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THURSDAY. APRIL 29. 2004 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 9B
They Touched Me . ..
Tracy Spencer
By Wayne Smith
Tracy Spencer placed a .38 cal
iber Smith and Wesson pistol in the
glove compartment of his new
1952 Pontiac. He backed the car
out of his driveway. He had decid
ed to kill himself.
Many of Dr. Spencer’s patients
had to think twice before calling
him “Dr. Spencer.”
The actor, Spencer Tracy’s name
often popped up in their minds
when they went for a medical
appointment with the thirty-some
thing physician. He had moved to
South Charleston, West Virginia
from his native North Carolina only
a couple of years before.
Affable, gregarious and a fine
general practice medical doctor, it
had not taken Tracy Spencer long
to establish a place for himself in
his new community.
As Gilbert and Sullivan wrote in
one of the lyrics to a song in
H.M.S. Pinafore, “Things are sel
dom what they seem.” Even though
Dr. Spencer had a beautiful wife,
three small and lovely children, and
a thriving medical practice, he also
had a secret life.
Tracy Spencer, a nominal Pres
byterian, had met Dixie, a devout
Roman Catholic when he was in
medical school. Dixie was attend
ing college in the same university
community. She was preparing to
become a nun. Love won out and
they married.
It was not long until their three
children were born in rapid succes
sion. After finishing his internship,
Tracy Spencer learned there was a
need for a family physician in West
Virginia.
They packed up their few
belongings and moved to the
Mountain State in 1949.
One of Cole Porter’s songs has a
line that says, “You go to my
head.”
A lot of things went to the head
of the attractive prospering doctor.
Cole Porter also composed a song
that had the phrase, “I get no kick
from cocaine, but I get a kick out of
you.”
Tracy Spencer didn’t use
cocaine. He got his kicks from pre
scription drugs.Why did he take
them? Perhaps it was the long
hours he spent at his practice.
Maybe it was caused by finally
having some discretionary money
he could use after all of those years
of penury during medical school.
After all, he had become the dar
ling the local golf club set.
Maybe it was the pressure of
quickly becoming a big fish in a
small pond. Whatever it was, he
was hooked.
He took his first step on the slip
pery path that led him to drug
addiction on a day when nothing
seemed to go right. He told himself
that he needed an injection of a
drug that would calm his nerves.
He knew that this drug could
become addictive. But he was
smart enough not to allow that to
occur, he thought. He only needed a
little help to relieve the burden of
that particularly tough day. He rea
soned that it would help him better
perform his art of healing others.
Almost before he knew what
was happening, he was an addict.
He began taking several different
“feel good” drugs on a regular
basis.
His “friend” at the local pharma
cy looked the other way when he
filled bogus prescriptions for the
good doctor. After all, Tracy
Spencer was sending a lot of busi
ness his way. He didn’t want to get
on his wrong side. He could send
his patients to another pharmacy.
The day of reckoning was not
long in coming. It arrived late on a
Friday afternoon in the person of a
federal drug abuse inspector. Dr.
Spencer’s secretary informed him
of his impromptu visitor. He want
ed to see the doctor. Shaken to his
core he asked her to tell the inspec
tor that he had had just left for a tee
time at the Kanawha Country Club.
She did as she was told.
The inspector asked her to con
tact the doctor and tell him that he
would be back first thing on Mon
day morning and that he would
want to have a look at Tracy
Spencer’s medical log for the pre
scription drugs he had dispensed.
Tracy Spencer drove home. He
did not know that the inspector
simply had dropped by for a routine
check of his records. As it turned
out the inspector was not able to
stay in South Charleston over the
weekend. He never did ask to
review those records.
But Tracy Spencer did not know
this. He only knew that he had a
feeling in the pit of his stomach
that felt like a mule had kicked
him. He sensed that the world as he
knew it was collapsing around him.
All he had worked for during his
brief medical career would come
crashing down on Monday morn
ing, he was sure.
It would mean that he would be
thoroughly disgraced in the com
munity, lose his license to practice
medicine and possibly even have to
serve time in prison. His mind con
jured up all sorts of terrible conse
quences that he was certain would
befall him because of his abuse of
drugs.
