Tales from Kentucky Doctors

Tales from Kentucky Doctors PDF

Author: William Lynwood Montell

Publisher: University Press of Kentucky

Published: 2008-03-14

Total Pages: 259

ISBN-13: 0813138787

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“The book lets us see the human side of physicians—the humorous, the heartwarming—the tradition of health care in Kentucky.” —The Harrodsburg Herald From the laughable to the laudable, Tales from Kentucky Doctors present illuminating portraits of doctors and patients, drawing stories from physicians with lifetimes of experience serving Kentucky families. Doctors recall the successes and failures that shaped their early careers. For Dr. Baretta R. Casey of Hazard, becoming a doctor was a difficult journey. Already married and with a child, Casey enrolled in college at age thirty, later completed medical school, and began a successful career as a family practitioner in the 1990s. Though patient visitations and doctors’ prescriptions are recorded on account ledgers, personal relationships and memories are not part of medical records. The section “Personal Practice” gives a glimpse of the intimate connection that doctors form with their communities. For many towns, family physicians were heroes. Dr. James S. Brashear relates the challenges of practicing in Central City, a coal mining town, recalling an incident in which he saved the lives of two miners. Handed down to Montell in the oral tradition, the tales presented in this collection represent every part of the state. Personal experiences, humorous anecdotes, and local legends make it a fascinating panorama of Kentucky physicians and of the communities they served. “Abounds with interesting and amusing anecdotes about life in rural Kentucky. For those of us who grew up during these times, it brings back fond memories of good times and bad.” —Bowling Green Daily News

Tales from Kentucky Doctors

Tales from Kentucky Doctors PDF

Author: William Lynwood Montell

Publisher: University Press of Kentucky

Published: 2008-03-14

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 081317290X

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The nearly 350 humorous, heartwarming, and sometimes tragic accounts presented in William Lynwood Montell's latest book, Tales from Kentucky Doctors, offer an unusual perspective on the culture and tradition of Kentucky health-care practice. From the laughable to the laudable, Tales from Kentucky Doctors present illuminating portraits of doctors and patients, drawing stories from physicians with lifetimes of experience serving Kentucky families. In chapter 2, doctors recall the successes and failures that shaped their early careers. For Dr. Baretta R. Casey of Hazard, becoming a doctor was a difficult journey. Already married and with a child, Casey enrolled in college at age thirty, later completed medical school, and began a successful career as a family practitioner in the 1990s. Though patient visitations and doctors' prescriptions are recorded on account ledgers, personal relationships and memories are not part of medical records. The section "Personal Practice" gives a glimpse of the intimate relationships doctors form with their communities. "I doubt that any individual was nearer to the family than the family doctor," Dr. W. L. Tyler says in one story. For many towns, family physicians were heroes. Dr. James S. Brashear relates the challenges of practicing in Central City, a coal mining town, recalling an incident in which he saved the lives of two miners. Handed down to Montell in the oral tradition, the tales presented in this collection represent every part of the state. Personal experiences, humorous anecdotes, and local legends make it a fascinating panorama of Kentucky physicians and of the communities they served.

