{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/presentation/3/context.json","id":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/iiif/s17sn02d3r/manifest","type":"Manifest","label":{"en":["Dr. Amail Chudy and Ann Chudy"]},"logo":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/246/original/CenterForHistoryFamilyMedicine_2c_RGB.png?1773344256","metadata":[{"label":{"en":["Rights Statement"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eThis item is protected by U.S. copyright and related rights. It is being made available by the Center for the History of Family Medicine as its rights-holder for noncommercial use, including sharing and adapting the work. No permission is required for noncommercial use so long as attribution is provided. All other uses require permission from the Center for the History of Family Medicine.  Disclaimer:  The views presented in this broadcast are the speaker’s own and do not represent those of CHFM or the AAFP Foundation. The information presented is for general, educational, or entertainment purposes and should not be considered legal, health, financial, or other advice. \u003c/p\u003e"]}},{"label":{"en":["Date"]},"value":{"en":["2021-03-08 (created)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Format"]},"value":{"en":["video"]}},{"label":{"en":["Keyword"]},"value":{"en":["Arkansas","rural family medicine","physicians","family doctors","veteran","Air Force","B-17","gunner","France"]}},{"label":{"en":["Subject"]},"value":{"en":["Arkansas Academy of Family Physicians (corporate name)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Language"]},"value":{"en":["English (primary)"]}}],"requiredStatement":{"label":{"en":["Attribution"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eThis item is protected by U.S. copyright and related rights. It is being made available by the Center for the History of Family Medicine as its rights-holder for noncommercial use, including sharing and adapting the work. No permission is required for noncommercial use so long as attribution is provided. All other uses require permission from the Center for the History of Family Medicine. \u0026nbsp;Disclaimer: \u0026nbsp;The views presented in this broadcast are the speaker\u0026rsquo;s own and do not represent those of CHFM or the AAFP Foundation. The information presented is for general, educational, or entertainment purposes and should not be considered legal, health, financial, or other advice.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e"]}},"provider":[{"id":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/aboutus","type":"Agent","label":{"en":["Center for the History of Family Medicine"]},"homepage":[{"id":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/","type":"Text","label":{"en":["Center for the History of Family Medicine"]},"format":"text/html"}],"logo":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/246/original/CenterForHistoryFamilyMedicine_2c_RGB.png?1773344256","type":"Image"}]}],"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/194/728/small/Chudy_AmailandAnn%283-8-2021%29.mp4_1688052298.jpg?1688052300","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2312/collection_resources/97613/file/194728","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 1 of 1 - Chudy__Amail_and_Ann_(3-8-2021).mp4"]},"duration":8407.03197,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/194/728/small/Chudy_AmailandAnn%283-8-2021%29.mp4_1688052298.jpg?1688052300","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2312/collection_resources/97613/file/194728/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2312/collection_resources/97613/file/194728/content/1/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/194/728/original/Chudy__Amail_and_Ann_%283-8-2021%29.mp4?1688052283","type":"Video","format":"video/mp4","duration":8407.03197,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2312/collection_resources/97613/file/194728","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[{"id":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2312/collection_resources/97613/file/194728/transcript/45016","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["Transcript of Dr. Amail Chudy and Ann Chudy [Transcript]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2312/collection_resources/97613/file/194728/transcript/45016/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Dr. Sam Taggart: \n\nGood evening; my name is Sam Taggart and I am in the home of Dr. Amail and Mrs. Ann Chudy in North Little Rock, Arkansas.  I’m here to interview the two of these folks here today about several things; one their lives; that’s the most important thing….who you are, where you’ve been, all those kinds of things.  But also your relationship to the Arkansas Academy of Family Physicians because what we are starting today is a new project and you are the first interview in this new project; to write a history of the Arkansas Academy of Family Physicians and have this completed by the summer of 2022, which I think we can.  So anything that you want to throw in at any point about the academy, regardless of what we are talking about…..and there is no such thing as rambling; no such thing as rambling…ramble on as long as you want to… \n\nThe best place to start is at the beginning: Where and when were you were born?  Tell me some things about your family and how they came to be in North Little Rock or even how they came to be in the United States. \n\n \n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nI was born and raised in a home at 1603 Marion, North Little Rock on January 18th, 50 years ago.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nHow many years ago?\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\n50…95….95 years ago; I was born on January 18th and I’m glad my friend here knows more than me.  I was born and raised there and I went to Catholic High School.  I had a great time; but it was at a time when it was sad, because when you became 18…at that time regardless of where you were, even work, you were arrested to go into the government.  So, I was going to turn 18 in January and I knew as soon as I did, I had to register and possibly not get to finish my senior year.  I had two classmates that were killed in the military within less than six weeks in active military and so, I decided didn’t want that. So, I went in and asked if I was in a position where I could sign up now and let me get my diploma and so, I could be ready to go.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nYou were 17 at the time; getting ready to be 18?\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nYes.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nDid you have to get your parents to sign for you?\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nNo sir; but, that’s a good question.  I was very happy to do that and I went into a sub-military an Air Force Program that the principal of the school was an excellent pilot and so, I joined into that and it rung my bell when I went in. I went through Camp Robinson…\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nDid you finish high school right then?  Were you able to go ahead and finish high school?\n\nAnn Chudy: Yes, finished high school; did you…?\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nI finished high school. I was number two in the class and had a 92.5 and there were three of us out of the class at little St. Mary’s here.  A young man was ahead of me in everything; he was brilliant…it was him, then me, then another boy there.  Then, I went into the military…a week in Camp Robinson, which was just kind of an orientation of what the military really is, and it was wonderful.  My mother and father came out and visited with me and the next thing I knew, I was on the train going to Texas.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nBefore we go too far on that, lets back up a little bit; tell me about your mom, dad, brothers, sisters, your grandparents….when your family, the Chudys, came to the United States ….and was the name “Chudy” the name that was used in the old country?\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nHudy and then, it was Chudy…\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nSpell that.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nH-u-d-y\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nSo, it was spelled H-u-d-y and they changed it to…\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nTo “C” and really…\n\nAnn Chudy: Tell about them coming to Marche…\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nMarche was an area and there was some-type of semi-military from Poland and his name…\n\nAnn Chudy: Count Pulaski.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nYeah, Pulaski and….\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: That’s why you’re here…\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nThat’s right; my mother was one of nine girls at one point...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Was your mother born here in the United States?\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nMy mother was born here; yeah.\n\nAnn Chudy: Only one of the nine was born here.\n\n \n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nShe was there in Marche, if you ever heard of it, and he promised them free territory and all kinds of things; great farms…the poor people got 40 acres and it was just rot as it could be.\n\n \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nWas this part of the….in the late…do you remember what year or about what year that was?\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nMy mother left home when she was 12, so it had to be in that area and they were literally starving.  They got the 40 acres and that wasn’t even enough to really feed the horse.  My mother came from Marche to North Little Rock and worked for a candy company in ________. My father was in the same area and they were; neither one of them really remember going to school and either one of them said, “I doubt I got through the second grade much less the first grade.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nNow you had, in the late nineteenth century- the 1880s-1890’s, the railroad companies were giving out parcels of land and they were going to Europe recruiting people…is that where….\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nIt was a group, but not this one.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nOk.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nSupposedly, Pulaski came here; Count Pulaski….but, my father came here and lived with his sister when he was 12 years old.  His blood father died and immediately married the widow.  It was very common and sad; two people just got married because they had to…to survive. They were living in areas of the northern part of the military, and I remember that was old wooden building, the dog walk; are you familiar with the dog walk?\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nUh huh; yes, sir.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nAnd they came along then and took their property; paid them for it and I’m sure it was more than they would’ve got if they sold it.  They moved to Marche and there my father’s mother died and there were four boys and four girls out of that hatch.  He worked for Vestil after that and he knew that he wasn’t making very much and they had a baby early after they were married…my oldest brother Phillip, who I call Phil.  My mother worked in the candy factory and she walked over the bridge to be in Little Rock...\n\nAnn Chudy: All of the records when they came over here were in the church at Marche and it burned; all the records of dates, where they came from, who their parents were...all of those records burned.  So, when we tried to research when we were going to Poland to find out if we could get that information, it wasn’t available.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nDo you know which part of Poland your family is from…what city or what region of the country?\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nMy mother said that they lived in a small town…\n\nAnn Chudy: \n\nCadence.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nOh Cadence; I know exactly where Cadence is.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nCadence; her mother was a teacher and she came from Poland and then, got married.  On the wall in Ann’s office is a picture that my great grandmother gave to my grandmother saying, “I want you to have something from the family.” My mother thought a lot of it, but she had it on the wall with a string, a cotton string, and I said, “Momma, that’s going to fall and break” and she said, “No, it won’t”….so, there’s a polish wishing luck.  She told my mother that it took them 90 days to get from Europe to the USA and how they got down here is they met that Count Pulaski.  