That Friday night, instead of
going to bed he got drunk and
passed out. He didn’t awaken until
Saturday afternoon. Then it felt
even more depressed and worried.
No golf for him that afternoon. He
still had some of the pills he had
been popping and swallowed them
as he sought relief for his distress.
He knew better than to drink alco
hol with the amount of pills he had
taken. So, he remained awake all of
Saturday night trying to think of
what to do.
Sunday morning dawned.
Bleary eyed, he quietly slipped out
the front door with the Smith and
Wesson in his overcoat. He backed
the Pontiac out of the driveway that
chilly January morning.
He drove around town for a cou
ple of hours trying to think of a
good place to do what he thought
would solve his problems.
The perfect place to do it came
to his mind. There would be
nobody at Coonskin Park until after
church services were over. He had
taken Dixie and the kids there the
preceding summer for a picnic. It
was a beautiful and peaceful spot
with good memories.
Driving along Second Avenue
toward Coonskin Park Dr. Spencer
glanced to the right out of the Pon
tiac’s window. He saw the First
Presbyterian Church.
“Might as well stop in and ask
God to forgive me for what I am
about to do,” he thought. He pulled
into the crowded parking lot where
he had stationed his car at Christ
mas and Easter during the few
years that he had been in South
Charleston.
He entered the church and met
Someone there that he had not been
in touch with since his childhood
back in Concord, North Carolina.
He met Jesus Christ.
Walter W. White was the Minis
ter of the South Charleston Presby
terian Church. Scholarly, wise and
friendly, those who heard him
preach and sought him out for
advice knew that he was a true man
of God.
I first met him in 1950 when I
was a sophomore in high school.
At that time I had not yet made a
public profession of faith in Jesus
Christ nor had I been baptized.
I had visited most of the differ
ent churches in the area. Wherever
the pretty girls were going was
where I went to church, too. Bap
tist, Methodist, Nazarene, Roman
Catholic, the Church of God -—I
observed that God was present in
all of them. The styles of worship
were different. But the substance of
faith was evident in all of them.
The girl who later was to
become my wife, Carolyn Heaster,
was a Presbyterian. She played sec
ond trumpet in the high school
band, right behind my first chair
position.
When I learned that she attended
worship services at the Presbyterian
Church I decided to check it out. —
—and her as well.
It did not take many Sunday
mornings, Sunday and Wednesday
nights to discover that I was in
love. I was in love with Carolyn
and I was in love with Christ.
I asked both of them if they
would be my lifetime partners.
Both said “yes” and I cannot imag
ine my life without either of them
at its center.
It was on a Sunday evening in
July of 1951 that I was leaving a
church service. By then I had been
to well over a hundred meetings at
this church.
I had listened very carefully. I
knew that God was asking me to
make the most important decision
that ever I would make. Would I be
in charge of my life, or would
Christ?
On that July evening, Dr. White
had not given an “invitation” for
those who wished to receive Christ
as their Savior and Lord to indicate
it. The invitation always was
implicit in his sermons. He always
made it clear that God was inviting
people to follow Christ, either for
the first time or on a continuing
basis.
As we shook hands after the
worship service I told him that I
had committed my life to Christ
while he had been preaching that
evening. I mentioned to him that I
had not been baptized and would
like to have this done before my
18th birthday that was coming up
in a few days. The baptism was
performed the following Sunday
morning.
Before that Sunday, though, Dr.
White asked me to drop by his
office so that we could talk. Dur
ing our conversation he told me
about a young medical doctor
named Tracy Spencer. He did not
tell me any of the details that had
caused the doctor to change his life
drastically. He only mentioned that
both of us had undergone an expe
rience with Christ recently and he
thought it would be a good idea if
we got to know each other. We did.
Tracy had entered the church
building with a very heavy burden.
When he left an hour later he left
the burden there. He gave it to
Jesus Christ along with his commit
ment to serve the Lord. He went to
his office on Monday morning pre
pared to meet the federal drug
inspector. He was ready to face
whatever would be necessary to put
his life straight.
When the inspector called his
office from a city in neighboring
Kentucky he apologized to Dr.
Spencer for not keeping his
appointment, explaining that he
was touring the region as a routine
part of his job.
