[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Pages 638-639]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                REMEMBERING DR. CARL EVERETT DRAKE, SR.

 Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, Dr. Carl Everett Drake, Sr. 
died peacefully of natural causes at his home in Sacramento Thursday 
evening. He was 99. Carl Drake was born on August 21, 1913 in Neptune, 
NJ, the second son of James and Lucy Bingham Drake. Carl was educated 
in the public schools where he was an outstanding student and even 
better multisport athlete. His State high school long jump mark of 21' 
10" stood for over 25 years. His talents brought him to the attention 
of coaches from Morgan State College in Baltimore, MD, the top ranked 
college football program available to African American players in the 
1930s. His combination of size, speed, and ferocity won him a starting 
spot on the championship football team. At 6' 1" and 205 pounds--huge 
at the time--he was a bruising, standout guard, playing both offense 
and defense. The team went undefeated for his entire career. He was 
team captain, had the honor of wearing jersey No. 1, and held the team 
ball in the national championship photos.
  At Morgan he was active in several student organizations, including 
the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, which he joined in 1933. He began 
dating an attractive and studious coed who worked as the dean's 
secretary, even joining the glee club to demonstrate to her his 
``softer'' side. Carl and Beatrice Hayes were married in September 
1937. They settled in Baltimore, she began work as a social worker, and 
he, having left school after football a few credits short of 
graduation, took a job in the post office. Professional football was 
not available, but his training made him valuable at handling mail 
sacks. Two children, Carl Jr., 1939, and Beatrice, 1940, followed, 
along with a chronic back injury that led to a job shift that relied 
more on his college schooling than his strength.
  Ruled out of active military service due to his back injury, he re-
enrolled in school to complete his college degree, and in 1944, at the 
urging of Bea, applied to medical school. He could not attend the 
segregated University of Maryland, but under the ``separate but equal'' 
concept of Jim Crow laws, the State of Maryland instead paid his 
tuition to attend Meharry Medical College, in Nashville, TN, one of the 
two medical schools in the county to educate more than the occasional 
person of color.
  He moved to Nashville to begin study, working an 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. 
graveyard shift as a hospital orderly to save enough money to send for 
his wife and family, which he was able to do by 1946. He finished 
Meharry in 1949 and moved to New York City to begin internship at 
Harlem Hospital. He had wanted to return to Baltimore, but the city 
hospital there paid interns $15 per month with free room. Harlem paid 
$50 per month, enough to rent a one bedroom apartment for the family. 
After internship and a new baby--Michael, 1950--the family moved across 
the George Washington Bridge to Englewood, NJ. Carl began his life as a 
working physician with a grueling schedule that consisted of steady 
employment in the ER at Harlem Hospital, a graveyard shift, 11 p.m. to 
7 a.m., followed by a junior partnership in a local New York 
physician's office from 9 to noon, then home to Jersey to sleep, dinner 
at 6, and then a few private patients seen in a room converted to a 
makeshift medical office in the house until 9, before returning to work 
for the 11 p.m. shift in Harlem. When asked later about this level of 
commitment he replied that he was mainly ``grateful for a chance to 
actually work.''
  This schedule was of course unsustainable, and a fascination with the 
newly emerging field of psychiatry led him to, at 40, begin training in 
psychiatry at Graystone State Hospital. During residency he continued 
his home office practice after dinner to help support a family that had 
grown to four children with the addition of Barry in 1952. In 1957, 
after completing residency he looked nationally, and made the bold 
decision to move to Sacramento to join a newly burgeoning State mental 
health system. Prior to this, no one in the family had ever been west 
of Tennessee. Arriving in Sacramento in July 1958, he worked for the 
State during the day, and as had always been the case set up a small 
private practice in rented space in the evenings. Financial obligations 
included supporting a son in college and stiff mortgage payments on a 
modern house in an upscale, and for the first time integrated, 
neighborhood.
  In Sacramento Carl and Bea joined a small circle of middle class 
African Americans who had also moved west to make a new life. A handful 
of doctors, lawyers, a defense contractor, and a funeral home owner 
formed a social group anchored by the ``Couples Club,'' which met on 
Saturdays once a month for a rotating house party. There were also 
civic activities like the Lions Club, competitive chess, and the NAACP, 
as well as the local chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha, Inc. The names of 
these pioneers: Colley, Jones, Morris, Morrissey, Nance, Rutland, 
Stewart, Trent, West, and a few others, are now a part of Sacramento 
history. In 1967 a reduction in State supported mental

[[Page 639]]

health services affected clinics, including the Sacramento branch where 
Carl was chief of psychiatry. The new Medicare and Medicaid programs 
made private practice more viable for physicians caring for low income 
patients. He converted to full time private practice, and the late 
1960s and 1970s became a time of relative prosperity. A pool was added 
to the backyard, and Carl learned, for the first time, to swim. He 
remained health conscious, and he and Bea were in the pool everyday 
from May to October until they were both in their 90s.
  With the children finally grown and on their own Carl and Bea 
travelled--Alaska, Mexico, Hawaii, and Scandinavia were highlights--
entertained friends, and watched their ever expanding cadre of 
grandchildren and great grandchildren grow. Bea retired in 1975, but 
Carl kept his active practice going, seeing patients five days a week 
until he was 90. Bea suffered from mild macular degeneration and 
progressive Alzheimer's disease, ultimately requiring full time 
supervision. Carl closed his practice--regretfully--to come home to 
care for her. He moved from many patients to just one. They continued 
to play backgammon as long as she could, exercised in the pool, and 
when that was no longer safe took walks around the courtyard, until Bea 
passed away in March 2008. They had been married for just over 70 
years.
  In the months following Bea's death, Carl, now 94, began a series of 
home refurbishing projects including a new roof and painting inside and 
out. His oldest grandson John, a professional house painter, came north 
to help, and ultimately moved in to help manage the house and yard. In 
August 2008 Carl renewed his medical license and his driver's license 
as he put it ``just in case.'' He became active in his fraternity once 
again. He did a few legal consultations in 2009, and then with John to 
type reports on the new computer, began seeing patients again, on a 
regular basis, working for the State of California as he had when he 
moved to Sacramento in 1958, this time doing disability evaluations. He 
pulled the office shingle bearing the name ``Carl E. Drake, Sr. MD'' 
from the garage--the same shingle used at the house in New Jersey 60 
years ago--and mounted it near the back door. The kitchen table became 
his consultation office. He scheduled a light but steady stream of 
patients, three or four a week. He saw his last patient on December 12, 
2012, before taking a break for the holidays. New visits were on the 
books for January 2013.
  On December 26, all four of his children, along with five 
grandchildren and two daughters-in-law, visited without fanfare for a 
traditional post-Christmas gathering. He was in great spirits, holding 
court, albeit with less energy than usual. On December 27, after a 
light dinner, he walked into the living room to sit in his favorite 
easy chair and watch a few bowl games. He dozed off, never to wake 
again.
  Dr. Carl Drake left this life as he lived it, with great dignity and 
grace. He came through the Depression, was an All-American athlete, 
educated himself, raised a family, and was an active working 
psychiatrist until the very last days of a life that spanned the 20th 
century and more. He was calm, open, and cheerful, always. His physical 
stature was imposing, but his gentle steadfastness and serenity were 
the traits that made him a joy to be with. He never raised his voice; 
he never needed to. He was universally admired, respected, and loved. 
He is survived by 4 children, 11 grandchildren, 17 great grandchildren, 
16 great-great grandchildren, and thousands of patients. He lived to 
see his 100th Christmas; he leaves the world a better place.

                          ____________________