After that, my father went to work for the railroad and I’m not sure whether he was illiterate; he had a job and he was always very careful not just to be put in a position that would invite him to come to someone else.  My mother was brilliant; we got a Polish paper once a month and it was all in Polish…my mother would read this and my father didn’t try to read it. It was all about what’s going on in Poland.  We got over there and found out that if you were looking for the “Smith’s” you had to have a birth date and that they were put into a folder-thing of numbers rather than names.  The little Polish area there had a beautiful church and it was wooden and burned to the ground; everything that was there….the baptism certificates, marriage certificates, everything…  It was very, very embarrassing that people married outside the group of being Polish; you were on the brink of no place.  But then I begin to come across, the weddings were marvelous…they were married on Tuesday and came to Little Rock in carts and buggy, they got pictures made and then came back.  They would slaughter at least two calves and two pork, whisky every place with dancing, dancing, dancing, and the last of it was on Saturday night at midnight; being Catholics, the next day was a holy day and so, they finally finished it up.  There were some very brilliant, people; none of that group now.  My mother was wonderful and she would read and say, “What is that word?” and I would pronounce it for her and spell it for her.  I don’t ever remember her coming back for the second _____; she was brilliant…..and an excellent cook.  Then, they ended up with another boy and then, my birth; they’re seven months or seven years apart for all of us; so, there were four boys in seventy months...\n\nAnn Chudy:  \n\nSeven years…\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nSeven years….thank you.\n\nAnn Chudy:  \n\nFour boys in seven years.\n\n      \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nDid they all make it to adulthood?\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nI’m sorry?\n\nAnn Chudy: Yes.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nYes and they had two men that were the police force and their job was to try to cool over; they were drinking hard whisky and they were fighting, they had blood fights.  They would eat and dance, eat and dance, and half of the crew would go home to take care of his stock and would come back the next day and the other half of the family would go home and take care of the other part of it.  Then, Camp Robinson came along the way and there were some people around the northern part of it, I can’t remember the name, but there was only one house that had electricity; it was a battery….they had it screwed up there into a battery.  He and his friend were from Russia; they were the bad boys, but they were Polish.  We went to Poland and it was wonderful.  We really love to travel, but I made one serious mistake; if I would’ve just put down Poland, June 5th 1914…I didn’t and I lost it.  So, we got to Poland and flew into Germany and spent the night in the big city.  I rented a brand new car and I took out interest on it, insurance; well, she put it in the little garage and tore off the side there and I got outside and tore off the right there….  It was marvelous because we met a family…  \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nAbout what year was that?  Do you remember about when it was in your marriage?\n\nAnn Chudy: Oh, let’s see; you retired in…uh….when did we go to Poland?\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nI can’t remember the dates, but we were very fortunate because we met a lady who was from Poland working in the public library.  We were talking that we were going to Poland and she said, “I want you to be to touch with Mr. Jones, write that name, and they will show you around.”  So, we got there; kind of got off the beat and route and I asked a man “Where is Poland” and he said, “Hold on” any way, I could look at the license plate and put us in...Poland.  We were treated with as much; we were the king and the queen.  The sad part of it all, the young man who was going to help us get around had the pleasure of driving a brand new car. \n\n   \n\nAnn Chudy: It was a Mercedes.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nHe was finishing his first year of law school and I found out that he was due for his examinations while we were there and I said, “No, there’s no way.  You go get your examinations over” and he says, “I’ve already arranged it” and he took us all over.\n\nAnn Chudy: I’m sitting here trying to figure out if it was 15-18 years ago.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nClose to 20; but he took us all over there and it was amazing because we were introduced as the American-Pollock. \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\n(Laughing)…..So Ann, tell me about your family.  We know where the Chudy’s come from; so, tell me about your family.  How did your family….where is your family from and what was your maiden name?\n\nAnn Chudy: My maiden name was Shaw and I was born in Conway, Arkansas.  My father was in school at what was called “Teacher’s College” and then, he went to Fayetteville and got his degree from there.  Then, he went to teach school in Oden, Arkansas and from Oden, we moved to Norman; from Norman we moved to Arkadelphia, which he was then in charge of the Federal Housing Bureau.  Then from there, we moved to Rison, Arkansas and after Rison, I came to Little Rock and was glad to do it.\n\n   \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nWell, you did hit a lot of small towns. \n\nAnn Chudy: Yes, I did.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nHow many brothers and sisters do you have?\n\nAnn Chudy: There were four; three…uh…\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nTwo sisters and one brother.\n\nAnn Chudy: Two sisters and a brother; there were four of us.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nDid they make it to adulthood as well?\n\nAnn Chudy: They made it too.  My sister, older than I am., is the same age as Honey and she is still living; the rest of them are deceased.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nOk; tell me about your schooling.  Where did you do your schooling?  \n\nAnn Chudy: I went to the University for an x-ray technician and then, I was there treating all their cancer patients…I did…. \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nWas this in Fayetteville or here in Little Rock?\n\nAnn Chudy: For Dr. Rhinehart and Raymark… \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nOh my goodness, I remember hearing those names.\n\nAnn Chudy: Yes; you remember those names?\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nOf course, I do.\n\nAnn Chudy: I even worked for Ed Gray for a short time and then, I retired to have a baby; that was the last that I worked for…except I worked for him.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nAlright…now we’re back to high school; you graduated high school and got….well, let’s back up a little bit..What kind of interests did you have?  I get the impression by listening to you talk and reading about the Chudy family that the Chudys were laborers; is that correct?\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nYes.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nEverything that you’ve said so far blends into that.  At what point did you start saying in the back of your mind, “I want to go into medicine” or “I want to do something besides being a laborer.” Not that there is anything wrong with that; but you wanted to do something else.  You knew you were smart. \n\n Dr. Amail Chudy: \n\nI was in the seminary.\n\nAnn Chudy: \n\nIn the seminary; no, honey….\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nLet me finish, please...\n\nAnn Chudy: Ok…\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nI had never dated and there was one of the churches in Little Rock that had a little party of coffee and caffeine drinks and I saw something that I never realized would happen; she was warm, beautiful, wonderful dancer….a really wonderful girl.  We dated single and when I went into the military, I think we were talking about if I got home, we could pick up there and go.  When I got home, she had married one of my very best friends and I just said, “To heck with it.” Getting into college, at that time, you really had to have some help; somebody that was going to give you money or somebody who was going to help pay the bills.  Little Rock Junior College, I knew it was there, and at that time I was thinking about medicine.  We were doing really well and I was in the lab work in anatomy with a young man who was going in to be a doctor.  I was thinking about going in to be an animal doctor…\n\nAnn Chudy: Veterinary medicine.  \n\n  \n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nVeterinarian medicine and I say this without being quoted, “Why are you going to be a slave laborer when you could be the President?” and I thought, “I see what you mean; I should go all in to be a doctor or a physician...that’s great.”  So, I said, “Ok” and I began to make my thoughts of getting into….oh, let’s go back; I brought my oldest brother who was home to be sure and register me, so I could go to school there because I knew it was hard to get in.\n\n     \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nThis is Little Rock Junior College?\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nLittle Rock Junior College; I was there two years and I was…knowing that I had to get someplace else...it was wonderful and I had great teachers, it was a wonderful school, straight “As”.…everything was marvelous.  But, I finally realized that being in medical school was for four years…four more years; that’s all the…I don’t have the money.  But, we had a GI bill and so, I….my monsignor priest over the school, over the State of Arkansas, was a very good friend of mine and he was there at Catholic High….but I had to go through one of the priests, which I did, to get information… I said, “There is a great school at St. Louis…“St. Louis U” another Catholic school… can you help me?” and he said, “What do you want?” and I said, “I’d like for you to give me some kind of writing or something that I could go present myself to try to go there.” He picked up the phone and talked to a man, his best friend was the head priest at St. Louis U….I was into a program that’s so much of what I had taken before, which was not transferrable back then; so, I had to redo so much of it.  I finally got into the position where they said, “You’re going to have to work your bottom off to keep this up to go to medical school.”  I did not hear any return on the class I was being formed that I couldn’t get into…it just said, “You’re pretty close, but it’s there.”  There was one hour a week in college that was for 4-5 all stacked together; they told me where I was going to study and what I was going to be studying.  I was going to study with a bunch of Monks and I stopped in the chapel, which is a great big church right downtown St. Louis. When I got home to the reporting house, the phone was ringing and I answered the phone and she said, “Is there someone there by the name of Chudy?”  I said, “Yes, ma’am; that’s me” and she said, “How would you like to go to medical school?” I said, “I’ll set a rosary and I’d dance….that was my entry there.\n\n     \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nAbout what year was that?  \n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\n’40….we got out at ’44, ’46….early ’50…it was early ‘50s.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nOk; I want to go back as there was one question that I had…I saw a reference to this somewhere and it was about the time you spent in the Air Force; you flew in the airplanes, right?  Were you a pilot yourself? \n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nNo; let’s go back to then because….\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nI don’t mean to interrupt you, but I want to get….I saw this written somewhere and I wanted to see….\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nI appreciate it; it’s kind of hard….I was going into the Air Force and that’s why I went into the Air Force; but, I spent a week in Texas and it was miserable.  We spent one week taking every kind of test: written, contract, drawing…everything to be able to get into the cadet program.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nYeah; they were trying to establish your aptitude-type thing; sure.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nWe worked on it and worked on it and the commanding officer of our group, who was a wonderful person, on Friday evening, after the last day there, he said, “Gentleman, I hate to tell you; but, the program is closed.”  