DR. JONES WAS OUR VERSION OF A PLAIN COUNTRY DOCTOR

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

Old time Brownsville residents still remember our own local version of a kindly old country doctor like Marcus Welby and  who could have been the model for a Norman Rockwell Americana painting.

Our local version of the compassionate physician was a healer that you could count on to be there when he was needed just as sure as the sun rises in the morning.

And he was there at his office every day and, invariably in a good mood. He was one of a one-of-a-kind physician, known in the community as a genuinely caring and giving person.

Our own Marcus Welby was Doctor Lee Dale Jones, a man who began his practice in Brownsville way back in 1954. He was not born into wealth, but rich with an abundance of compassion. He started his education at El Jardin and graduated from Brownsville High School where he lettered in football and basketball.

Let's say you were feeling poorly and had to seek his help at his examination room. There was no appointment necessary to seek medical assistance in his office. It was first-come, first-served so you had to get there early.

As you arrived to find your place in line outside his office you were greeted by the sounds from the fowl crowing and clucking at a neighbor’s chicken coop.

Oh, and by the way, you were on the honor system. No one would dream of cutting in line!

All his patients would sit in anticipation of the opening of the door, and when it did, there came the call from Amelia – in both English and Spanish – “Line-up as you arrived.”

Inside, the lobby was not a plastic environment with gaudy chandeliers with uncomfortable metal and plastic matching chairs. It was Plain Jane and practical furniture because when someone is sick, those adornments are the last thing they're look for.

The conversation among the sick kids as they waited their turn was in murmurs. There were no bombastic voices coming from staff, nurses, and certainly not from Dr. Jones.

His office staff, and nurses changed, but the dedicated mainstays who stayed with him for decades  included: Maggie Garcia, Irma Trevino, Amelia Cerda, Alicia “Licha” Tijerina, Minerva Spencer and Gloria Brooks.

It was an era, when the patients, staff, and the doctor knew each other generation after generation who beat the same path to Dr. Jones’s office over the years.

He moved in and out of the tiny examination rooms quickly, but diagnosing with accuracy. He seldom referred you to a specialist and his patients knew he had the experience and wisdom to treat almost anything that ailed you.

Humor was a part of his treatment to make his patients feel better. And it worked miracles. He was the “Patch Adams” of his era. His dedication and skills took you back to the Golden Era when modesty, generosity, unselfishness, compassion, improving the lives of others, and placing others' needs before his own were the true reflection of a family doctor.

Among his peers, he was known as a healer whose medical skills transcended the ordinary. He enjoyed an enviable reputation for his work in the health profession. Those who were treated by Dr. Jones will never forget him, and neither will the relatives and families who were touched by his labor over the years.

They don't make them like they used to!