Tales from Kentucky Nurses

Tales from Kentucky Nurses PDF

Author: William Lynwood Montell

Publisher: University Press of Kentucky

Published: 2015-02-20

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 0813160731

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From frontier times to the present day, Kentucky nurses have served with intelligence and energy, always ensuring that their patients received the best available care. Noted folklorist and oral historian William Lynwood Montell collects nearly two hundred stories from these hard-working men and women in Tales from Kentucky Nurses. From humorous anecdotes to spine-chilling coincidences, tragic circumstances, and heartwarming encounters, the tales in this lively volume are recorded exactly as they were told to Montell. Covering medical practice in the state from the early twentieth century through contemporary times, the episodes related in Tales from Kentucky Nurses reveal the significance of the nursing profession to the Bluegrass state's local life and culture. They include funny tales -- such as the story of an injured stripper who swore her pole had been sabotaged and an anecdote about a surgeon racing between hospitals who paid his speeding ticket twice, knowing he would have to hurry the other way in a few hours. Montell also presents moving stories like the recollections of a nurse who helped a frail cancer patient achieve his last wish of being baptized. This valuable collection also features anecdotes from the famous Frontier Nursing Service, which provided essential care to families in remote areas of the state and whose leader, Mary Breckinridge, is remembered fondly for her wit and kindness. In addition, Montell's interviewees share ghost stories and describe folk remedies like the practice of placing an axe under a woman's pillow during labor to cut the pain. These firsthand accounts not only pay homage to an underappreciated profession but also preserve important aspects of Kentucky's history not likely to be recorded elsewhere.

Tales from Kentucky Sheriffs

Tales from Kentucky Sheriffs PDF

Author: William Lynwood Montell

Publisher: University Press of Kentucky

Published: 2011-08-19

Total Pages: 367

ISBN-13: 0813140390

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“Wildly funny and deeply tragic . . . these tales chronicle each sheriff’s journey from youth to election to office and, occasionally, into retirement.” —Wayne County Outlook Following the success of his collections of stories from funeral directors, schoolteachers, doctors, and lawyers, folklorist William Lynwood Montell presents a new volume of tales from Kentucky sheriffs. Montell collected stories from all areas of the state to represent the diversity of social and economic backgrounds in the various communities the officers serve. Tales from Kentucky Sheriffs covers elections, criminal behavior, and sheriff’s mistakes in a lighthearted and often humorous manner. The book includes accounts of a drunk driver who thought he was in a different state, a sheriff running a sting operation with the US Marshals, and a woman reporting a tomato thief in her garden. Other accounts involve procedural errors with serious consequences, such as the tale of a sheriff who mistakenly informs a man that his son has committed suicide. Together, these firsthand narratives preserve important aspects of Kentucky’s history not likely to be recorded elsewhere. “The stories Montell collected fill up nearly 300 pages and range from humorous mishaps during incidents and interesting criminal behavior to the more somber topic of death in the line of duty.” —Central Kentucky News-Journal “The numerous experiences shared by the people interviewed cover several decades and provide a very enlightening look into the world of Kentucky county-level law enforcement.” —Kentucky Ancestors “[Montell] has once again mined an important element of the state’s culture with utter transparency, and has—once again—done the state proud.” —Kentucky Monthly

Country Doctor

Country Doctor PDF

Author: Shirley Gish

Publisher: University Press of Kentucky

Published: 2021-12-14

Total Pages: 255

ISBN-13: 0813188806

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Claire Louise Caudill is one of those rare people who have become legends in their own time. She delivered more than 8,000 babies over the years, in and around her hometown of Morehead, Kentucky. In 1995 she was named Country Doctor of the Year, and she has been interviewed by CBS and featured in USA Today. Dr. Caudill stopped delivering babies when she turned seventy, but today, at the age of 86, she remains in practice- her patients won't let her retire! Her friend Susie Halbleib has served as nurse in Caudill's clinic since it opened in 1946. Caudill was instrumental in establishing a hospital in Morehead and for more than fifty years has worked to improve health care for the people of the Kentucky hill country. The first part of Country Doctor tells Caudill's story through interviews with Dr. Caudill, Nurse Halblieb, and the people who know them best. The second reproduces a one-woman, two-act play entitled Me 'n Susie, inspired by Dr. Caudill's warmth and humor. Together, the play and interviews provide a vivid picture of life in the hills of Eastern Kentucky and a remarkable portrait of two great women in medicine.