We said, “What does that mean?” and he said, “It ain’t the Air Force cadets anymore” and I said, “Well, what are my choices?” and he said, “You can retire, or reserve, and you can then be drafted into the military” and I said, “No, I’ll go into the Air Force.”  So, I stayed there another week doing almost the same thing to get into the cadets, but not quite as stiff.  I became a gunner and the B-17 was “the big one” of the thing back then and there was…..underneath the ship was my position.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nYeah, that’s what I was hinting for…the most dangerous position in a B-17.\n\nAnn Chudy: That’s right.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nOf course part of it was; the very first day I flew in that bulb, there were no toilet facilities and we would go out to the area where the bomb were and we’d just crack the door open to pee and then, close it back up…the act for me to pee, I was frozen for and I said, “To heck with this.”  Gunner school was really great and we were up flying and then, I was moved to Florida.  There were two bases there, one now in Florida, and two great big men called me in to interview me.  I just kept saying, “What the hell do they want?” and finally they said, “We’re going to keep you and you’re going into the specialists.”  We were at Clarksdale, Shreveport and after the two men interviewed me, I was told that I would probably be a gunner and it looked like the gunner, this time, on the next ship…I can’t remember the number… the big boy…was on top; the central fire control.  So, I was the central fire control.  We were a wonderful group in our barracks, who were all by ourselves, and all of us were trying to figure out what was going to really happen.  Some of them were guessing and saying just everything…we were flying, we came home, landed, and we were disheveled… we went through all kinds of written questions on what we did and filled it out.  The question was, “Are you aware that we dropped a bomb and destroyed a city?” I said, “Hell no, that’s impossible.”  There were two crews, one at Clarksdale and one someplace in California, and it had got down to two teams out of the two groups…when they finished talking to us about the one city destroyed by a bomb….they said, “That could’ve been your group; but, they were better than you are.” \n\n              \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nFor once, coming in second wasn’t a bad thing; was it?…. (laughing)….. \n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nAbsolutely….absolutely…..then, I was sent from Clarksdale to a city, an Air Force base, on the eastern coast and I said, “Where are we going?”…”None of your business”….”Where are we going?”...”Shut up, none of your business”…”Ok.”….So, I discovered that I would be going to someplace in Europe, still with the Air Force.  I was there; I got there as the runways were just cracking because they had just been bambood with the trucks. We were put up in the barracks that were military officers and we got there and……..Thanksgiving day in Plymouth, England, we got in a boat and went across the channel, this was where all the things were still there...the big balls were in the water; we hit them, exploded, and fell like this.  We got to First Philbrook into France and there was something that was rare ….I didn’t realize what a pleasure it was… seemed like everywhere I went, I was assigned to the topic; but I said, “hell, these guys have got to have us something to do”…so, we were four days and four nights; you’ve heard of 40 and 8?\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nUh huh…\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nThat was me…we had five partners and we got in…I was in charge of the food, which was packs… all the way down from north to south, there was a hole that big and it snowed all the time; I almost froze to death.  That was when we ended up, after all the time, at First Phillbrook, which was the roof office, big school.  The _____ were burning and the ships were just a day ahead of us and it was cold; man cold.  But we all prayed for it to freeze, because we walked a mile to eat, which was no problem.  Our commanding officer was 28 years old….the next morning, we were having breakfast and we ate with the officers, which was very unusual, and they said, “How would you boys like to go to Africa?”…..”When?”….”Why?”…”Let’s go”…and so, we flew in our 17s from there to a little town in France at….gosh…anyway, we got there and when we landed, the boys were playing softball in their skippies, just their shorts.  Then, they said, “You are assigned to ship-104” but, it was…..\n\nAnn Chudy: “__________”\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\n__________; thank you.  Anyways, we were in a position where we were flying over Spain and Portugal and there were no flags and no maps that where of any value at all.  That 17 had a hole right on the bottom, on the back of it, another one I didn’t want to.  We were flying all over and our flight officer was 22 years old.  In the little town that was there, we wanted to go up and see what it looked like from our French binoculars, French binoculars were there, and we got into the town with two buildings, Mary August that we were going through shouted “hold on” and then, he tilted it sideways….Well….\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nDid you have any close calls in terms of being shot at or under fire at all?\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nNo; no sir. I was just riding behind it.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nSo you came back and went to Little Rock Junior College, then you went to St. Louis University, and then got into medical school; about what year was it that you started medical school?\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nI graduated in ’49; wasn’t it….the late ‘40s?\n\nAnn Chudy: Yeah….\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nThen, I was there and the military had taken over a building that was kind of a night club and the first sergeant was being discharged; the #1 officer and the #2 officers called me in and said, “We need to talk to you” and I said, “ok, what you guys got?” and they said, “We want you to stay here and we’ll put you up as Master Sergeant.”  I said, “Hold on; I’m not staying in the military. I’m going home to go to school” and we went back and forth for an hour and I finally just said, “No, I’m not going to do it; I need to go home and go to school.”\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nThank you; but, no thank you.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nThen, that’s when I went to Little Rock Junior College.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nTell me about medical school…… first of all, let’s go back just o little bit…I keep taking you back to things….were there any medical people in your life as a kid; doctors that you remember ?\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nLooking back over it, I was kind of the doctor of the kids that got hit with something or…. \n\n  \n\nAnn Chudy: Dr. Burns.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nThere were two older doctors here in town….\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nNorth Little Rock wasn’t a very big place then; was it?\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nNo, you’re absolutely correct.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nIt didn’t have a hospital, but you had a couple of doctors.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nTrue and that’s how I got….. through medical school and interned at the old St. Vincent’s Hospital.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nDid you know…oh, what was his name; the guy who they named a dorm after….oh, Jeff Banks? Was he one of your teachers?\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nYes.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nWas he a good teacher?\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nJesus; he was Jesus…but my first exam that I took, I bombed out so completely and he called me in and says, “Boy, you made a 38; that won’t work.  What are you going to do about it?” I’m sure I was biting my teeth at that time….so then, I got to where he and I were very good friends again and that’s when I was able to get a hold of it and see.  The worst part of the program, the medical part of it, was with a physician who was imminent, a know all, and traveled all over the world; he taught us 30 minutes in my four years.  The residents should have been murdered; they were the king of everything and they lied to us to make it difficult for you…they called you a jackass, “you can’t make that grade”….and I thought, “I’ll show you.”\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nWorking 36 hours at a time; yeah right….so were there any of those residents, or teachers, that stand out to you as being good teachers or that really had an impact on you?\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nJeff Banks; Jeff Banks, I think was Jesus…with all due respect.  He was very well liked.  He had a kidney problem and would come in and lay on his back and we knew that we weren’t going to get a course or lecture we were doing; we were going to hear by the old man how it hurts.\n\n        \n\n\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nI had someone tell me at one point that Jeff Banks would know your name within the week of school starting.  He’d know every new kid in the class; their first name.  Do you remember that?  I remember somebody telling me that and it’s really; they’re not tiny classes!  They were pretty significant classes. \n\nSo at what point; I know you finished there and did an internship at St. Vincent, what informed your decision to go to St. Vincent’s? Oh no…we got to go back, got to go back, got to go back…..in your sophomore year, the end of the year party that everybody has…you go to the party at Robinson Auditorium….\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nI know where you are going….\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\n(Laughing)….I want to hear this story….  \n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nWe were on a quarter-system and at the end of that, the whole school went to a dance party at the old Robinson building; they had it refurbished and everything just to hold the dance there.  Two other boys were not going and we were sitting there and I said, “Well, let’s go ahead and go to the dance; we might know someone down yonder.” So, we went and all three of us sat down at the table and the boys and their dates were kind of coming and going dancing.  This was in the days when they were wearing petticoats, the three layers kind of deal; I sat there and I said, “Boy, I wish I knew her.” So, Doug Lowery, up there right on the river was a classmate of mine; he’s still living and I said, “Doug, that lady that you were dancing with, are you real close to her?” and he said, “No, we’re just friends.”  I said, “Would you object to me dating her?” …Lets back up; when they were coming back to the table from the tune, someone sat in my lap….\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\n(Laughing)\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nAnd said, “Who are you?”….that’s the point of the meeting and this is where she won’t let that story be true….it’s absolutely true; Jesus Christ was there.”\n\n \n\nAnn Chudy: \n\nHe pulled me into his lap.\n\n(Laughing)\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nWe started dating and it was; if I can get with her, we’d be gone for an hour…we’d go get a place for a cup of coffee and a drive in…nickel and a cup of coffee.\n\n       \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nAt this time, you were an x-ray tech?\n\nAnn Chudy: \n\nNo, I was in school, finishing up.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nThen, it got to where I didn’t even bother to call her for a date; I’d just day, “I got some places to bond and we should go” and we’d go.\n\nAnn Chudy: For 10 cents, we would go to the Blue Goose and have coffee or something.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nCoffee; nickel a cup.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nNow, what’s your version of the story?\n\nAnn Chudy: Well, he pulled me in his lap.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nOk…..(Laughing)….  \n\nAnn Chudy: And so, that’s what….\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nShe didn’t mind it…\n\nAnn Chudy: He was a wonderful dancer and we danced a whole bunch.  The guy I was with, I kind of let him go.\n\nAnn Chudy \n\n(Laughing)…\n\nHe knew that from that time on, he wasn’t in the picture. \n\n  \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nNow, ya’ll had been married 4-5 years after that….when you came back from Louisiana right?