ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 29, 1997 TAG: 9701290059
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 VIRGINIA EDITION: METRO
TYPE: NEWS OBIT
SOURCE: BETTY HAYDEN SNIDER STAFF WRITER
Leigh Hamilton Stockstill, an obstetrician and gynecologist, died Monday of cancer. He was 61.
Stockstill practiced medicine in the Roanoke Valley for 28 years, the last three with his son, Kurt.
Leigh Stockstill delivered 5,000 to 6,000 babies during his career, often seeing the babies grow up to have babies of their own, Kurt Stockstill said.
For 10 years in the late 1970s and early 1980s, he practiced alone, and his devotion to his patients meant making sacrifices.
"There was one stretch of time when he didn't leave town for two years straight because he was so concerned for his patients," Kurt Stockstill said. He didn't want to leave the delivery to a doctor his patients hadn't seen.
In his spare time, Leigh Stockstill loved to exercise. He went to the downtown YMCA nearly every day to play racquetball or basketball or to run. Stockstill, a natural athlete who was a four-year starter on his college basketball team, was known as "Doc at the Y."
Leigh Stockstill also helped raise money for the Y's youth programs, such as summer camp, and was a frequent giver.
"He loved the YMCA and donated not just money, but a lot of time," said Sterling Kane, retired assistant director of the Y. "He touched a lot of lives."
People who knew Stockstill said they will remember how healthy and vibrant he looked, even in the last months of his life. He was diagnosed with cancer last fall after a vague pain in his hip.
The cancer, which doctors believe started as a tumor in his abdomen, had already spread throughout his body. He had to give up his medical practice two days after the diagnosis, a difficult but necessary decision, his son said.
"He didn't feel like he got to adequately say goodbye to his patients."
LENGTH: Short : 41 linesby CNB