He had a number of other physi
cians to see, he explained. Since
Dr. Spencer was the last physician
on his list in West Virginia, he had
gone on to Kentucky so that he
could visit several doctors there on
Monday.
He told Dr. Spencer that he was
sure that everything was in order
with his prescription drug log and
congratulated him on the fine com
ments he had overheard from some
of his patients while he was in the
waiting room on Friday afternoon.
Dr. Spencer left South
Charleston the next day. He
checked himself into a drug reha
bilitation center in Virginia. It took
him six weeks to recuperate from
his addiction.
Later when we got to know each
other as “best friends,” he told me
his story. Though the grace of God
he never again touched either drugs
or alcohol.
Dr. Spencer and I were like two
joyful children working together to
assemble a jigsaw puzzle. We both
wanted to know more about what
our commitment to Christ meant.
We saw each other often. There
was scarcely an evening that we did
not speak on the telephone for at
least an hour. The Bible was so full
of new discoveries that we could
hardly wait to share what we had
found with each other.
Both of us saw the practice of
our faith in Christ expand into the
places where we lived, worked and
played. It was a rare time when a
patient visited the doctor’s office
that he did not take time to speak
tactfully and respectfully about the
necessity of treating “the whole
person—body, mind and spirit.”
Tracy Spencer became a legend
in his own lifetime in South
Charleston. He practiced medicine
there for some forty years. The
entire town came to know him,
respect him and love him.
Tracy Spencer touched me.
From him I learned that “you can
go home again.”
Quality health
coverage is more
affordable than
you think.
The BlueChoice PPO for individuals makes saving money easy,
with low co-pays and deductibles. Quality,Choice. Value.
That's the Power of Blue. SM
CARL GRIZZLE
Authorized Agent
Grizzle Insurance Agency, Inc
143 Glyness Street
Jasper, GA 30143
706-692-5885
BlueCross
BlueShield
of Georgia
www.grizzleinsurance.com
Refer to plan for a complete list of coverage* conditions, restrictions, limitations and exclusions. BlueChoice PPO is underwritten
by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgian Independent Licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association.
© 2003 Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia
I learned that no matter how
bleak things may seem, Christ can
change our defeats into victories if
we will let Him.
[Editor’s Note: The Rev. Wayne
Smith, a Big Canoe resident, is the
founder of The Friendship
Force,which today boasts 350
chapters in 60 countries. Among
his notable accomplishments and
awards was being nominated for
the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992.
Locally, Smith is active in the com
munity in many facets, including
serving on the staff of the Big
Canoe Chapel.
Smith is currently working on an
autobiography which will appear
as a series in the Progress titled
They Touched Me. The previous
installments of the series are avail
able at www.pickensprogress.com]
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DEDICATION & GRAND OPENING
of the new
Hinton Volunteer Fire Department
Station #6
Saturday May 1, 2004,11:00am - 2:00pm
Hinton Community
Hwy. 53W @ Hwy. 136 Connector
Ribbon Cutting
Dedication
12:30 pm
1:00 pm
Display and Demonstrations by:
Cherokee County Fire Department Safety House
Pickens County EMS
Pickens County Sheriff Department
Hinton Volunteer Fire Department
Refreshments!
Activities for young and old!
Tickets will be available for Hinton VFD raffle
***Fi re Engine Red 2004 Corvette***
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/ ORTHODONTICS S
WITH A PROMISE
FROM MY HEART TO YOUR EXPECTATIONS
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any one of my many thousands of patients are not happy with their
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If you are ever told that you will need to wear a retainer indefinitely or for life, or are
told that there will be a retainer cemented on your teeth to remain indefinitely then you
are not getting neutral zone orthodontics. BEWARE - When an orthodontist tells you to
wear your retainer indefinitely and you accept this as fact you have taken the responsi
bility of treatment stability from the orthodontist, where it should be, and now accept it
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tist is going to say “Well you didn’t wear your retainer like I told you to wear it. It is your
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FOR INCOMPLETE ORTHODONTIC TREATMENT and in most cases it is not your
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You may receive excellent treatment from an orthodontist who promises you nothing.
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706-692-7989 • 706-253-7989
9 South Main Street Jasper, Georgia