\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nI had one year of residency in Monroe, Louisiana.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nTalk a little bit about that, your internship at St. Vincent’s first and then talk a little bit about your residency down there.  \n\n         \n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nI felt like I was a damn good doctor, but I didn’t quite feel like I could put the thing in the: 1, 2, 3, A, B, C...  One of the boys drove down to Monroe and came back very pleased with the program.  He and I had been talking and he was kind of feeling like me; we felt like we were polished, but we weren’t shined.  So, I wrote and asked permission to go for my residence there and we drove down to Monroe, Louisiana.  We got just north of Monroe; it was kind of warm, we didn’t have an air conditioner, and the odor was horrendous.  She looked at me, I looked at her, and we wondered who needed the toilet paper.  It was the paper mill across the river there.\n\n \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nYeah.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nMonroe was wonderful, because we had residents of the chief level there with us.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nHow big a hospital was it?\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nUh, 150 to 150.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nHow many of you guys were in this GP residency?\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\n12; well, it was at 14 and 2 dropped out….but, we got off the track a little bit…there was myself and Dr. Gray who gave me the green light and everything to go and we had wonderful teachers.  I remember so well, there was this great big healthy, looking like a giant, black man hanging around the corridor; he got his appendix out.  I looked and looked and asked, “Have you had surgery?” he asked, “What’s that?” I said, “Have you been operated on?” “Yeah, I had this taken out.”… The resident was a horse’s ass and I said, “Please help me” and he said, “What do you want me to do?” I said, “Do not tell him you had an appendectomy and see what he does.”  He said, “Young man, I’ll help you.”  Sure enough, I got the resident to come in and fill out question work and he started feeling around...he said, ”Boy, you’ve got to have your appendix out” the patient said, “Is that going to hurt?” and he said, “Not much but you’d better get it done” and they went back and forth and back and forth until finally the black man says, “Is you a doctor?” and the resident was pissed off completely…he told the surgeon, “See that scar; that’s my appendix.” One night, I delivered four sets of twins.\n\n \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nWow; that’s got to be a record.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nAnother night, there were four……..\n\nAnn Chudy: Surgeries….\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nC-sections?\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nC-sections; yeah.\n\nAnn Chudy: C-Sections\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nThere were four that I did in one night. So, we had a……\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nA lot of experience.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nA lot of experience.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nThat’s good.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nIt was very unusual there; that still goes back to the queen’s boyfriend that did all that in Louisiana to build the ole hospital and hospitals all over. One boy was there, but he just wasn’t coherent with everything else.  He was on duty…well, there were four of us actually on duty: surgery, medicine, OB, and etc…and they brought this black man in on Friday which was a bloody mess.  His buddy had a razor and he cut him like he was going to have slices of him.  The young man that was doing the suturing finally was getting quite fretful, he was ready to get out of it, and he came by and said, “are you going to help me?” and I said, “Hell, no; I didn’t ask that you prove who the _______was”…that’s what we had…but, it was great and now, they’ve built a new hospital.  These were all sub-hospitals of the big hospital in New Orleans…\n\nAnn Chudy: Charity.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nOf course, it’s drowned out now.  \n\n      \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nSo you had a really good experience in Monroe with a lot of experience, a lot of work, a lot of OB, a lot of surgery….. \n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nYeah for $200 a month.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\n(Laughing)…Yeah, ok; so all of that happens and your decision at this point is, “I’m going to be a general practitioner.”  Where there ever any questions of whether you were going to come back to North Little Rock?\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nNo sir, I had that way back. I was a country boy and I was more comfortable where I was to do that and so no, I didn’t.  The only grateful thing of it was that when I was finishing my residency, I got home and Ann had rented an apartment to live in.  She had rented one side of a…..\n\nAnn Chudy: Duplex\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nA duplex and it was on 17th and Main and it was just….\n\nAnn Chudy: 1703 Main Street in North Little Rock.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nIt was just a nickels worth if you’d just walk across the railroad track…I was extremely fortunate, I was the youngest doctor of all over and we had a big organization that belonged to a lady.  I addressed her as “him” to this guy one day and she says, “I’m a her”…..she was a heavy smoker.  But, I was way out at East Little Rock and I was over here and over there; I paid them because I hadn’t my gas to get there and back.  But, it wasn’t anytime that we had enough money that I borrowed money and built a clinic; it was marvelous.  \n\n    \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\n I think I saw somewhere that you borrowed $2000 to set up the practice.\n\nAnn Chudy: Oh, that was the lady down the street; we borrowed it from his best friend’s mom.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nOk.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nThat was the German crew.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nYeah, ok.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nShe was the Levy our oldest daughter; we gave the name of Eva Levy.  The lady from Germany was the mother of the boy that was so good in high school; he ended up with a PHD.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nDoes the name and her first name completely escapes me; but she was the night nurse at…once __________ Memorial got built and she was a public health worker….Steinmetz……\n\nAnn Chudy: Oh, you know, she was…\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nVera; was it Vera?\n\nAnn Chudy: No, uh…\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: Steinmetz is all I remember; she was THE nurse.\n\nAnn Chudy: Steinmetz…\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nOh absolutely; she was the mother of one of my really good friends, Tucker Steinmetz.\n\nAnn Chudy: Oh…yeah....\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nShe was the mother and I knew her well into her 90s.  \n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nShe was brilliant and….\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nAnd they lived down here close to Dark Hollow.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: Yes.\n\nAnn Chudy: Uh huh; why can’t I remember…?\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nHer husband worked for the Gazette.  He was a type setter for the Gazette.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nI knew it was the paper, but I didn’t know which one.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nAt some point, I read that you were determined and I get the impression that you were a man of sometimes strong opinions…..\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nVery….\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: (Laughing)….and that you were determined that there was going to be a hospital in North Little Rock; tell me about that.  When did you realize that that was going to be one of your jobs to make sure that there was a hospital in North Little Rock? \n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nThe pharmacist that we became friends with, and I mean I did not work there, and one other person said, “We need a hospital” and it didn’t go over.  The people really were thinking about that I go back to Big Baptist and we fought back and forth, back and forth and then, you had to get some money.  Back then they had, and I forget the name of it, but you had to apply for permission to build a hospital.  \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nHill Burton?\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nSir?\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nWas it Hill Burton?\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nIt was the government…\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nYeah, it was Hill Burton Funds; the Hill Burton Hospitals that, I think, you’re referring to.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nYeah, absolutely; we finally had, gosh I don’t know, how many meetings and the…I talked in this high school here and the crowd got bigger and bigger and bigger and finally, they realized that we needed a hospital.  It would take me; I got up at 4am to go to St. Vincent’s where I had most of my patients and I spent 30 minutes to get from one side of the bridge, over the bridge, and then, go towards the lights to get there”…that was rough.  They finally decided to do it then and we were kind of in a comfort place.  Our hospital administrator was a first class horse’s ass, he had it his way or no way, and we had almost blood fights; well, he finally listened to us and the man at Big Baptist was “the man” …they finally put it over to the side; but, it was a long fight.\n\nAnn Chudy: Well, the Air Base came in ….remember ….and you and…\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nYes.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nThat was Gilbreath, at Baptist; Gilbreath.…\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nYes; we had…the Air Base was just opening and there were no dwellings at all on the base.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nSo the people lived here in North Little Rock?\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nYes; some on them lived all over and was scattered out.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nWow...\n\nAnn Chudy: Most of them lived here in North Little Rock and Sherwood.\n\n \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nHuh, how big was Jacksonville at that point or was it just a little tiny village?\n\nAnn Chudy: Uh, Jacksonville was just little.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nYeah.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nThey were wonderful doctors. \n\nAnn Chudy: Uh, Crow…\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nThey were damn good doctors.\n\nAnn Chudy: Was it two doctors in Jacksonville; Crow and….\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nThe broken leg that Bill….\n\nAnn Chudy: Bill Derman, but that was after because Bill Derman was younger than them…\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nThen, they really decided that they would do their work and we would do our work; but, the biggest problem we had was people would say, “I want to go to St. Vincent’s” or “I want to go to Baptist.”   Even if I said, “No” …apparently, they went and if they called my name, I had to go see them.  But God was great to us, we really came back and worked to put that building up; I built it for four doctors.\n\nAnn Chudy: You and Casey; Casey Lehman…..\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nCasey Lehman; yes.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nLehman; Ok, the Mayor...\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nCasey was 20 years younger....\n\nAnn Chudy: Casey Lehman helped you and John Lehman was his brother... \n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nYeah\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nNow was John a doctor?\n\nAnn Chudy: Yeah.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nSo one brother was a doctor and one was the Mayor; is that right?   Was John Lehman was a doctor?\n\nAnn Chudy: John Lehman was the doctor and his brother was the Mayor of North Little Rock for….how many years?\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nBoy, I remember that name.