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After practicing family medicine for more than 45 years in Lexington, Tennessee, one might think that Charles White Sr., MD, would be planning his retirement. Not so. In fact, the family practice physician, who graduated medical school one week before he turned 25, has gone “part time” only because his insurance company requires it due to his age.

Part time means 20 hours a week for White, who works half days on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays and a full day on Thursdays at Family Physicians of Lexington, which outside of a name change in 1975, is where he began practicing medicine when he came to Lexington in 1965. Just as he did when he opened his practice, the former Tennessee Medical Association president continues to make house calls to patients who are unable to make it into the office for appointments and need medical care.

White, who graduated high school in 1955, hails from northeast Arkansas and knew medicine was what he wanted to pursue by age 15. He had a strong interest in science. He also credits his decision to be a doctor to M.L. Dalton, his family’s physician and friend, whom he admired. “Dr. Dalton let me watch him perform a gallbladder surgery once,” said White, whose childhood backyard was across from a Catholic Hospital where he watched ambulances come and go. “I loved the thought of being a doctor and that was back when doctors made house calls right and left…it just appealed to me.”

After high school, White majored in chemistry with a minor in biology at what was then Memphis State University. In 1959, after college graduation, he remained in Memphis to attend medical school at the University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center, graduating in 39 months. “Back then you took six quarters in medical school, then sat for your national boards, then took another six quarters to graduate,” said White. “Of course that was depending on how you did on boards.”

White completed an internship at Methodist Hospital in Memphis during which he rotated through the various services in the hospital. Although he had offers to enter residencies for such specialties as obstetrics and gynecology, he found he was not interested in them because he wanted to practice family medicine. In 1963, White entered the U.S. Air Force as a captain stationed at Brookley Air Force Base in Mobile, Ala., where, ironically, he worked in OB/GYN the entire time he was there.

White’s decision to move to Lexington came out of some “turkey talk” with a medical school friend who was stationed in Biloxi while he was in Mobile. “We were having Thanksgiving dinner together, and my friend, who was also in family practice and was from West Tennessee, mentioned that there was a town called Lexington that was needing a family practitioner. He thought I may be interested,” said White. “Funny thing was he had no idea where it was. We had to look it up on a map and discovered it was nearly straight up Highway 45 from Mobile.”

Neither White nor his wife, Joyce, whom he had met in college and married after graduation, had any intention of returning to where they grew up, so they decided to see what this town called Lexington had to offer. “We made a visit leaving after church on Sunday,” said White, who at this time had two sons, Charles Jr. and David. “We planned our move on the trip back to Mobile.”

When White moved to Lexington, he was the fourth doctor in the rural town, one of which was a surgeon. He says he went into practice at a “better time to practice” since it was before the advent of Medicare, and people paid for their own healthcare however they could. Initially, he had two office helpers and still made enough to cover his first month’s bills.

White rented an office from Dr. Huntsman, a well known local physician who had retired from delivering babies. “I moved into her office nine months after she moved out,” said White. “Dr. Warren Ramer Sr., who was a prince of a fella, approached me with an offer to cover for one another. We shook hands and that is the way things were for a long time.”

In 1975, White added a partner to his practice as the clinic became known as Family Physicians of Lexington. Today the practice includes a physician’s assistant and four physicians, one of which is White’s son, Charles Jr., who completed his family practice residency at UT’s program in Jackson. “Charles Jr. did an extra year of training for obstetrics and to perform cesarean sections,” said White. “Unfortunately he had to stop that about ten years ago because there was no anesthetist or anesthesiologist in Lexington. We still treat kids, just not newborns anymore.”

Over his 45 years in practice, White has seen medicine change. “Now we have hospitalists who take care of our patients in the hospital,” said White. “I also see a higher number of patients with diabetes than I did initially. We have so many more options in terms of insulin and medications with which to treat them than we used to.”

Early in his practice of medicine, White became interested in what he calls “medical politics” and became involved with various medical associations. Since 1970, he has been active in the Tennessee Medical Association and the Tennessee Academy of Family Physicians, serving as president for both organizations. He is currently a Tennessee delegate to the American Medical Association. “I go to two meetings a year where we make various resolutions regarding the practice of medicine and the government intrusion into it,” said White. “Medical organizations have changed over the years. Now they are basically ignored by the government.”

White’s family includes the two boys, who are both married and still live in Lexington, and two married daughters. Dana lives in Memphis and Ann-Marie lives in Roanoke, Va. He and his wife also have eight grandchildren, six boys and two girls that range in age from 2 to 23. White and his sons own two farms in the area where they enjoy hunting duck, turkey and deer. He and Joyce also stay busy with the various sports the grandchildren play and by having family dinners.

When asked about retirement, the 70+ year old replied, “I have no intention of retiring. If it ever seems I am not practicing right, my son has been instructed to tell me to go home.”

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