Dr. R. Pryor Baird III

I often have very nice memories of when you and I were residents in the UVa Salem residency program. This world will miss you. /But I'm sure you're in the ether researching and getting ready for your next incarnation. May it be as interesting and educational as the last one.

Did Dr. Baird practice psychiatry at Vanderbilt University in the 1990s, and work at the VA Hospital there? Please let me know. I worked at VU and at the VA Hospital in research - if this is the same man, Pryor was a very good friend to me. Thank you.

It's been eleven years since your passing, Pryor. I still think of you often. You are missed.

You were my doctor and my friend. I've wanted to see "both of you" many times over the past years. And in fact, I was telling someone else about you only three days ago. You are sorely missed.

I wrote this piece about Pryor.

http://thetrenchtake.blogspot.com/2011/01/he-was-pryor.html

Now, I find I wish he was here to discuss Hope Family Village, be part of its design. A community of acceptance. Being built in honor of my son and countless other family members and their loved who I have come to know through the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

http://hopevillageva.blogspot.com

Pryor, we had a very unique relationship as patient and physician. I met you as a patient, but we departed as friends when you left the university where we both were faculty. There were times during my visits when I listened to you in an unorthodox reversal of roles. Although it had been your desire to be a surgeon, I think you found your true calling listening to others. I looked for you today, so many years later, because I sought the advice of the only psychiatrist who ever earned my utmost respect. I again wanted your opinion, but found you missing. No one was a good as you. There is still no other who equals you as a physician and a person. You were the best.

"Dr. Baird was a wonderful individual who will be greatly missed. I am honored to have had the opportunity to befriend him. He was such an inspiration to me. We need more beacons of light like Pryor Baird in this world! God Bless his family!!!"

Pryor's life was an inspiration to us all. Ignoring his disability, he pursued his goals and succeeded brilliantly. It was my privilege to call him one of my closest friends. I will miss him greatly.

Pryor was an exceptional man, from one end of his life to the other. All praise to this true friend and wonderful colleague.

Pryor was a unique individual who's independent approach to life allowed him to overcome most obstacles that life presented him. He followed the road least traveled and this opened many new horizons for him. I always admired his independent approach to life.