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nAs far as I can remember… I remember going to the doctor and we just walked right in, no one was in there, and they did a bunch of feeling around on me and dad said….\n\nAnn Chudy: Was that Dr. Burns?\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nBurns was there then; the older Dr. Burns was a part of North Little Rock at Burns Park.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nOk\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nAnd his son was a Board Surgeon, but he got to drinking and drugging and couldn’t find his way out the door; but, we were there anyway.  But I remember there was no one in the reception room and the doctor was sitting on the porch in a rocking chair smoking a cigarette when we went in.  He punched around on me and he said, “He’s got worms and it needs to be treated.” I said, “What does that do?” ….I had to take an enema…\n\nAnn Chudy: Old Dr. Church….Old Dr. Church….\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nYeah, but my mother was giving me enemas when I was in the teens…\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nEnemas must have been the cure for everything back in those days; they were the cure for everything, because I had the same experience with my dear mother.\n\n  \n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nBut later on, I had another round of it and dad was with the railroad; so, he took me over to the old Missouri City Railroad Hospital….\n\nAnn Chudy: Peter Thomas…\n\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nI knew Peter Thomas.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nPeter Thomas; yeah, 94 or 95 working still at the hospital.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nIs he still working?\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nOh no; he’s gone.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nOh, I thought I had…\n\nAnn Chudy: No, he died a long time ago.  He was old, but he wasn’t….\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: It feels like we dropped in a hole someplace; but where, I don’t know…\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nIt seems like from what I’ve been able to read, ok, that very quickly after you came back to Arkansas and finished in ’53 or ’54….you joined the Arkansas Academy of General Practice.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nUh huh…\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nVery early….\n\nAnn Chudy: Right; Tommy Hunnicutt and ….\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nThere was not many and we had four black doctors, male, and that’s when it wasn’t in…..and I was president because I had decided that we needed to get the people together and say, “What’s going on here?”  But off the record, we were able to have a meeting with Tom Smith coming in, taking him to one of our homes and had a meal; we were smart enough not to put anything in writing, but we said, “An average office visit is $3.00” and we kind of walked through what we felt like…he was going to have to be with the rest of us.  Then, I joined the family practice way back there; I was….\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nI first started seeing your name appear in ’53 or ’54; somewhere along in there.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nI was 13 years in the Academy and again, I was one of those lucky guys who got to have a wonderful job and so, went to all of the meetings.  There were wonderful people; I got to know people from all over the world there.  I was 20 years as being the Speaker of the House of Delegates for the State Medical Society.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nSo you were active in the State Medical Society in addition to the Arkansas Academy of General Practice?\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nYes sir.\n\nAnn Chudy: I’m thinking; didn’t you join…. when you finished your residency in Monroe, didn’t you join or wasn’t that when you signed up for the Family Practice or they were trying to start the family Practice…?\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nYes, it was.\n\nAnn Chudy: Because we were just married or barely married.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nTrue.  \n\n \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nOk, you’re talking ….are you talking about the General Practice Residency at the Med Center?  Because they started one in the late ‘50s or ‘early 60s there; it didn’t last very long, but….\n\nAnn Chudy: It was ’55; no, when he graduated….”\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nThey built the new building that was there; now, that was much…\n\nAnn Chudy: Later.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nLater; and then, I was with the…\n\n\nAnn Chudy: I think it was ’55 when they approached…\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nI was with the State Medical Society and I was there fall to see 1, 2, 3, and 4…grand; the whole months…and some of it was good and some of it was piss poor to be honest.  So, I...there was another lucky thing; someone rang my bell that I should be Speaker of the House and I said, “I’ve only been here for just a short time. I don’t think I have the time to pull it off, because I’m trying to feed my business and get it started.”  Well, it’s been 20 years being the Speaker of the House of Delegates.\n\nAnn Chudy: It only lasted 20 years.\n\n(Laughing)\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nAnd it got to the point there….Lets go back to the Academy…I was an officer and we worked very nicely; then all of the sudden, I said, “There’s lots of things here that should be done that we can all do if we worked together. You’ve got four black men that need the clearing to go to the hospital.”  There was a black hospital….\n\n    \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nThey just didn’t have privileges….\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nThere was a black hospital. I was Vice Speaker and we went to the first meeting, as being a Vice Speaker and the speaker had a…I think he had an appendectomy blow up and he said, “Will you take this over?” and I said, “I guess so.”  So, then I got more and more interested in the facility of the medical realm; whether it ought to be a doctor, nurse, lab, the good…someone on the gate up front….we be as good as doctors as we can and then, we can share it to get it over with.  When we had the four black doctors, two of them were wonderful; the other two were pitiful. But, I was fighting my classmates, “You’re not allowed to let that ‘n’ in here” and I said, “That’s a doctor….let’s get him in here.”   \n\n \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nDr. Jackson was one of the good ones; I can’t remember his first name, but he was still around in the ‘70s.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nYeah; there was another one …I can’t remember...\n\nAnn Chudy: Fish?\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nFish; yeah, I thought he was a little older.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nFish was older; he was a great big fellow and always wore a tie and…but, I guess that brings us up……then when we into the clinic, it was marvelous because I had wonderful nursing people; the girl on the table out front who worked things in was a saint and it just got gooder, and gooder, and gooder.  The lab was a lady in our parish that had suffered with Polio when she was smaller…\n\nAnn Chudy: ______\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nYeah and later in life, she had the adult’s Polio; whatever that was called….\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nPost Polio Syndrome.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nSo, I had a wonderful thing and the only problem was that I was putting too much time in medicine and the physician part of it in the whole state; I needed help.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nYeah…..let me back up just a little bit…I noticed something very interesting looking at all the archived records that when you first came back, you obviously showed up almost immediately, you were appointed to committees, you were chairman of this committee and chairman of….for about a year and a half to two years at the Academy and then you disappeared for about four or five years.  I thought to myself when I was reading that, “He’s building a practice.” (Laughing) He is working his butt off building a practice. \n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nWell, my overall….\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nNow, it was also the Arkansas Medical Society; wasn’t it?\n\nAnn Chudy: Uh huh.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: Yes.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nYou were involved with that.\n\n\nAnn Chudy: He was involved with that.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nI was there for 20 years.  My oldest daughter was a single child and I was coming in from a delivery at 4:00 or 4:30 and Ann was going to take her out to eat.  “As our family, you’re doing a good job; but, we’ve got to help Levy.”  Levy is the most unusual girl in the world; she never said, “I want” or “I need” and if you were ready to give her a gift, she may be humble saying, “I don’t need that.”  The telephone was right inside the door and I had a call; that’s before we had the radios that we used in the car, the car radios for a while…we were meeting at the door, the phone rang, I answered it, and it was OB.  I said, “Damn it; I have to go in for a delivery.”  Levy, who I love dearly, crushed me into a man.  I said, “I’ll be back as soon as I can, but I have to go deliver a baby.” Bruce Schratz was there; he was leaving as he was working 24/7 and I was working 24/7; so, the wives got together and said, “Why don’t he work for you; Bruce Schratz?” and then, we went off from there.  But Levy, to this day, would give you the skin off her back.\n\n     \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nSo when did Bill Mack join in?\n\nAnn Chudy: Bill Mack came in; let’s see Bruce came in….\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nBruce came in first and we were 50/50, so to speak; then, we had….\n\nAnn Chudy: Melvin came in like three or four years…. \n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nMelvin, then, came in and it was much better because it was every third night.  Then, the man right across the street from where our building is, at the pharmacy had a nephew that was graduating from St. Vincent’s and asked “You got a chance for a good doctor; what do you want to do?\n\n  \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nWas this Buford?\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nBuford, yeah; I made arrangements and he said, “How much you going to pay me?” and I said, “Well, probably $40,000” and he said, “You’ve got to go a little higher” but, we didn’t and then, it was really nice because you knew that you were going to be off on Monday, or you could go to the dance, or go to church.\n\n \n\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nAbout when was this?  What time was it that you recruited two to three guys and your life got a little bit more reasonable?\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nWell, let’s see...\n\nAnn Chudy: You retired when you were sixty….\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nThe 28th of September, but what was the year? \n\nAnn Chudy: Yeah, he didn’t work but about a year after Buford came in.  It was at the time when the last big push for government…that you couldn’t do or couldn’t make some kind of decisions that he said, “I’m out of here.”   \n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nI was very fortunate when we had the four people, but it was not the best of relationships.  It wasn’t nasty or it wasn’t bad, but I looked in the mirror and found out I was the old man that was a lot of the topic and everything.\n\n(Laughing)\n\n So, we had a minor argument; it wasn’t much, but I already talked about retiring and was taking care of the stuff.  Things were getting where there was too much of not producing and not putting medicine where it should be and I made some kind of remark that I thought it was time that we bring this out.  In fact, I had talked to a psychologist who was in practice over here and I said, “We’ve got a problem and you know all four of us well; would you come down at your leisure and work it out; we’re so sorry.  I have yet rated ________ at this point and I went to Byron Highsman to fill out some papers for something with the taxes, I don’t remember, and I asked him, “What would a letter of retirement make?”  So, he says, “Here’s a pretty good one” and when that little sparkle went off with one or the other group, I stood and said, “I retire” and they said, “you can’t do it” and I said, “I will give you time to fill that hole; but if it takes too long, I’m out.”  