[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 197 (Thursday, November 30, 2023)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1145]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             HONORING THE LIFE OF MICHAEL E. JABALEY, M.D.

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                            HON. TRENT KELLY

                             of mississippi

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, November 30, 2023

  Mr. KELLY of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor the life of 
Michael Ellis Jabaley, M.D., beloved husband of Mary Galbreath Jabaley, 
who died on his 88th birthday, July 12, 2022. He was born in 
Copperhill, Tennessee, on July 12, 1934, the son of John and Elizabeth 
(Solomon) Jabaley. He graduated from The Baylor School in Chattanooga 
in 1953 and from Vanderbilt University in 1957. Mike was the first 
person in his family to go to college, and only the second person from 
Copperhill to attend Vanderbilt. At Vanderbilt he was a member of Sigma 
Alpha Epsilon, the leadership fraternity ODK, and Phi Beta Kappa. He 
played halfback on the football team and was a member of the 1955 Gator 
Bowl championship squad. It was at Vanderbilt that he met Mary Abbay 
Galbreath, whom he married in 1959. It vas also at Vanderbilt that a 
faculty member suggested he might want to apply to Johns Hopkins 
Medical School. His acceptance started him on a trajectory that 
influenced the rest of his life.
  At Johns Hopkins, the highlights were meeting (and competing with) 
bright students from all over the country, making lasting friendships 
in the Pithotomy Club, and developing his surgical skills with Vivien 
Thomas, legendary assistant to Dr. Alfred Blalock. A surgical 
internship at Hopkins, a four-year surgical residency at Massachusetts 
General Hospital in Boston, and a two year stint as a plastic surgery 
resident back at Hopkins gave him an opportunity to be with ``the best 
of the best'' surgeons and clinicians and to hone his surgical skills. 
Throughout this training, the U.S. Army had been patiently waiting to 
draft him. Now Major Jabaley, he was sent to William Beaumont hospital 
in El Paso and then to Vietnam. There he worked at the Vietnamese 
hospital Cong Hoa and also at the Third Field Hospital--both in Saigon. 
As a fully-trained plastic surgeon, he was able to concentrate on head, 
neck, and hand injuries among the soldiers--but also operated on many 
Vietnamese children with cleft lips and palates and other birth 
deformities.
  After his military service and a stint back at Hopkins as assistant 
professor of plastic surgery, he was recruited by Dr. James Hardy of 
the University of Mississippi Medical Center to be the chief of the 
Plastic Surgery program at UMMC. He and Mary made the big move with 
their five children, never expecting they would stay in Jackson. But 
gradually the ``temporary'' move became permanent, as they raised their 
children here, found a church home at St. Richard's, and made good 
friends.
  In 1979, Dr. Jabaley left UMMC and went into private practice, at 
first solo and later as a founding member of Plastic and Hand Surgery 
Associates. He operated at St. Dominic's and other area hospitals for 
over thirty years, always accompanied by his invaluable surgical 
assistant--and friend--Frankie Charleston. Over the years, his practice 
more and more emphasized hand surgery. He founded the Hand Clinic at 
St. Dominic Hospital. He became known as an international expert in 
Dupuytren's contracture and in carpal tunnel surgery.
  He was always active as a writer and teacher. He produced almost 100 
scientific papers, one of the earliest to receive the Robert Ivy award 
for the ``best scientific paper'' at the American Society of Plastic 
Surgeons Annual Meeting in 1976, and selected as the ``best paper of 
the year'' by the Journal of Hand Surgery in 2001. He edited several 
medical journals, and co-wrote the book ``Stable Fixation of the Hand 
and Wrist'' with his good friends Alan Freeland and Jim Ilughes. He was 
chosen Clinician and Teacher of the Year by the American Association of 
Hand Surgeons in 2002 and received the Kenneth Pickrell Award for 
teaching excellence from the Southeastern Society of Plastic and 
Reconstructive Surgeons in 2006. In 2009 Mike was honored by The Baylor 
School as Distinguished Alumnus.
  In addition to his tenure as president of the Mississippi Chapter of 
the American College of Surgeons. Dr. Jabaley was on the boards of many 
national organizations. He was most proud of his service as an examiner 
for and vice-president of the American Board of Plastic Surgery; as 
president of the American Society of Surgery of the Hand; as president 
of the American Association of Plastic Surgeons; and as president of 
the Sunderland Society, a peripheral nerve study group.
  Mike was preceded in death by his parents; his brothers, Dr. Fred 
Jabaley of Cumming, GA, and Chuck Jabaley of Cleveland, TN; and his 
brothers-in-law, Dr. Joseph Fisher and Percy Galbreath of Memphis. He 
is survived by Mary, his wife of 63 years; his sister, Theresa Jabaley 
of Chicago; his sisters-in-law, Patsy Jabaley of Cumming, GA, Becky 
Jabaley of Cleveland, TN, and Anne Fisher and Loraine Galbreath of 
Memphis, and many beloved nieces and nephews. His children and their 
spouses are: Mary-Powel and Randall Thomas of Brooklyn, NY; Rear Adm 
(ret) Michael and Nicole Jabaley of Annandale, VA; Dr. Liza Jabaley 
Johnson and the Rt. Rev. Alston Johnson of Shreveport, LA; John Jabaley 
and Erika Zucker of New Orleans; and Kate and Tom Neylon of Dallas.

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