In Memoriam: Dr. Dewey Frank Myers

Published on Monday, August 12, 2024

The Medical Center extends its sympathy to the family of a former faculty member in appreciation for the loved one’s contributions to the academic health sciences center.

Dr. Dewey Frank Myers

Dr. Dewey Frank Myers of Jackson, a favorite of students he taught at the University of Mississippi Medical Center School of Dentistry for roughly half his lifetime, died on Aug. 4, 2024. He was 85.

Known as a dedicated teacher, proud patriarch and engaging raconteur, Myers began his life as an only child in Raleigh.

After attending the University of Mississippi, he graduated in 1963 with a DDS from the University of Tennessee Dental School in Memphis and went on to serve in the U.S. Navy Dental Corps for two years before practicing briefly in Magee.

Afterward, he worked at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Pineville, Louisiana, before putting in 28 years at the VA Medical Center in Jackson, where he stockpiled the jokes he heard from patients, retelling them later to his family and friends.

“He always started the clinic off with his latest joke he had picked up during the week,” said Dr. Scott Phillips, associate professor and associate dean for clinical affairs in the School of Dentistry. “Even to the point that my wife would ask on Wednesday evenings, ‘What joke did Dewey tell you today?’

“A few I could repeat.” 

Myers retired from the Jackson VA as chief of the dental service in 1999, the same year he retired as a colonel from the Mississippi Army National Guard, which he served for 12 years as commander of the 972nd Dental Detachment.

For more than 40 years, Myers was also a part-time clinical instructor of dental students at UMMC, where “the sharply dressed gentleman” attracted a devoted circle of friends, colleagues and lunchtime buddies, said Dr. Pia Chatterjee Kirk, professor and chair of Care Planning and Restorative Sciences, and interim dean of the UMMC School of Dentistry.

“That was the highlight of his day, to go and have fellowship at lunch with some of the faculty,” she said. “He had a big personality and was always in a good mood. And he was a great storyteller.

“My favorite stories were the ones he told when he would come back from a football weekend at Ole Miss and talk about all the people he saw in the Grove, and what they ate and how everyone was dressed. He was a character.”

He was also “the stereotype of a Southern gentleman,” Phillips said. A staunch Ole Miss fan, Myers would let Phillips use his football tickets if he couldn’t make it to Oxford.

“As Dewey would often say, ‘Step into my office,’” Phillips recalled. “He always brought his newspaper (the sports section), which he had already read, so students and faculty could look over and talk sports with him, mostly Ole Miss.” 

Myers’ hobbies or passions included not only the University of Mississippi, but also the City of New Orleans, visits to the beach, gardening and dining with his loved ones at his favorite restaurants.

Married to the late Beverly Mills Myers, he was also a proud father and grandfather. “I heard all about baseball and soccer with his grandchildren, and he always wanted to hear about what my two where up to,” Phillips said.

Phillips last saw Myers earlier this summer. “He greeted me like we were about to cover clinic on a Wednesday afternoon and asked about my kids, chatted with me and my wife and made us laugh,” Phillips said. 

“I know Dewey was a good dentist, but he was also a great friend and someone I always enjoyed being around. Other than age, he never changed from the time in the early 90’s when I first met him as a student to our last visit this summer.

“He was simply Dewey, and I will miss him.”

A memorial service was held for Myers on Thursday.