Now the first HMO in the Little Rock area, Tom Smith; it was about five of us physicians who decided that we really needed to do something so that when the HMO comes in, we can put something into the bucket that belongs to us and would listen to us.  They had the HMO with that office in Baptist and here comes that bell again that says, “We need you”.  I said, “What’s this?” and they said, “We want you to be the medical director.”  So, I left; I didn’t not leave until the new flesh of younger was coming in and once he was there I said, “I’m leaving” and they said, “No, you’re not; you can’t do that” and I said, “Nothing to it; but, I wanted you to hear this.”  So, I stayed seven years with the HMO Medical Director and it was kind of tough to be able to go to one of my friends, acquaintances, enemies that they were doing something wrong and my job was to say, “No, no; you can’t do that.”  Then, I went to work…I don’t remember; one of the girls in the medical office made some remark about “I hear you’re looking for a job” and I said, “Well, I could use one” and they said, “We need you at the VA medical office”…….$14.00 an hour….”    \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\n(Laughing)……Ok.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nIt got to where it was me being the horse’s ass and the other part there and so, I said, “to the heck with it” and so, that’s when I went to the military.  The doctor was a flight surgeon at the base from Texas; he was from the country, a straight cut, wonderful, wonderful family practitioner, but a damn good doctor.  They said, “Why don’t you go talk to him?”  So, I called him and we visited about 15-20 minutes and he said, “Why don’t you come and sign these papers?”  We got along real good; he was in family medicine in Texas and had registered for medical school, paid them $100, and he didn’t get in.  But his secretary got in as a what’s the one below that……where they can come into the medical practice?\n\n  \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nPhysician assistant...nurse practitioner…..?\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nNo …no; it’s the doctor who has the title …he doesn’t have a degree …..a PO.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nOh, I don’t know.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nAnyway, he was there from there; but basically he retired and we had a marvelous time.  He was about as country as anybody I’ve ever known.  But, it was a pleasure; I learned more from that ole toot and then, we hired two more men.  We ended up having just three anesthesiologists that had retired.  When the doctor that I was so proud of said he was going to retire…. his wife was horribly ill and I bet her doctor bill must have been zillions of dollars at the military base….one of the anesthesiologist that you probably don’t know was walking through and that horse’s ass that they got to take over grabbed whoever the anesthesiologist was and said, “Boy, come back here.”  He looked around and said, “Mr. _____ just left.”  Well, it ended up that there was another surgeon, Argo…amen…and he’s still there; they ended up with the youngest man there is the one that fills the vacancy, but I left the clinic.\n\n   \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nLet’s go back and talk about your time in the Arkansas Academy of Family Physicians and some of the people that you worked with during that time; starting in the late ‘50s to the time when you were President.  There were two or three things going on; they started a general practice residency at the medical center….do you remember much about that?\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nNo, because it was an entity and we didn’t put anything in; we wouldn’t put anything in the pot without it running over to the hospital there.  Of course, the Dean was an Arkansans graduate and a brilliant, brilliant, man.  He could handle anybody; he had the smoothest way of working it through…”Yes, it is; it’s going to work.  It’s your job.”  At that time, we had the Academy of Family Medicine with threes…at first, we had the three initials and then, we got a fellowship, and then, we got the board.  The Board started out nice….but, I say, “I’ll take a look at it; but, I don’t think I’m going to do it.”  We went to New Orleans and back and _________ broken, it just fell apart and I said, “That’s just not for me.”  At that time then, we were getting more and more active and we had a considerable crowd for our state meeting.  I said….\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nNow you were pretty well involved by the mid to late ‘60s with planning for scientific meetings and putting those together; I mean you were Chairman of that committee for a number of years.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nWell, unfortunately, it was five.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\n(Laughing) …..Ok, you know exactly how long it was.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nWell, I was very fortunate because we had five physicians come in to present; “I’ll take the job and try to be there… I’m not real interested” so there we were again; but, as I said there was a hole in medicine and I’m not saintly and I’m not an angel, but I think I played a great part in filling in some of the holes there.  Tom Honeycutt, do you remember Tom?\n\n   \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nUh Huh.\n\nAnd Sue.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nGod love him, he said,”You need to be a….. what did he call it….?\n\nAnn Chudy: Charter?\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nThe people that go off to the national meetings?\n\nAnn Chudy: Oh, the representative to the delegates…\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nYeah; delegates….thank you and then, the same thing happened to the Little Rock group and then the same thing happened with the state.  I think at one time, I could’ve given you the name, rank, and serial number…\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nThat’s ok, I’ve got all the names and ranks; I’m just interested in your take on it.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nThere were some wonderful, wonderful, doctors and then, there were some that you really wanted to say, “Do you really think you’re a doctor and do you really think you take care of these people.”  We had a situation; I was unfortunately chairman of the hospital committee this year and we had a physician from New York that came here and he was illiterate.  He was stupid and he was dangerous and I said, “I’m going to have to have some help, because a lot of the doctors are sending doctors to him and they think he is having ________”   We had a meeting and I was doing a lot of the embroidery saying it was something to do with wondering thoughts and he left.  He was an ENT and he did a biopsy and the biopsy was the brain; well, that fell into my lap since I was the chairman of the hospital at that time.  I enjoyed the people and I enjoyed…it was a game that was a pleasure for me, but it was something to make it easier because the first 13 years of a solo practice…..  \n\n \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nRough.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nI’ll say, “Too _____, too _______.”  We traveled immensely; we’ve been all over the world and I wish we’d just said, “We left such and such and from the date to date.\n\nAnn Chudy: We’ve got some documentation up there; we just haven’t looked at it in a long time.\n\n Dr. Amail Chudy: \n\nWe’ve been to Germany, we’ve been to France three times, four times to Italy, and then, it just keeps going.  But when we had those meetings, it was a very interesting thing and you really met and got some good speakers.  A person can be a darn good physician, but to present it….our hearts says, “Where the hell did he come from?”\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nLet’s talk about a couple of the people that you seem to, looking at the paperwork and from what I remember, you seemed to work closely with…..Dr. Quatae…..\n\nAnn Chudy: Oh yeah.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nWeren’t you two; y’all seem to be running buddies there for a while.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nQuatae was a good businessman and I think his family was selling oriental rugs.  He was a good physician and then, he had some kind of a problem; it was litigation.  The story was that there was a multi-million dollar settlement and he just said, “I quit.” But, he was very active in the jobs that we’ve talked about and very active in Fort Smith.  Then, he took in a doctor from North Little Rock that was born and raised here and so, he was working with someone and he was there.   I don’t remember what it was, but rumors were it was a multi-million dollar settlement and shortly after that, he went south; health-wise.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nDid you have much dealings with Falk Richardson or was he just slightly before your time?\n\nAnn Chudy: Falk Richardson from…….\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nFayetteville….\n\nAnn Chudy: From Fayetteville; honey….Dr. Falk Richardson…..\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nThe non-doctor?\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nNo, the doctor; he was one of the original founders along with Robbins….\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nOh, you’re talking about that two doctors in….. \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nIn Camden; Bob Roberts or B.G….Robert from Camden, Dr. Cobb…..\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nOh, Dr. Cobb; everybody knew him.\n\nAnn Chudy: Robinson was from Dumas or Dumont; Dumas….\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nThere was a time that the group that was at; the first group of two doctors was at Dardanelle and I suspect they are dead now.  One was an OBGYN and the other, I think, was a surgeon and that was the first true clinic.  They were the grandfathers and no one really said much about it.  They worked hard, practiced hard, and the practice was wonderful; but all that other mess, “we don’t have time and we don’t have to do it.”  \n\n  \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nDid you know Stan Teeter from Russellville?\n\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nName only.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nHe’s probably behind you a little bit; even though, he’s a little closer to me.\n\nAnn Chudy: Doug Lowery was in our practice.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nYeah, Doug Lowery; you mentioned Tom Honeycutt……\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nTom Honeycutt was a very unusual person.  He and his wife were the academy; they took care of everything in their home.  They took care of the bills, they were both there, and he worked it out to have the real right to say, “I am the great grandfather.”\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\n(Laughing)….ok.\n\nAnn Chudy: She was his secretary, she kept the minutes and everything, and he ran it.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nThey put money out of their pocket into it.  Tom Honeycutt got to a point where he was mowing lawns buck naked; but other than that, he was telling….we were talking about a shot and the kid getting away and he was giving the kids one of the…..antibiotic; not antibiotic, but the  _____….anyway, he was mowing the grass buck-naked and one of the neighbors came out and said, “Would you please put some clothes on”….he did almost everything at the national meetings, but you’d never know it.  The girl, Scott, _________, three years to the _________ of the ___________.  It was Tim Honey; Tom really got lost and they got a divorce.  He really beat up on her and it was a sad, sad, situation.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nNow in your time as President of the Academy, that was the time when the official transition occurred between the Arkansas Academy of General Practice and the Arkansas Academy of Family Physicians; do you remember that?  \n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nUh huh.\n\nAnn Chudy: We went to Japan and he had to take it by proxy, because we’d signed up to go to Japan with the University; do you remember that?\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nYes; yes.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nDid you think that was a big deal when it happened?\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nYes, it was very important; there was the American Academy of ………when you say to someone and they’d say, “What are those initials for?”…..what the heck was it?.......but, for a long time when you were pushing a lawn mower and that guy took over, we had an older doctor in his 90s, very active and he’d been a widower for years.  