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Alums Start Careers, Life Together at BCMby Dana Benson
Married since March 1946, the pair talk over each other and laugh as they reminisce about their years at Baylor and their subsequent careers and family life, which includes four children, seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Phil, from the northeast Texas town of Mount Vernon, attended Texas A&M University as an undergraduate, while Joyce, from Dimmitt County in southwest Texas, went to Baylor University in Waco. They applied to medical school, thinking they would be attending in Dallas, but found themselves in Houston, where the school relocated in 1943. Phil jokes that they received a "mail-order education" because Baylor's classes at that time were in an old Sears, Roebuck and Co. warehouse building on Buffalo Drive, near what is now Allen Parkway. They remember the building well, especially the gross anatomy lab. It was on the second floor of the building on the west side, and it was not air conditioned, Phil recalled. "The windows were up high, maybe eight feet up, and we had gross anatomy lab in the afternoon with all of the cadavers, in the heat. It was quite an experience," Phil noted. Another experience that Phil and Joyce remember—and one they and their classmates enjoyed—was the clinical pathologic conferences that were held once a week. "It was presented as 'Guess what I have,' where faculty would give us a clinical history and we had a week to turn in a written diagnosis," Joyce said. But perhaps one of the best aspects of their medical education was the camaraderie among their classmates. World War II was going on at the time, and many of the men were in the military, including Phil, who was in the Army. That experience—and the fact that they were enrolled at a school starting up in a new city—helped to bond the class. "There was a fellowship among our class and a closeness that we felt," Joyce said, "and we all certainly appreciated the faculty and their interest in us." Joyce felt that fellowship and closeness despite the fact that she was one of only four women in a class of 84 students. "In medical school, I just felt like I was one of the class and I felt like the class members treated me that way too. I never had the feeling that I was singled out or harassed in any way by either the professors or the other students." While certain faculty members stand out in their memories as well as some of their classes, their memory of their own first meeting is murkier. Phil was roommates with a young man Joyce had known in college. That friend introduced the pair—which Phil says he remembers but Joyce does not recall. She said she first became aware of Phil during their gross anatomy class. They started dating during their sophomore year and were married at the end of their junior year. Following medical school, they headed to St. Louis for their internships, although at different hospitals at the advice of their Baylor advisor, Paul Wheeler, M.D. Following additional postgraduate training in Dallas and Houston, they opened a general practice in Mt. Vernon. Soon, though, Phil was called to serve during the Korean War, and Joyce decided to complete her training in pathology at BCM, later joining the faculty as an instructor and then associate professor. When Phil returned from the war, he completed his specialty training in internal medicine at Baylor and also joined the faculty. They were part of the Baylor family for about 20 years, raising their children in Houston, before Joyce was offered a position at Texas A&M's fledgling medical program, which is now the College of Medicine at the Texas A&M Health Science Center. They left BCM in July 1975. Phil launched an internal medicine practice in Bryan, and the two have been there ever since. Joyce described her initial years at Texas A&M as an exciting time. "We only had 32 students initially and we spent a couple of years developing the curriculum and recruiting faculty," she recalled. The two are now enjoying their retirement in Bryan/College Station as well as at a summer home in Colorado. "Every phase of our lives has so much blessings and reward in it," Joyce said. |
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Volume 4, Issue 3, Winter 2008 |
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| Last modified: December 30, 2008 |
Medical school is often considered a career launching pad, but for Drs. Phil and Joyce Davis, Class of 1947, Baylor College of Medicine was also the starting point for a life together that has spanned seven decades.