Carmichael, MD. Blame it on Camille.

 

"In the summer of 1969, my wife, Kathy, and I moved from D.C. to San Antonio and happened to spend the night in Jackson when Hurricane Camille hit the Mississippi Gulf Coast," he explained, with a chuckle. "Kathy and I both decided right then, we didn't know where we'd settle down, but we knew it wouldn't be in Mississippi or Alabama."

 

However, both knew they wanted to settle down in the South.

 

"After spending time in Texas, we realized the conditions in South Mississippi were perfect for my training," said Carmichael. "The opportunity to start a program, develop it and bring heart surgery to South Mississippi greatly appealed to me."

 

Growing up in the small Georgia town of McDonough (population: 2,800), at a time when most neighbors were kin and few folks watched TV, Carmichael spent many evenings listening to tales told by his maternal grandfather, H.C. Ellis, MD, who had made house calls as a country doctor during the horse-and-buggy days. During his career, Ellis delivered more than 3,300 babies across middle Georgia.

 

"He thought education was the most important thing in life, and he was teaching me all the time," recalled Carmichael. "On the first day of first grade, my teachers were shocked to learn that I knew all of the state capitals and how to spell them."

 

The older of two children born to Benjamin Brown Carmichael and his wife, Dorothy, Carmichael and his seven-years-younger sister grew up understanding that death was a normal extension of life. Their father and paternal grandfather operated the family's funeral home, which had been established in 1874.

 

"My dad always wore a coat-and-tie and I wanted to dress just like him," said Carmichael, who often went to school in a starched shirt, pressed slacks and polished shoes. After a pause, he chuckled. "I guess I did stand out."

 

From a young age, Carmichael knew he wanted to attend Emory University, where his grandfather had graduated in 1906. After graduating from Henry County High School, Carmichael planned to earn a biology degree and then continue to Emory's medical school. But he almost got off track before the start of his third year of college. 

 

"My father had had a heart attack in 1948, and another one in 1955," he explained. "Then between my freshman and sophomore years, he had another one. I seriously considered quitting school and helping my family in the funeral business. Of all the grandchildren, I was the only male, so it sort of fell to me. We anguished over that decision, but my grandfather and daddy convinced me it would be a mistake to quit school, and my grandfather said he would find a way to continue to pay for my expenses at Emory."

 

Partly because of his dad's heart condition, Willis Hurst, MD, chair of the Department of Medicine at Emory University, encouraged Carmichael to focus on cardiology.

 

Even though he was fortunate to finish school debt-free, it remained difficult to make ends meet. At the time, civilian internships paid only $200 a month.

 

"I could get $900 a month in the Army," he recalled. "That's why I went to Walter Reed (General Hospital in Washington, D.C.), and where I met Kathy."

 

Kathy, who had grown up in a military family, had lived in Japan from the age of 14 to 17. By the time they met in April 1966, she was a 24-year-old x-ray technician working in a civilian position at Walter Reed; he was a 27-year-old captain in the U.S. Army and had nearly finished his first-year rotating internship. Both lived in apartments a mile apart on Connecticut Avenue. He knew she was "the one" on their first date.

 

"Kathy invited me over for dinner, and made the best fried chicken I've ever had," said Carmichael. "I had a color TV and a brand new cobalt blue 98 Olds Holiday Regency Sedan. Having both was unusual in those days. Between her ability to cook and my big hunk of an automobile and TV, we decided to get married."

 

They were engaged two months later, around the same time Carmichael was dealt another major blow. Ellis had died in his sleep at the age of 86. "He just wore out," said Carmichael. "It was that simple. But I was devastated."

 

Grief-stricken, Carmichael traveled to Europe for a month, spending most of his time in England. "I wanted Kathy to come along, but in those days, that wasn't done if you weren't married, and her parents wouldn't let her go," he said, adding "I spent my savings on that trip, so after our Dec. 10 wedding, we were equally broke."

 

Carmichael reflected fondly, "Our time in Washington, D.C., was very special. Kathy and I met at Walter Reed, married in the chapel there, and Ben was born there. Then Ben was baptized at the Washington Cathedral by Maj. Gen. Luther D. Miller, the same man who married us. It was a great place to be. Don't think I'd want to do it now, though."

 

The Carmichaels faced another challenge when their second son, David, was diagnosed at the age of four with legg-perthes disease, a form of osteonecrosis of the hip that's found only in children. He spent a year in traction, followed by surgery at New Orleans's Children Hospital that involved a transfemoral osteotomy and realigning his hip joint.

 

"He was fine after that … riding bikes, running, and playing sports," said Carmichael.