Francis Carter Newsom, 92, entered eternal life on Tuesday, April 5, 2011. A celebration of Carter's life will be held at 11 a.m., Saturday, April 16, at St. Christopher's Episcopal Church, 2211 S. Bluff.
Carter was born May 14, 1918, in Union Point, Georgia, to Ethel Louise Perry and Erle Thornton Newsom, Sr. A second generation physician after his father, Carter was attending the University of Georgia School of Medicine when he met the love of his life, Mary Elizabeth "Betty" Varner. They were married March 20, 1943, in Augusta, Georgia. Upon graduation, he interned at the U.S. Navy Hospital in Portsmouth, Virginia, before serving as a Naval physician with the Fleet Marines in the Pacific. During his World War II experiences, including aid to the Japanese in Nagasaki after the war ended, he developed an interest in psychiatry. In 1946, Carter joined the first class of the School of Psychiatry at the Menninger Foundation, Topeka, Kansas, completing his residency under Dr. Karl Menninger. Still in the Naval Reserve, Carter was called to active duty in the Korean conflict, moving with Betty and their daughters Barbara and Mary, to Memphis, Tennessee, where he served from 1950-51 as Chief of Psychiatry at the U.S. Navy Hospital. In 1951 Carter established private practice in psychiatry in Wichita, Kansas, retiring with partner Thomas Morrow, M.D., in 1998.
Highlights included helping to establish Prairie View Hospital in Newton, Kansas, consulting for Veterans Affairs Hospitals, and serving on the staff of three Wichita regional medical centers, St. Joseph, Wesley, and St. Francis, with eight years as Chief of Psychiatry, and one year as President of the Medical Staff at St. Francis, 1968. A Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, Carter chaired the Kansas Mental Health Committee that changed the state commitment laws and had extensive experience in forensic psychiatry.
He was a member of the Kansas Medical Society and Medical Society of Sedgwick County. He was Chairman of the Psychiatric Residency Program when the Wichita branch of the University of Kansas Medical School was started.
Community activities included serving on the Board of Directors of Camp Fire Girls of Wichita, and the Board of Directors of Family Consultation Services. For more than 25 years, he was psychiatric examiner of candidates for Holy Orders for Episcopal Bishop of Kansas. He enjoyed travel, sports, and music, especially traditional jazz.
Carter is preceded in death by his daughter Mary, sister Sara Ann Griffin, Southern Pines, North Carolina, and brother Erle Thornton Newsom, Jr., Atlanta, Georgia.
Carter is survived by his wife, Betty, of the home, and daughter Barbara Newsom, Glen Ellyn, Illinois.
Memorials should be directed to St. Christopher's Episcopal Church.