Hugh A. Inness-Brown, MD

On October 9, 2006, Hugh A. Inness-Brown, MD, beloved husband, brother, father, grandfather, physician, and “ham,” passed on to the next life.

Dr. Inness-Brown is survived by his wife Jacqueline Marie Goolden Inness-Brown; by eight children, thirteen grandchildren, and (so far) two great-grandchildren; by his three sisters, Constance Van Valkenberg of St. Paul, MN; Virginia Conn, of E. Boothbay, ME; and Page Tharpe, of Akin, SC; and by many in-laws, nieces, nephews, and their offspring. His first wife, Muriel Markland, and their four children, Virginia, Victoria, Hugh Alwyn III, and Lee Inness-Brown, all live in California. He was predeceased by his second wife, Doris Joan Morath, in 1965; they had three children: Elizabeth Monley, South Hero, VT; John Inness-Brown, Boulder, CO; and Theresa LaClair, Hermon, NY. He and his devoted wife Jackie, married forty-one years, have lived for 36 years in the former home of Congressman Robert C. McEwen on Riverside Drive in Ogdensburg, NY; their son, Brian Inness-Brown, lives with his family in Saratoga Springs, NY.

Dr. Inness-Brown was born in New York City in 1922, to Hugh Alwyn Inness-Brown, Sr., a publisher, and Virginia Portia Royall, a well-known socialite who served on the board of the Metropolitan Opera and was a cultural emissary to countries behind the Iron Curtain, among other activities. He grew up largely in Plandome, Long Island, with a second home in East Boothbay, Maine; he graduated from Manhasset High School. In 1942, he volunteered for the US Army, where he became an aviation mechanic. In 1944, he was assigned to the Army Specialized Training Program, which enabled him to attend college at Hendrix College in Arkansas. He was enrolled there in an engineering program when he took the Medical Scholastic Aptitude Test and was promptly transferred to an accelerated premedical program at the University of Idaho.

While awaiting a medical school opening, Dr. Inness-Brown worked as an orderly and attended Laboratory Technician School at the Fitzsimmons Army Hospital in Colorado. In 1945, he entered the medical school at the University of South Dakota, from which he received his BS in Medicine in 1947. He then transferred with advanced standing to Cornell University Medicine College in New York City, and did his internship at Genesee Hospital in Rochester, NY.

Upon the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, Dr. Inness-Brown was assigned to duty with the 5005th US Air Force Hospital, Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, where he treated war casualties, did surgery and obstetrics, and oversaw the hospital laboratory. In 1952, he returned from Alaska to resume his medical training at Genesee Hospital, where he completed his residency in General Surgery. He was then assigned to the 3750th USAF Hospital in Wichita Falls, Texas, where he became Chief Surgeon. In 1959, he was transferred to the USAF Hospital at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, where he became the Chief of Surgical Services and Deputy Hospital Commander.

Having fulfilled his military obligations, in 1960 Dr. Inness-Brown became Chief Surgeon at the Harmon Park Clinic in Williston, ND. In 1962, he relocated to Canton, NY, where he joined the medical staff of the Edward J. Noble Hospital. In 1969, he relocated to Ogdensburg, NY, and joined the staff of the A. Barton Hepburn Hospital and opened a private practice. When he retired from his practice in 1988, he took on a part-time position at the St. Lawrence Psychiatric Center in Ogdensburg, where he became qualified in basic psychiatry and eventually was named full-time head physician of the medical/surgery department. He retired permanently in 1995, but until his death remained an honorary member of the staff of Hepburn Hospital. Over the years he was president of several medical organizations, including the John Hunter Surgical Society of Texas, the American Heart Association of Northern New York, the St. Lawrence County Medical Society, and the Hepburn Hospital Medical Staff.

Always active, after his discharge from the Army Dr. Inness-Brown continued to serve with the Army Reserve, from which he retired in 1988 with the rank of Colonel. He loved fishing and hunting and also painted, raced cars, rode motorcycles, and collected guns. But his favorite hobby was Amateur Radio, which allowed him to continue his community service and his interest in all things mechanical right until the end of his life, when he completed assembly of a new transceiver. He held an FCC-issued Extra Class license in Amateur Radio as well as a commercial radio license. He published a number of articles in QST, the official magazine of ARRL, the national association of Amateur Radio, and was a member of the St. Lawrence Valley Repeater Association, the North Country Radio Club, and the Ogdensburg Amateur Radio Club, as well as the National Rifle Association.

Known as “Hugh” to Jackie, as “Doc” to his ham radio friends, as “Bud” to his sisters, as “Daddy” to his children, and as “Grampa Hoo” to his grandchildren, Dr. Inness-Brown lived a full, generous, adventurous life. In celebration of that, a service will be held 2 pm Thursday, October 12, in St. John’s Episcopal Church, Ogdensburg.   Donations may be made in his name to the Richard E. Winter Cancer Treatment Center, Claxton Hepburn Hospital, St. Lawrence County Hospice, NYSARC, or the charity of your choice.