He got married shortly after his marriage he went upstairs and every time somebody got the least bit off balance he had to go out and hustle Davis; “Now Tom, you know that you can’t do it that way.  We’re done with you help over here.“  But, it was the American Academy that fell through. \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nAmerican Academy of Family Physicians?\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nThat was the name before that; it was one of the laters….\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nAmerican Academy of General Practice?\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nIt was so blatant that one lady…\n\nAnn Chudy: Family Practitioners………Family Practitioners…..wasn’t that it?\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nNo, no, no; I’ll bring it up when I think about it later….but, they were there with that name and we were in one of the main meetings for the Academy…..”\n\nAnn Chudy: In Kansas City….\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nIn Kansas City; we had our names bolded at the name section and our names were underneath it and this nice looking young lady saw all of us in the room ready to eat and she said, “Are you telling me what kind of an organization you’re in?”…“Family Medicine”…”Well, it sure in hell don’t look like it”…..That old doctor of 90+ was old, old, school and that really blocks out; but if you didn’t know what you’re name was, and below it know that it was some organization….and the lady said, “Are you aware that people don’t know who in the hell you are?  I’m sure you’re nice looking guys and you’re young; but what are you and what does that mean?”  I said, “Well, we’re doctors”…”And you’ve got that kind of initials?”…….\n\nAnn Chudy: AAFP…..AAFP.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nIt was general something and she says, “Whose the general or whose the so-and-so?” We ate and I took that back and got the floor to explain it to my colleagues and I think everybody doo-doo’d in their britches because they didn’t realize what really happened.  I’ll think about it and call you…\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nIt ok; you can call me and tell me………ok…..now after you were President of the Arkansas Academy of ‘73, for another 14-15 years, your paw prints are all over everything.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nIt was 20 years.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nI know, but your paw prints are all over everything.  Every meeting you were seconding something or making this motion, you’re on every committee that you could seemingly be, and then in ‘86, you were put up for the third time, I think, for the American Family Physician of the Year .\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nI was named.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nYeah and you were named that; tell me about that.  Was that something you were proud of?\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\n1986…and I had served on the committees and the way that….were you aware of this brought up?  Let’s say we were having a meeting; each state organization had the choice for one person and they put their name in a hat with his writing, and then that would be sent to the headquarters, and one of the lay people that drew his name was instrumental in putting it all together.  When I saw that, I said, “With all that you’ve done and not to be wooing about it, but what are you looking for?”  I said, “I said a prayer and I’m proud of it and I’d like to be rewarded with that.\n\nAnn Chudy: I think he’s asking who asked you to put your name in the hat for the Family Physician.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nThere was a lady there that was on the…who worked in the office, a beautiful young lady and she was very instrumental in the office…\n\n     \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nWas that Carla?\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nNo; no, that’s before…\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nBefore Carla….oh, you’re talking about the national one….\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nI’m talking about…….\n\nAnn Chudy: Are you talking about Sandy?\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nYes and she said, “Have you ever thought about being honored with being the doctor of the year? ” and I said, “Thought about it once or twice and sent maybe one or two ______over.  I honestly think I’m worthy and if it’s there to be, I’d appreciate it.”   Well, I put my name in the hat and she called me and said, “You missed the boat” and I said, “I watered it all over.” ….”What are you going to do?”….”Well, let’s wait and see” and she said, “Do you want me to do that because what happens there are 10 non-medical people that receive all the papers, I served on that committee twice, you put your name on there and what have you done to get it….”  It was not just medicine because at that time, we were doing a lot of medical interests in Mexico…\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nPutting in the Catholic Church…\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nWe were in…..we slept under dog skins and then, I didn’t do anything else…..this young lady said, “You forgot something” and I said, “No, I just been thinking about it.” So, I took that papers that I had and just put everything back in the hat;.  I came home for lunch or a sandwich, you know, I was gone for just a few minutes, and the man from the inner-part of the office at Kansas City said, “How are you doing today?”…..“Doing pretty well, how are you doing?”… “Oh hell, I’m in trouble” “What’s the matter?”… “I see where you’re going to be gifted with the family physician of the year.”   My first thought was back to Jesus and I said, “Jesus, Thank you.”  I came home for lunch and Ann was here, coming out of the oven cooking and I just grabbed her around the waist and said, “I got something to tell you”…”What?”... and I said, “Family Physician of the Year”……and there was water on the floor; I’m not sure it was all tears…I felt like I received something that really I didn’t deserve and it was a pleasure to do what I did. It was very ……then, we traveled some…we went to New York, D.C., and we went…they took us to the theater, took us to several schools, and then the end of it was “we appreciate what we’ve heard about you and you would answer questions on who you are___________.” \n\n\nAnn Chudy: We made a lot of good friends from all the different states; unfortunately, we’ve lost a lot of our group of friends.   I think we’ve just been blessed that he worked until he was 92 and now, he’s only been really… \n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nWell, I was 93…\n\nAnn Chudy: Well, almost 93…\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nI was 93.\n\nAnn Chudy: Yeah; three months being 93…\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nYou’re coming back to that and I’m afraid that I’m … \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nOh you’re doing exactly what you need to do…now, I want to turn our conversations and the specifics are not near as important as your reaction to the events; I’m comparing your reactions because I’ve got a lot of the specifics. I know a lot, the dates and stuff; I’m just thinking about your reactions.  I want us to talk about something, because you already talked about when you decided it was time to call it quits with the office and then the work you did after that; obviously, your spiritual life has played a major role in your life from the time you were a little kid.  \n\nAnn Chudy: Very…\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nAbsolutely...      \n\n                      \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nTell me about that and how that informed the practice of medicine…not just the practice of medicine, but your gardens, your house, your relationships…. \n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nI don’t want to feel special or gifted as much as I do knowing Jesus and you don’t see much of it today, but until we can turn this situation around, Jesus has got to come back in some way and it’s not very good.  I don’t know really, it’s just feelings as far as the President and etc, but somebody has got to sit their foot in there and put something in that hole and it’s worse now than it was.  But, I’ve enjoyed my prayer and we joke a lot about it here, but I was thinking very much about becoming a priest.  I had…when I was in high school, Catholic High, Catholic High School was the only school in the state of Arkansas that every teacher had their degree back there; you had your certificate in whatever you had.  If not, you didn’t have a certificate then; the Vatican and the whole thing. The teachers that I had there were much more than wonderful; very religious people and you have to be careful, I don’t want to offend anyone by their feelings….but until we look back and say, “Jesus, we know you’re there and we’ve got to do something about it; I don’t want to step on your toes”… but I have a rosary that I picked up at Camp Robinson and its made out of a string, I think its beads, and I carried that with me through the entire time that I was in the military and I slept with my rosary no matter what time I got to bed.  More times than not, I dropped the beads; but, I don’t know if I can do anything that would be better off than being we are today.  \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nLet me tell you something that someone told me and I honestly I don’t remember or I’d tell you who it was; they said when you hug people, you make a cross on their back…..\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nYeah.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nTell me about that; I know a lot of Catholics who don’t do that.  \n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nUh, I have to give that to one of the nuns who was taking care of the troop.\n\n Ann Chudy: The orphanage.\n\n  \n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nThe orphanage and there was one time that we had 18 babies and one nun took care of them.  We had diarrhea and vomiting for 18 days and she would do that; but I did that until just recently because even though I’m blessing those people, they may think something good or bad of me and then, I’m going to have to say what Joe Biden said to ________; “Well, just bless them Jesus.”\n\nAnn Chudy: I think that you will always do that; I don’t believe that Covid is going to stop that.\n\n \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nNo, I don’t think so…\n\nAnn Chudy: \n\nI don’t think Covid can stop that; but no, I will say the same…….\n\n\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: You seem to me that you were holding that back till now; since we are talking about religion….spirituality.   \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nOh no….no….no, I think it’s really important…really important; it underwrites everything that you’ve done.\n\nAnn Chudy: (Laughing)… That’s right…\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nIsn’t that right…or am I making more; I don’t think I’m making more of that than I should……  \n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nNo.\n\nAnn Chudy: No, it’s important; he’s…the orphanage has always been the place that he went to in his prayer time and his service time…he gave many, many, hours to St. Joseph’s.  It was his blessing and reward.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nYou talking about the spiritual part of it…let’s go way back; way, way back…I came from what’s known as Little St. Mary’s, nothing to do with the Mount St. Mary’s for girls, and how can I say this…. \n\nAnn Chudy: Where were you going with that....your sister….the nun?\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nNo, the nun was one; but Sister Charlene was a wonderful, spiritual, lady and I don’t know how many times she asked me for $100.00; so and so didn’t have something and so, I handed it over.  The love of my life was a nun; Little St. Mary’s… three rooms…one nun for each of the three rooms….Sisters of Mercy; most of us were teachers for years and years throughout Arkansas.  It was a hot summer day and after lunch, the nun rang the little bell and we made a line next to the wall; the next person, and the next person, and the next person…..I had hair and it was all over south, north, east, and west.  I had on a little white shirt with the fluff part of it hanging out.  Sister Mary Katherine grabbed me by the wrist and said, “Boy, ain’t you going to ever become somebody?” It was the turning point in my life; it was as if everything busted and let it in…\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nHow old were you?