JOSEPH DAYTON FOLEY: 1918-2007 He Practiced Medicine 50 Years He Was Honored As “A Physician Who Cares” By His State Colleagues.
By JESSIE-LYNNE KERR
Joseph Dayton Foley, who practiced medicine in Jacksonville for nearly 50 years, died Sunday of heart failure in Apopka, where he moved five years ago. He was 88.
The family will greet friends from noon to 2 p.m. Thursday at the Deltona Seventh-day Adventist Church, 1717 Catalina Blvd., Deltona, where one of Dr. Foley’s sons, Douglas Foley, is pastor. The funeral will follow at 2 p.m. with burial in Highland Memory Gardens cemetery in Apopka.
A native of Opp, Ala., Dr. Foley graduated from Pensacola High School and studied at Southern Missionary University in Tennessee before attending the California College of Medical Technologies in San Gabriel, becoming a radiological and medical technologist.
Determined to become a physician, but without the necessary funds, he paid his way through the medical school at Loma Linda (Calif.) University by, among other things, popping popcorn for theaters at a factory and harvesting grapes along with migrant workers in Southern California vineyards.
After obtaining his medical degree in 1948, Dr. Foley completed an internship and residency at hospitals in the Washington, D.C., area before opening his practice on Park Street in Riverside in July 1949, charging $3 for an office visit. He closed his practice in 1998.
One of his sons, Apopka attorney Joseph Foley Jr., remembers that his father had a picture of every baby he delivered framed in pink or blue on his office wall.
Dr. Foley was affiliated with St. Vincent’s and Baptist medical centers and at Wolfson Children’s Hospital. From 1981 to 1987 he chaired the family practice department at St. Vincent’s.
“Among his medical colleagues, he was known and admired for his diagnostic insight,” son Joseph Foley said, “including his often uncanny ability to diagnose and treat elusive ailments. He loved the thousands of patients he cared for and he always had prayer with a patient before he operated on them.”
In 2005 he was honored by the Florida Medical Association as a “Distinguished Physician” and as “A Physician Who Cares,” his son said. He also served as medical director of the Florida Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.
He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Esther Foley of Apopka; another son, Greg Foley of Maitland, a daughter, Debbie Foley of Los Angeles; his sister, Gwen Shupe of Vancouver, Wash.; six grandchildren and one-great grandchild.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that cards be sent to Esther Foley in care of the Deltona Seventh-day Adventist Church, 1717 Catalina Blvd., Deltona, FL 32738.jessie- lynne.kerr@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4374
(c) 2007 Florida Times Union. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.