Kermit W. Fox

He began his education in a unique one-teacher country school located on the family's farm. After finishing high school in Brenham, Texas he graduated with honors from Blinn Junior College in the same town. A year at the University of Texas in Austin was followed by his earning a medical degree in 1936 from the Medical Branch in Galveston. He continued his medical training through an internship and residency at the Rochester General Hospital, Rochester, New York.

In 1939 he returned to Texas and started Family Practice medicine in Bryan, Texas. On April 7, 1940 he married Jewel Bernice Preuss, Seton Hospital nurse from Giddings, Texas. The Bryan practice was abruptly terminated in 1941 when Kermit, a Reserve Medical Officer, was called to active duty in the Army. The advent of World War II extended a tour of duty promised to be only one year into one lasting five long years. Capt. Fox was promptly sent "overseas" to Seward, Alaska in quasi-secrecy. At this strategic railhead he was assigned to setting up and then commanding a 150-bed Station Hospital. At the end of 2 1/2 years in Alaska he returned to the States and was assigned as Chief of Orthopedics at the Camp Wolters Station Hospital ((Mineral Wells). He was finally discharged from the Armed Services in 1946 with the rank of Lt. Colonel.

Kermit chose to further his orthopedic experience by becoming an orthopedic Graduate Fellow at the University of Iowa (Iowa City, Iowa) while awaiting entry into a two-year orthopedic fellowship at the Campbell Clinic (University of Tennessee, Memphis, Tenn.) At the completion of the latter with a Master of Orthopedic Surgery degree he returned once more to Texas in 1948, this time to Austin. Here he entered private practice as a member of a two-man partnership, one which would evolve into the Austin Bone & Joint Clinic. He retired from this Clinic the last day of 1985.

His professional affiliations included: Fellow of American College of Surgeons, member of Phi Theta Kappa, Texas Medical Association, American Medical Association, American Academy of Orthopedic surgeons, Clinical Orthopedic Society, Texas Orthopedic Association of which organization he was president in 1972. He was also Chief of Staff of both Brackenridge and St. David's Hospitals.

Throughout their entire married life Kermit and his wife enjoyed the adventure of ongoing world travel, travels which took them into over 84 different countries. They sought out uncommon places and unconventional ways such as exploring the north and south polar regions, the Himalayan areas of Tibet, Sikkim and Bhutan, the depths of New Guinea and a nine-day traverse of Siberia by train. Some of these areas were visited before general tourism made them popular, perhaps the most outstanding example of this having been a three-week photographic safari he and his family made in a Landrover across British East Africa in 1963 under the guidance of a white hunter.

Kermit seemed to enjoy recalling his childhood days spent on the family farm. He hoped to be remembered as having lived as "ever the student". After his retirement he became an avid reader, attended a variety of classes, especially those relating to creative writing for 10 years and attending regular sessions in oil painting for over 15 years. The variety of topics on which he wrote were collected in three unpublished volumes titled: "Thoughts on Which I Wrote". The story of his life he published in 1991titled "A Son of La Bahia Remembers".

Beginning in 1948 after moving back to Austin with its bordering Hill Country, Kermit became a dedicated and successful deer hunter for the next 50 years, bringing in one or more deer each season. He prided himself as an Indian-type hunter usually shunning the use of a stand or camouflage or the practice of trap feeding. He was especially grateful to have been accorded the unusual privilege of hunting on the same lease for 40 years. Only occasionally the hunting guest pointed him and his family into New Mexico and Colorado.

A highpoint of Kermit's professional career, one which he enjoyed recounting, was the unique experience of visiting England in 1971, joined by an Austin colleague, Dr. Robert Dennison. In this country at the world's then most prestigious hip center, he learned first-hand from the innovator himself the technique of successfully implanting artificial hips, an operation which Kermit was then able to pioneer in Austin.

Preceding Kermit in death was his wife of 68 years, his parents and all seven of his siblings. Survivors include one son, one daughter, three grandchildren and three great grandchildren.

The family will receive friends from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday, December 10, 2014 at Weed­ Corley-Fish Funeral Home, 3125 N. Lamar Blvd.

A graveside service will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, December 11, 2014 with Rev. Carl Schoss officiating at Austin Memorial Park, 2800 Hancock Drive.

Memorials may be made to a charity of your choice.