CORBIN — The local community is mourning the passing of a well-known physician who delivered more than 10,000 babies over a career of nearly four decades.
Dr. James D. Dawson Jr. passed away last week at the age of 76.
Dawson had moved to Corbin in 1981, where he began working as an obstetrician-gynecologist at what is now Baptist Health Corbin on the word of Dr. Bill Sanderlin, another OB/GYN in Corbin.
“He started either the month before or after I did,” Baptist Health Corbin Chief of Nursing Sherrie Mays, MSN, RN, recalled. “We worked together for 23 years until he left Baptist Health in 2003.
“During that time he had delivered 7,000 babies; that’s a lot of babies,” she added.
In an interview announcing his retirement back in 2018, Dr. Dawson recalled that when he started, some 300 babies were delivered at the Corbin hospital per year and within a few years, that number had grown to around 1,000 with patients from all over southeastern Kentucky.
“Dr. Dawson was very devoted to his patients and career,” Mays said. “He continued to grow the practice by adding other physicians. He was always about the patient, and what was best for the patient.”
Jenny Hungerbuhler had also worked with Dr. Dawson in the practice from Day One. She recalled that he took time to explain and treated nurses as peers.
“It got to be like we were a fine-oiled machine,” Hungerbuhler said. “We really got along well as a team.”
After a decade or so, Dr. Dawson sent Hungerbuhler for training on ultrasounds. He then encouraged to her to continue her training — helping to pay her way through graduate school as she became an advanced practice nurse practitioner/nurse-midwife.
“He was a real jokester and so witty,” Hungerbuhler recalled. “You could talk to him about anything. He was the nicest person.”
Hungerbuhler added that Dawson was in the office twice a week, but was on call everyday for his patients. With an interest in antiques, the doctor would occasionally attend events in Nashville or Louisville but was just a phone call away.
“If he was within driving distance, he would come to Corbin and then drive back,” Hungerbuhler recalled.
Dawson took some time off in 2003 and eventually went back to school, where he began teaching at his alma mater, the University of Kentucky.
In 2010, Dawson took a job through UK as an OB/GYN at Hazard ARH Medical Center and worked there for several years, until he took a position at what is now AdventHealth Manchester in 2016.
Upon his retirement a couple of years later, Dr. Dawson and his wife Sheila moved to Independence, Kansas, to be near their grandchildren — using their new home as a base from which to travel the world.
According to Dr. Dawson’s obituary, he and his wife had just completed a tour of New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado just two weeks prior to his passing on Monday, Feb. 26.
In addition to services scheduled next Sunday at Dr. Dawson’s church in Kansas, a celebration of life has been planned for Sunday, March 17, at Pearl Apparel on Short Street in London from 2-5 p.m.
Both Hungerbuhler and Mays noted that Dr. Dawson had delivered their own children.
“His dedication to our hospital, our community and our patients have been sorely missed,” Mays said. “He gave his best to all.”
“Jim was an amazing person,” Hungerbuhler added. “He had the best mind ever. There was no one better to work with.”