Born in Newfoundland, Canada, and a medical graduate of its Memorial University, Dr. James Brazil impacted thousands of lives throughout his career — most of them in and around Cadiz.
If his Trigg County general practice wasn’t enough, Brazil somehow found time around his ardent family life as a husband to one and father of four to be a missionary man of medicine.
Following his late 2000s retirement, his increased trips to Haiti and Belize saved lives and spread a gospel in which he so strongly believed.
Wednesday at Barkley Plantation, Brazil died at age 84.
Michelle Brazil, one of his three daughters, remembers a man who loved his patients, Jesus and travel.
But she also remembers those early days of first coming to Cadiz from Canada, in which the Brazil family visited places like Texas and North Carolina before eventually, and comfortably, settling in Trigg County in 1979.
Michelle remembers the family of William Cleland White III, and White Lumber Company, being influential in bringing the Brazils to Cadiz — who were opting for the beauty of four seasons and a chance to practice all kinds of medicine, as opposed to the harsh weather Newfoundland experiences year-round.
From there, Brazil blossomed not just as a general practitioner in Cadiz — but also as an obstetrician. Michelle said it’s been commonplace over the years to have someone come up and say that family members were either born by, or cared from, her father’s hands.
Michelle, a flight nurse for Vanderbilt LifeFlight, turned to the medical field just as her father did — and gleans often on those walks from Trigg County High School to her father’s old office across from the Trigg County Hospital.
Memorial donations may be made to: New Work Fellowship, 5050 Canton Pike, Hopkinsville, Kentucky, 42240.
