| Walter B. Comeaux, Jr.
(Lafayette physician and surgeon) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
| Born | April 10, 1923 Houma, Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana Resident of Lafayette, Louisiana | ||
| Died | August 18, 2024 (aged 101) Dallas, Texas | ||
| Spouse | Audrey Ann Dorinne "Candy" Kennedy Comeaux (married 1949-2010, her death) Three sons: | ||
| Religion | Roman Catholic | ||
| Military Service | |||
| Service/branch | United States Army | ||
| Years of service | 1947-1949 | ||
| Rank | First Lieutenant and Colonel
(Assistant chief of surgery at 49th General Hospital in Tokyo, Japan) | ||
Walter B. Comeaux, Jr. (April 10, 1923 – August 18, 2024) was a prominent general and thoracic surgeon in his adopted city of Lafayette, Louisiana, from 1954 until his retirement in 1989. He was also a major civic figure in Lafayette.
Background
Dr. Comeaux was born in Houma in Terrebonne Parish to a dentist, Walter Comeaux, Sr., and the former Blanche Bergeron. He graduated as the salutatorian of the Class of 1939 from St. Francis de Sales Cathedral High School in Houma and attended Louisiana State University in the capital city of Baton Rouge from 1939 to 1943. He was a member of the first LSU Marching Band. From 1943 to 1946, he studied for his medical degree with honors at the Louisiana State University Medical School in New Orleans. He then completed his internship and residency at the large Charity Hospital in New Orleans, where he also served as acting director of admissions.[1]
Dr. Comeaux was commissioned as First Lieutenant and then Captain in the United States Army. He was the assistant chief of surgery for the 49th General Hospital in Tokyo, Japan from 1947 to 1949. He was a member of the American Legion.[1]
Career
His 35-year medical practice began in 1954. He was certified by the American Board of Surgery in 1954 and the American Board of Abdominal Surgeons. For ten years he owned and operated Oakwood Village Nursing Care Center for ten years. He was a past medical director of Physician Preferred Plan, Inc., a local PPO, endorsed by the physicians of Lafayette. He was a fellow of the American College of Surgeons, the American College of Chest Surgeons, The International College of Surgeons, The Southeastern Surgical Congress, The American Geriatrics Society, and The International College of Angiology. He was a member of the Surgical Association of Louisiana, the American Thoracic Society, the American Medical Association, the Louisiana State Medical Society, and the Lafayette Parish Medical Society, of which he was the president in 1988, the year before his retirement.[1]
From the middle 1970's to the middle 1990's, Dr. Comeaux contributed his personal time and medical expertise for the benefit of the entire helicopter community, in which capacity he worked to promote safety within the industry. He presented several papers on drug and alcohol abuse, hypertension, vertigo, and pesticide toxicity and published an article on human factors and how they relate to the behavior of helicopter pilots. Dr. Comeaux was an honorary lifetime member and retired member of the board of directors of the Helicopter Association International. Comeaux was actively involved in the rescue and relief effort to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina struck south Louisiana in 2005. He received the received the Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky (1889-1972) Award, named for the Russian-American inventor of the helicopter. The American Red Cross also honored him for humanitarian work.[1]
In the late 1950s, Comeaux served on the Lafayette Civil Service Board in the late 1950's at the pleasure of Dr. Joel Fletcher, then the president of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. In that capacity, he developed the first civil service pay scale for firefighters, police officers, and municipal employees.
He was a Roman Catholic and a member of the men's organization, the Knights of Columbus. Comeaux was married for sixty-one years until her death to the former Audrey Ann Dorinne "Candy" Kennedy, a native of Manitoba, Canada. The couple had three sons, Thomas Gerard Comeaux, M.D. (1952-1997, Walter Comeaux, III, an engineer and a Democrat who was the first Mayor-President of Lafayette and Lafayette Parish, and Clark M. Comeaux, a retired colonel and a dentist. Dr. Comeaux died at the age of 101 and is interred at Calvary Cemetery in Lafayette, alongside his wife.