Tales from Kentucky One-Room School Teachers

Tales from Kentucky One-Room School Teachers PDF

Author: William Lynwood Montell

Publisher: University Press of Kentucky

Published: 2011-02-18

Total Pages: 301

ISBN-13: 081312980X

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In an educational era defined by large school campuses and overcrowded classrooms, it is easy to overlook the era of one-room schools, when teachers filled every role, including janitor, and provided a familylike atmosphere in which children also learned from one another. In Tales from Kentucky One-Room School Teachers, William Lynwood Montell reclaims an important part of Kentucky's social, cultural, and educational heritage, assembling a fun and fascinating collection of schoolroom stories that chronicle a golden era in Kentucky. The firsthand narratives and anecdotes in this collection cover topics such as teacher-student relationships, day-to-day activities, lunchtime foods, students' personal relationships, and, of course, the challenges of teaching in a one-room school. Montell includes tales about fund-raising pie suppers, pranks, outrageous student behavior (such as the quiet little boy whose first "sharing" involved profanity), and variety of other topics. Montell even includes some of his own memories from his days as a pupil in a one-room school. Tales from Kentucky One-Room School Teachers is a delightful glimpse of the history of education.

Tales from Kentucky Funeral Homes

Tales from Kentucky Funeral Homes PDF

Author: William Lynwood Montell

Publisher: University Press of Kentucky

Published: 2009-08-17

Total Pages: 210

ISBN-13: 0813125677

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In Tales from Kentucky Funeral Homes, William Lynwood Montell has collected stories and reminiscences from funeral home directors and embalmers across the state. These accounts provide a record of the business of death as it has been practiced in Kentucky over the past fifty years. The collection ranges from tales of old-time burial practices, to stories about funeral customs unique to the African American community, to tales of premonitions, mistakes, and even humorous occurrences. Other stories involve such unusual aspects of the business as snake-handling funerals, mistaken identities, and in-home embalming. Taken together, these firsthand narratives preserve an important aspect of Kentucky social life not likely to be collected elsewhere. Most of these funeral home stories involve the recent history of Kentucky funeral practices, but some descriptive accounts go back to the era when funeral directors used horse-drawn wagons to reach secluded areas. These accounts, including stories about fainting relatives, long-winded preachers, and pallbearers falling into graves, provide significant insights into the pivotal role morticians have played in local life and culture over the years.

Tales from Kentucky Sheriffs

Tales from Kentucky Sheriffs PDF

Author: William Lynwood Montell

Publisher: University Press of Kentucky

Published: 2011-08-19

Total Pages: 305

ISBN-13: 0813134056

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Following the success of his collections of stories from funeral directors, schoolteachers, doctors, and lawyers, folklorist William Lynwood Montell presents a new volume of tales from Kentucky sheriffs. Montell collected stories from all areas of the state to represent the diversity of social and economic backgrounds in the various communities the officers serve. Tales from Kentucky Sheriffs covers elections, criminal behavior, and sheriff's mistakes in a lighthearted and often humorous manner. The book includes accounts of a drunk driver who thought he was in a different state, a sheriff running a sting operation with the U.S. Marshals, and a woman reporting a tomato thief in her garden. Other accounts involve procedural errors with serious consequences, such as the tale of a sheriff who mistakenly informs a man that his son has committed suicide. Together, these firsthand narratives preserve important aspects of Kentucky's history not likely to be recorded elsewhere.

Tragedy at Devil's Hollow

Tragedy at Devil's Hollow PDF

Author: Michael Paul Henson

Publisher: The Overmountain Press

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 172

ISBN-13: 9781570721601

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This is the first book of Kentucky ghost stories by acclaimed author Michael Paul Henson. He tells the bewildering tale of the tragedy at Devil’s Hollow in Kentucky. Henson has added a selection of other ghost stories and unexplained phenomena. The narratives contained in this volume are relatively unknown for two principal reasons—first, no one has previously taken the time to collect and compile them; second, these are stories generally limited to certain localities and have seldom been told outside the area of occurrence. While many stories may have been transmuted through the years of telling, the essence remains the same and the fascination and intrigue provoked by these tales of wonderment has not been diminished.