\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nIt was in sixth grade.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nWow.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nWe became very close. She was wearing a hat at the time and a long dress with all that in there.  We’d had a snow and she said, “We’re going to let you go out in the snow for lunch…no snow balls…”  I hate to tell you; she walked out on the little concrete platform overlooking the main lobby and I picked up the snow ball and clobbered her right in the gut and she said, “Why in the devil did you do that?”…she chased my little butt all over the place until I was exhausted.  She pulled up her dress, put her legs over me, and faced me in the snow; “Do you got enough?....Do you got enough?....Do you got enough?” and I couldn’t do anything except laugh.  She was not good as a teacher; she was splendid as a teacher.  Sixth, Seventh, and eight grade in one room and when she said, “yes or no”, or “I’m going to step out don’t move”…we didn’t; but, Sister Clarice was another one of those…..”Boy, aint you ever going to become anything?”\n\n    \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nWas that here in North Little Rock?\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nYes.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nAnd you said St. Marys….\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nIt’s Little St. Mary’s on Pike Avenue…..it’s a Catholic Church, the school, and it is a school now at the church. The Priest was a very unusual person from Poland and he came here not knowing anything but Polish.  On Sunday Mass, he gave his homily in Polish.  His birthday was the same birthday as mine.  He was a teacher’s, teacher’s, teacher and there was a time when Sister Clarice said, “Boy, go see Father ________”; that’s the principal and I’d go to see him and his eyeballs stuck out…”What did you do?”…”I really don’t do a lot; do what you’re going to do” and he said, “I’m sorry, hold out your hands.”  He had the triangle that had tight…split measurements, but it’s a triangle…yeah, I put it out there and he hit me on both knuckles, all of them and he was very instrumental because he was a good teacher and he took care of us.  He really did; but, I think I have to give it really to Sister Clarice. \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nTell me about your daughters and grandchildren and great grandchildren if you have any. \n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nWe’ve got twin great granddaughters that are three weeks old.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nWow.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nLevy is the older one that said, “Daddy, aren’t you ever going to take care of me; she’s a widow and has the four boys and four girls.\n\nAnn Chudy: Two boys and two girls. \n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nBut, I won’t be here very long with the horrible blood situation; I have a pain in the ass with being drunk and I don’t drink.  I have kidney failure, lung failure, hypertension…\n\nAnn Chudy: He don’t want to know all that…we don’t want to know all that…..\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nI don’t think I; I’d love to try, but I don’t think I could do it.  When I get dizzy; thank God, I’ve fallen 2-3 times… but it’s so different…\n\nAnn Chudy: What he asked you was, “Would you do anything different….would you go back and practice anything different?\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nIf I would do anything, I would love to go to the students and the residency program probably or even before that because Christopher Columbus and I came over together...\n\n(Laughing)\n\nThere is so much difference now and you might as well say that you know it too.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nRight.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nThe ultrasound is the one thing; I don’t know how many times we did this to see what was there.  The one thing would be, we are not financially in trouble in any way and I have given up driving.  I have macular degeneration on the left; nothing over here.  A short time ago, maybe 18 months, I gave my keys to the girls and said, “Put them up.”  One of my pet-peeves was, “Take daddy in back there and see him.  He is all in trouble and he won’t give me the keys. Take the keys away.\n\nAnn Chudy: He knows that.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\n(Laughing)…..I know exactly…\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nI aint gonna do it.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nIn the 40s years that I was in practice, the two biggest fights I ever had were over keys and bowel movements.\n\n(All laughing)\n\nNot me, but patients….\n\nAnn Chudy: (Laughing) The patients; that’s cute…\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nI think you are very wise.  Now, I have one other question that I already prepared you for this earlier; you’ve just hit upon 50 years from now and you’re a picture on the wall.  Two or three generations from now; your great, great, grandchildren, family members, or whatever …what do you want them to know about you?  I’ll repeat the second part, but what do you want them to know about you and your life, the both of you, and what do you want for them? \n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nYou mean my family or friends?\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nAnybody; anybody…..people…\n\nAnn Chudy: Anybody; what do you want people to remember…the one thing you want them to remember about you?  How would like for them to say, “That was Amail Chudy; I remember…..”\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nYou bet; that’s exactly right…\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nThat has happened a lot in Kroger and places like that; they say, “We miss you so and wish you’d go back in practice.”  I don’t know how you feel about it, but it is so different the last year and the year before that than it did my entire time.  When someone says; I had another fight when this woman was pregnant and we’d already said we were going to quit OB, we can’t keep up and all that..and\n\nAnn Chudy: Honey, what do you want your grand kids to remember; the one thing?\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nI’m coming to that…\n\nAnn Chudy: What do you want your little girls to remember you for?\n\n   \n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nI’d like for them to know that the one thing that was given to her and I tried my best to give it to all of them is my spiritual side of it; being close to God.” \n\nAnn Chudy: It’s good to know Jesus.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nThere were two questions?\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nAnd what is your response to that question?\n\nAnn Chudy: \n\nUh, I want them to remember that I was happy, I was blessed, and thank God that I met him because I don’t think I’d be the person I am today if I hadn’t met Honey.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nWhat do you want for them in their lives?  I think you already answered this, but I’d like to hear it again.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nI would like for those who are old enough to be there to remember me as happy and giving and being their Christ, Jesus.  I don’t know how many times I’ve asked people if we could pray when they came in when something happened and I’m not that naive to know that more than one person said something to me that threw me off completely to where I didn’t know what to do.  I’m sure that many of them wished to hell that we wouldn’t talk about Jesus, give this a go, and wished to hell that they’d be getting things rather than giving and going.  There was a young man that I had delivered a baby for, a couple from North Little Rock, and they moved off to some place in Arkansas job-wise; he came in and it was as slow day and I don’t remember exactly how he said this, but he said his life stunk of any value, there’s no good people, and those dam Catholics, so-and-so and so-and-so….at this point, I wanted to change this Tom, I’ll call him Tom…I said, “Tom, would you give me permission to pray for you before we go into this party that ________________?”   I imagine that 90% of them just said “No, Baptist thinks he’s a Catholic; he’s a holy guy.”  But, that is the only time that someone came back and said something, now some of them said, “Thank you, I appreciate the prayer”…and said the prayer with you,..He said, “What’s your side?” and I said, “What’s your side; am I stepping on too much asking you about prayer?”         \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nl suspect that you know the people that you deal with a lot better than me; I would never  pass judgment on other people’s behavior alone.  I had a wise doctor tell me one time, “The minute you go to judging people, you quit practicing medicine”……so, I’m not answering your question.\n\nAnn Chudy: He’s not going to answer your question.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nI’m not going to answer your question; but that’s ok too.\n\nAnn Chudy: Yeah; he has his own ideas.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nI’m going to tell you, you were talking about this earlier and I want to tell you about probably the most moving spiritual experience of my life and it was in Catholic Church in Levy.  There is a little bitty Catholic Church just as you come off the freeway there on the right and I don’t know what it’s called……\n\nAnn Chudy: St. Ann’s…..\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nSt. Ann’s, ok; well, we went there for a funeral  and there was a young African- American… excuse me, an African priest there and he sang the homily and it was one of the most moving, wonderful, and I was totally not expecting it….\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nHow……when approximately was this?\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\n15-20 years ago; something like that.  It was one of Annette’s…it wasn’t a Cider or a Lipsmeyer; it may have been a Lipsmeyer…..that’s the other side of Annette’s family. But, I remember…..\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nThat part is originally a chapel in Camp Robinson.\n\n    \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nYeah, right there at the gate or very close to the gate. \n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nThe government gave it to them and they kind of are finding out a little bit because the chapel in the military was ________________; then, there is the sanctity of it.  Right passed that is the St. Joseph’s orphanage that we’ve talked about so much.\n\nAnn Chudy: Some of the things that we, as a couple, really enjoy doing was working in the mission in Mexico.  We had a group of a pediatrician, a builder, an architect, a dentist and we all went down there and worked in this village; it was nothing, nothing…but, it was the most moving experience and we not only went once; we went several times down there.  But, those people had nothing and I’m sure that we have the same kind of people in areas in Arkansas that we don’t know about; but those were really good moments.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nWell, I want to tell you guys that I really do appreciate you letting me come into your home and sit here and play 20 questions with you for a couple of hours.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nOur pleasure.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nOh, it s just been wonderful.  See that is part of the great joy for me is to meet people as you and I were casual acquaintances early on in my career, but now, I feel like I know you a lot, a lot better than I did.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nApproximately how many people have you done what you did with us today?\n\n Dr. Sam Taggart: \n\nUh…about 80.\n\nDr. Amail Chudy: \n\nWow.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nMost of the people that I have done were country doctors …2500-5,000….\n\nAnn Chudy: Oh, I’d love to read…\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nThe book is going to be out this summer and….\n\nAnn Chudy: I’ve got Dr. Ryan’s book.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nOh; now, I have been in conversations with his daughter and T.D. Ryan’s picture is on the very front of the book….\n\nAnn Chudy: Oh really?\n\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nIt’s one of them; it’s like a montage of younger and older physicians, but T.D. Ryan is right in the …I’ll make sure you guys get a copy of it.  After we finish up here today, I am going to take this home and I have a transcriptionist who will make a transcript of today’s….","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2312/collection_resources/97613/file/194728#t=0.0,8407.03197"}]}]}]}