After being delivered prematurely following a difficult pregnancy, doctors gave baby Joslynne Moore six months to live. While other doctors recommended sending her to a medical facility for specialized care, her pediatrician, Dr. Ethelyn Williams-Neal, said: “I think she should go home with her family. I think she’ll thrive at home.”
Joslynne did thrive, albeit with some medical disabilities. She is now 18 years old and a high school graduate. She was on hand with her parents, Johnnie and Tantileer Moore, to thank Dr. Williams-Neal Saturday evening. They joined about 200 other people who gathered to celebrate Williams-Neal’s retirement at the Butcher Shop restaurant on Germantown Parkway.
Former employees, patients, colleagues, mentees, church and family members, and others came out to share heartfelt praise and tributes for Williams-Neal, who has overseen the medical care of thousands of patients and “grandpatients” in the nearly 60 years she’s been practicing.
“We owe so much to Dr. Neal,” says Tantileer Moore, Joslynne’s mother. “It was not unusual for her to come to our home to check on Joslynne to save us from making a trip to her office. We’ve all become very close over the years. She’s like family to us.”
Pediatrician Dr. William Terrell recalled how Williams-Neal mentored him as he began his medical career. “We later ended up practicing together. She was one of the hardest-working, most dedicated physicians I know,” Terrell said.
Nurse practitioner Jackie Farris, a former employee, noted Williams-Neal’s dedication to patient care. Farris recalled how surprised she was to learn the doctor would often share her personal phone number with patients. “I used to ask her, ‘why are you doing that?’ And she told me she wanted her patients to know they could get in touch with her directly.”
One highlight of the evening was a proclamation from Memphis Mayor Paul Young, acknowledging her many contributions to the Memphis community.
Williams-Neal said she was surprised and touched by the party and the accolades bestowed upon her.
“I didn’t expect all this!” she said. “It’s great to hear people say so many nice things. I’m overwhelmed!”
About her long career, Williams-Neal said, “I just loved being able to help children.”
A graduate of Manassas High School, Williams-Neal earned her bachelor’s degree in medical technology from Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio. Her medical degree is from the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago.
She made history when she became the first African American intern at the City of Memphis Hospitals in 1966. Before going into private practice, Williams-Neal was chair of the Pediatrics Department at St. Joseph Hospital. (St. Joseph merged with Baptist Memorial Health Care in 1997.)
She was also staff physician at the Memphis Health Center, Tufts-Delta Health Center in Mound Bayou, Miss., and Lee County Cooperative Clinic in Marianna, Ark. She spent time as clinical professor of pediatrics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.
Williams-Neal’s service to the community reached beyond medical halls. She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. and has been involved in several local organizations including the Memphis Chapter of The Links Inc., the Ashanti Literary Guild and The Society Inc. She has also served on several boards, including those of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra and Bluff City Medical Society.
Williams-Neal was born in Mason, Tenn., the second of three sisters. Their father, John Ed Williams, moved his wife Odessa and family to Memphis while the girls were young, so they could take advantage of more educational opportunities.
To honor their parents’ zeal for education, she and her sisters Willie Mae Williams Crittendon and Dr. Beverly Williams-Cleaves (both deceased) established college scholarship funds at Friendship Baptist Church and Manassas High School, as well as an endowment at the University of Tennessee College of Medicine for aspiring medical students.
Dr. Williams-Neal said her retirement plans include travel and continuing to mentor young medical professionals. “I’ll do whatever I can to help young people as long as I can.”
