THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, October 30, 1995 TAG: 9510300020
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: FINAL
DATELINE: HENDERSONVILLE LENGTH: Short : 42 lines
Fletcher Lindsay Raiford, M.D., died Oct. 27, 1995, after a brief illness.
Dr. Raiford was born in 1915 in Sedley, Va., in the house which his parents, Dr. and Mrs. Rufus L. Raiford, had converted into a rural hospital, the first in Southampton County. The hospital is today Southampton Memorial Hospital.
He attended the University of Richmond and received his degree in medicine from the Medical College of Virginia, where his father and older brother matriculated. After internship at Norfolk General Hospital, Dr. Raiford joined the Army Medical Corps, serving in the Pacific theater in World War II. Upon completing a residency in pediatrics at Bowman Gray School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, he moved to Hendersonville and opened a practice in 1951. For many years, Dr. Raiford was the sole pediatrician in the area, and by his retirement in 1988 was treating a third generation of patients. During this time he was also instrumental in establishing the Well Baby Clinic and the Poison Control Center. In 1984 the refurbished pediatric floor at Margaret R. Pardee Memorial Hospital was dedicated to him in recognition of his service to the children of the community.
He is survived by his wife, Joyce Frankfort Raiford; his children, Katherine Smith of Lexington, Va., Lindsay Bell of Hendersonville, Harriet Raiford of Charlottesville, Va. and Philip Raiford, M.D. of Pomfret, Conn.; and eight grandsons.
In accordance with his instructions, Dr. Raiford's remains will go to the Bowman Gray School of Medicine to benefit future physicians. No service is planned at this time. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that contributions be made to Fletcher L. Raiford Pediatric and Adolescence Unit, c/o Margaret R. Pardee Memorial Hospital, 715 Fleming St., Hendersonville, N.C. Thos. Shepherd & Son Inc. is in charge of local arrangements.
KEYWORDS: DEATH OBITUARY
by CNB