Dr. Samuel Taylor Bickley passed away peacefully in his home in High Point, North Carolina, on the morning of February 11, 2021. Dr. Bickley was born February 25, 1931 in Johnson City, Tennessee. His parents were Lucy Claire Gray Bickley, a teacher at Gray School, and Jonathan Taylor Bickley, who owned a small cattle farm and worked for the Tennessee Valley Authority.
Dr. Bickley was educated in the Washington County, Tennessee, public schools; first at Gray Elementary School and later at Boone’s Creek High School, where he finished as Salutatorian. He attended East Tennessee State University for his undergraduate work, then transferred to and graduated from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville with a major in agriculture. He had a passion for farming and was a life-long student of the land.
Sam then entered the School of Veterinary Medicine at Alabama Polytechnic Institute at Auburn, Alabama, where he graduated in 1954. Dr. Bickley was president of the student chapter of the American Veterinary Medicine Association, president of the class of 1953, president of the Omega Tau Sigma fraternity (a professional and social fraternity), and a member of the Inter-Fraternity Council.
After graduation from veterinary school, Dr. Bickley entered private practice of veterinary medicine in Greenville, Tennessee, after which he joined the U.S. Army Veterinary Corps at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. He served as post veterinarian at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri, and then posted to Fifth Army Headquarters in Chicago, Illinois, where he completed a course of instruction in food inspection in hygiene.
Following his active duty, Dr. Bickley was appointed to the position of associate professor of veterinary medicine in the Department of Animal Husbandry of the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.
After assisting the post’s surgeon during his time at Fort Leonard Wood, Dr. Bickley decided his medical future was with people, not animals. He left veterinary medicine and entered medical school in September, 1957 at Bowman Gray College of Medicine at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. During his tenure he was president of the class of 1958, president of the student chapter of the American Medical Association, and served on various committees and associations of the medical school.
Following graduation in 1961, Dr. Bickley entered a rotating internship at the U.S. Army Hospital in Fort Benning, Ga., in surgery and obstetrics. He then returned to Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem for 1961-62 where he completed a residency in ophthalmology. He later widened his field to family practice, obstetrics and surgery.
He married Sarah Barham Vance, then a kindergarten teacher from Kernersville, North Carolina, on December 15, 1962. Dr. and Mrs. Bickley moved to Yadkinville, N.C., where he became chief of staff of Lulu Conrad Hoots Memorial Hospital and opened his own family medicine practice. He was active in the local and state medical societies, joining the Yadkin-Surry Medical Society, North Carolina Medical Society, American Medical Association, and the Southern Medical Society. He pursued an active career for the practice of medicine in addition to being the Medical Examiner of Surry County. During this period, his practice encompassed obstetrics and he delivered, by his own estimate, more than 3,000 babies during his career.
In 1965, Dr. and Mrs. Bickley moved with their young daughter to Elkin, North Carolina to establish a thriving medical practice. Many patients followed the young doctor from Yadkinville to Elkin, driving from one town to the other for medical care, which established many lasting patient relationships and friendships.
In 1978, Dr. and Mrs. Bickley moved to High Point, N.C., where he established a successful medical practice, which included both hospital and nursing home practices. Dr. Bickley was instrumental in establishing a family practice section within the medical staff at High Point Regional Hospital. This proved to elevate family practice as a specialty within the hospital group and gave family physicians a voice in the management of the hospital on the same level as that of pediatricians. He served as chief of the Family Practice Section and on numerous hospital committees. During this time, he became medical director of the Johnson Nursing Facility and served as physician to other nursing home units in the area. In High Point, Dr. Bickley was associated with Dr. L. S. Averett in the general practice of medicine, and continued to have a very active hospital practice including obstetrics. He also opened a second primary care office in Kernersville.
In the later part of his medical career, Dr. Bickley worked as a physician at Bethany Clinic in High Point until his retirement. He continued to serve patients there, many of whom had been seeing him for decades. He tended to the medical needs of multiple generations, sometimes having delivered children and grandchildren of the same family. He was one of the last doctors in High Point to accept Medicaid, often treating patients for little or no fee.
Throughout the years, in addition to his medical practice, Dr. Bickley became a certified private pilot and medical examiner for aviation. He enjoyed flying to hunting or fishing destinations with his club The Flying Physicians. Born on a farm in East Tennessee, the rural South was always in his blood. He had a passion for hunting, riding and bird dogs. He had a vast circle of friends from every walk of life. On occasion throughout his career, Dr. Bickley was also called to render veterinary service; he was known to friends as the doctor who could treat anything from goldfish up. In Elkin, his office sported a large sign that read, “WALK IN DOCTOR -- MAN OR BEAST.” Helping those in need, whether animal or human, was his life-long purpose and in doing so, he built strong bonds with countless friends and former patients. He shared his knowledge, expertise, and interests with others through medicine and hunting, to create genuine connections with people that lasted generations. Dr. Bickley’s impact, like his laugh, proved outsized and heartfelt.
Dr. Bickley is survived by two daughters, Sarah Alice Bickley of Durham, N.C., and Elizabeth Gray Bickley Negin of Baltimore, Md.; their husbands, John O’Brien and Carl Negin; and four grandchildren, Wil, Jonty and Waverly Negin and Sam O’Brien.
The funeral will take place at 10 a.m. on Saturday, June 26, 2021 at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, 108 W. Farriss Avenue, High Point. Dr. Bickley died in February, but the Covid pandemic delayed the funeral. A reception in the fellowship hall will follow the service.
For the service, guests are required to wear masks (if you have no mask, the church can provide one) and to give their contact information to the funeral hosts outside the church door. A social distancing space is marked off inside the sanctuary for those who wish to sit apart.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the St. Mary’s Music Endowment Fund (108 W. Farris Avenue, High Point, North Carolina, 27262) or memorial contributions may be sent to The National Wild Turkey Federation. (N.W.T.F.) in Dr. Sam T. Bickley’s name (N.W.T.F., P.O. Box 530, Edgefield, South Carolina, 29824).
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