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Fenwick Chappell shown with his prize orchids at the Society of Orchids Show – his 60th exhibit

What do a wild game hunter, a prize winning orchid grower, a trumpet player and a published author have in common? They are all Memphis area physicians who “follow their bliss” at leisure.

Whether it’s tracking game on a safari in faraway lands or tending to one of the most exquisite plant species in the world–creating a story line for a new book or trumpeting with a brass quintet on a Sunday afternoon–area physicians might surprise you with their little-known talents, away from the world of taking care of others. An enthusiastic response to Memphis Medical News December issue’s “Off Call Pursuits” feature led us to asking a few more of your colleagues to share their passions.



OB/GYN specialist Jesse C. Woodall, Jr., MD, finds his leisure outlet in the great outdoors, hunting big game both locally and internationally. His trophy rooms attest to the success of his adventures in different parts of the globe.

Woodall was inspired to become a physician by his father, who was a doctor in rural south central Kentucky, where he taught his son to hunt and fish as a child.

“I’ve hunted all my life; I can’t ever remember not doing it,” said Woodall. “Growing up, I had to hunt squirrels and doves and ducks, because there really weren’t any deer or turkey available at that time. As I got older, I started hunting mule deer and antelope in Wyoming.”

From there he progressed to caribou in Alaska, moose in British Columbia, bear in Manitoba, geese and ducks in Alberta – and he fishes everywhere, as well. Closer to home, at age 74, he still hunts deer, quail, turkey, ducks, doves and pheasants in Arkansas, Mississippi, and Tennessee.

In 1990 he traveled to Zimbabwe and brought home trophy Cape buffalo, kudu, waterbuck, and sable. In 1994, his Botswana adventure resulted in leopard, eland, impala and a red lesche (swamp-dwelling antelope).

His most memorable hunt was the caribou he brought back from southwest Alaska. “The second day after the kill we were on the ice, waiting for the plane to fly us out, when the weather closed in. Conditions were bad, including horizontal sleet and high winds. There were just the two of us, the guide and me. The weather came in on Tuesday and we didn’t get out until Saturday.”

Was he concerned about getting out alive?

“Oh, I knew we’d get out; it was just a question of when,” Woodall concluded confidently.



It’s impossible not to draw a parallel between Fenwick Chappell, MD, retired surgeon/emergency medicine physician, and fictional detective Nero Wolfe, the world’s best-known orchid grower. Chappell admits he’s heard the comparison a number of times.

He first became interested in growing houseplants in a small greenhouse he had built in 1978. Soon after, he was introduced to orchids by a friend and got his first three plants by mail order.

“From that point, the bug bit me. I got involved in the local orchid society and the American Orchid Society, and had access to more and more information about growing them. It just developed from there, taking more and more of my time.

Currently, his two greenhouses house between 250 and 300 different varieties of orchids - which Chappell modestly admits is just a drop in the bucket compared to the 25,000 known species of orchid family growing in the wild–“and with hybridization, you can multiply that many times, so there are literally thousands of varieties to choose from.”

His favorite at the moment is the plant that won two American Orchid Society Awards–a beautiful dendrobium hybrid originally created in with 1890s. “It just happened to be developed and in full bloom at a time we were having a show here, and the AOS judges gave it an award of merit, which is the second highest award available for a plant,” he said.

When he retired Chappell had enough free time to take plants from local members to orchid shows in different areas and set up exhibits; in the period from 1988 to 2007, he set up more than 60 different exhibits for the society in places from Pensacola to Springfield to Nashville, throughout the southeast.

“It’s been fun,” he reflected. “I have some great memories of those times.”

Look for Chappell at the Orchid Society’s next annual show, which will be May 21-22 at the Holiday Inn on Poplar where they will be hosting the Mid-American Orchid Congress.



David B. Wright, MD, Cordova Internal Medicine, blows off creative steam by playing in the traffic. He plays one of two trumpets in a brass quintet known as Sunday Traffic Brass, which also includes a trombone, a bass trombone and a French horn.

Although he identifies himself as the rank amateur among the other pros in the group, whose credentials variously include 20 years in the Naval Academy Band and several years with the Memphis Symphony, Wright has also been active in the Bartlett Community Concert Band as a charter organizer and president as well as a player.

Life got too busy, and Wright took a break until Sunday Traffic Brass got together informally, just for fun, a couple of years ago.

Now the popular group–which specializes in popular music, Broadway tunes, popular 20’s and 30’s tunes, patriotic music, and seasonal music, rather than classical offerings–plays a variety of venues including church performances, weddings, funerals, shopping malls, nursing homes–and at the Poplar/Kirby Borders Bookstore’s Tuesday night musical spotlight, where they can be heard April 19th at 6:30pm!

The group’s future looks bright for 2011–they look forward to playing on a cruise ship and to cutting a CD of original pieces later this fall. A Christmas CD and a Broadway/patriotic music CD are available now.

Although Wright regards his hobby as good therapy in terms of relaxing and having fun, and he appreciates the fact that it gives him something else to talk to patients about, he is not tempted to abandon medicine and become a career musician.

“No!” he laughs a quick denial. “It’s good therapy for me, but I don’t see it as being a full time gig!”



When cardiologist William L. Russo, MD, doesn’t like the way the world is going, he just changes it!

Such is the power of a published author, who can remold settings and scenarios to suit himself with a few strokes of a pen or clicks of a keyboard.

Russo, who began writing his first novel in 1999, has published three books–The Gray Zone, A Perception of Reality, and The Gray Perfection, and has a fourth in his computer.

“I’ve always loved science fiction and read a lot of Stephen King; I try to copy some of his style–without the profanity, however.”

Tom Clancy is another author Russo admires. “I remember his description of how an atomic bomb works as it starts to blow up. It took over a page to describe all the intricate details, and I was totally impressed.”

His first book took a few years to write, since Russo had to do a lot of library research; he didn’t have Internet access at the time. The book’s sales were limited by its unfortunate release date–close to 9/11, when the reading public’s mind was on the twin towers disaster, and few people showed up for book signings.

“None of my books has sold well,” Russo notes. “I just don’t have the time to go out there and push them and do the PR across the country. That takes time–and I love my day job. I don’t want to compromise the care of my patients.”

Does Russo look forward to full-time writing when he retires? “That would be nice; but I’m 65 now and plan to keep working another 10 or 15 years if my health will permit.”

Advice for aspiring authors? Keep writing and don’t give up. You could be the next John Grisham.

Although a writer’s life may seem like a lot of work for a small return on investment, he likes the fun in having creative control of the people and worlds he creates in his books, says Russo.

“But,” said Russo realistically, “I’ve got other things to do. My wife and I have four grandkids who we love to play with–I’d much rather spoil a grandkid than write a novel!”

Tags:

Jesse C Woodall, MD, MD; David B Wright, MD; Fenwick Chappell, MD; William L Russo

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